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LAS VEGA S TODAY Hitz Lifts H HH mm itz?╟╓ is like any other major Las Vegas production show ?╟÷ with one major difference. ?╟ Hitz* is hip. That is to say, those tried and true formulas that always seem to work around here ?╟÷ the statuesque nudes in their feathery costumes, the splashy sets, the sultry singers, even the comedy juggler ~ all can be found in this Jerry Jackson production currently playing at the Hacienda. But in ?╟ Hitz,?╟╓ the showgirls. don?╟╓t just prance about the stage, staring blankly over the footlights: they dance, they sing, they even act. The sets serve as more than excuses to hang theme costumes on the performers, they provide dramatic context to the comedy or drama unfolding on the stage. Here, the singers sing genuine hits of the 1980s, giving the production its name and the theme that holds it together. This theme also serves to explain the rapid-fire, rock-video pacing that keeps the show moving breathlessly from hit to hit, over 50 songs in slightly less than and hour and a half. Even the comedy juggler is hip. And even more amazing this one, Michael Jodeaux, is actually funny. But nowhere, perhaps, is the difference between ?╟ Hitz?╟╓ and other Vegas shows clearer than in the lifts. This reviewer has never much cared for adagio, that performance of muscle-power over art where some beefy guy throws his tiny, tutu-ed partner around over his head to the tune of some ballet music. I suspect unknowing audiences think this is art, so they clap for fear they might seem ignorant otherwise. But I really did feel like clapping after watching Jeanne Houts and Berry Morgan do their flamboyant and, yes, artistic adagio in the show. ?╟úUsually, the guy is a crane,?╟Ñ says Morgan of adagio in general. ?╟úThere?╟╓s no emotion involved.?╟Ñ But with this couple, the emotion they feel for each other is palpable, projected out into the audience so there is no mistaking their intense involvement with their art. ?╟úWe try to be different, we try to have a different look, a warmth,?╟Ñ says Houts with modest understatement. The look is indeed different. The couple met when they were both acrobats in Jacksons?╟╓ ?╟ Folies Bergere,?╟╓ at the Tropicana, and found the had much in common as they both taught cheerleading to local high-schoolers. Their adagio combines the art of dance with the skill of gymnastics and the enthusiasm of cheerleading to produce a look that is indeed as hip and sophisticated as it is unique. In addition, the couple have dramatic parts to play. Houts, ever vulnerably erotic in a smooth chiffon night shirt, plays a woman who falls into a lonely sleep while pining for her lover. Her subsequent dreams reveal terrible and beautiful psycho-sexual images acted out to the hypnotic wail of Annie Lennox and the Euthryth-mics, ?╟ Sweet Dreams.* Finally, her lover, Morgan, returns and everything is set right. Houts says producer Jackson worked hard with her to instill in her the importance of being an actress as well as a dancer. 1___ To be sure Jackson?╟╓s attention to every facet of the production?╟÷dance, staging, and drama?╟÷give Hitz its biggest lift. By Marc Charisse