The Teaseday Club 11/5/13

Dear Constant Reader,

The Teaseday Club has moved to the *first* Tuesday of every month. Mr. Scratch once again hosted the show, Brigitte Bisoux was stage kitten and yours truly was in the box office.

   

(All photos from Mystic River Studios by Rich Jarvis Photography)

Set 1
Matt Donaher opened the show with a little stand-up. He’s a very funny guy and I’m glad he returned to the Teaseday Club stage.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Corinne Southern brought us a classic balloon pop act to the classic song “Bumps and Grinds”. And some lucky guy in the front row got to pop a few of her balloons!
 
 
 
 
 
 
Sally the Altar Boy presented a beautiful glow-poi spinning act. It was one of those cases where the audience sat in an appreciative silence at the loveliness. He later told me it had been created for Zehara Nachash’s show Animus where he took the role of fireflies.
 
 
 

I was particularly excited to see this act. Lucie Luxe is an instructor at B.A.B.E. and this was her burlesque debut! She had a lot of friends in the audience and they were loudly approving for her first strip on stage.
 
 
 
 

Set 2
Sally the Altar Boy, in honor of the day (it was Election Day), campaigned and spun poi to Elected. Bigitte and Stella wiggled, held up signs, and passed out American flags. The audience cheered and waved their little flags. I’m a big Alice Cooper fan, so it was extra fun for me.
 
 
 

Lucie Luxe returned with a chair dance. I recognized most of those moves from the chair dance course at B.A.B.E. and I was delighted to see how she put them all together.
 
 
 
 

Scratch performed a scientific experiment involving heat and a deck of cards. The audience was supposed to be able to make the chosen card rise to the top of deck through the thermal powers of thought alone. Not surprisingly, it didn’t work. However, I can’t tell you what the pay-off for the act was as someone arrived very late and wanted to buy a ticket.

Corinne Southern, dressed as Eve and adorned with a snake, tempted the audience in all sorts of ways before succumbing to the apple. Corinne has some mighty slinky floor moves.

Matt Donaher returned for another stand-up set.
 
 

Set 3
Samantha Farrell, last month’s winner of The Great Teaseday Cookie, performed the entire last set with her band and a little burlesque from The Boston Babydolls.

She opened with an original song “Trouble You Need”, which she wrote in tribute to Benjamin Franklin. It’s much sexier than that sounds. Stella Diamond certainly thought so.

Then she sang “Sugar in My Bowl” and “Shake”, another original song, written because her mother complained that she had no songs you could “shake your ass to”. This one you certainly can. All the Babydolls back stage were doing just that.

Lastly she sang “Temptation” while Betty as Gambling Addiction, Devora as Intoxication, and myself as Inappropriate Lust tempted the audience. Samantha even joined us for a few dance steps!

We had so much fun!

And who won The Great Teaseday Cookie?

Lucie Luxe! You’ll see her again next month on December 3rd.

M2

Published in: on 6 November 2013 at 11:18 am  Leave a Comment  
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Halloween Burlesque Bash at The Lansdowne Pub

Dear Constant Reader,

Tuesday night we performed at The Lansdowne Pub as part of their Halloween festivities. I am so glad the Sox were off that night. It was still kind of zoo-y around Fenway as everyone was getting ready to Game Six.

The Pub folks were great to us. We had the whole back room as our dressing room. It could have used a little more light, but there was plenty of room, an attentive waitress, tasty snacks, and a fireplace.
Yes, an actual fireplace, keeping us toasty warm. A warm dressing room is a relative rarity, unfortunately, and this was just delightful.

And the bar had a special menu of drinks just for the evening. I think they created “The Pasties” just for me: champagne, elderflower, fresh lemon juice, grenadine, and cherry garnish. Of course, I was too busy to enjoy one.

(Performance photos from Mystic River Studios by Rich Jarvis Photography. Crummy cell phone photos by Scratch and me.)

First up was Devora with a charming dance in which she seeks the perfect man. But what is she doing with that shovel? The fellow rolled up in the rug, by the way, is named Frank.

Then Stella sang “Touch-a Touch-a Touch Me”. It was supposed to be just a variety number (no stripping), but she convinced Scratch to let her wear her adorable Innocent dress from The Wrathskellar 2011 (bright pink, eyelet lace trim, satin sash). And then it only made sense for her to remove it. And as long as she was showing her bra, she might as well go down to pasties. The audience didn’t seem to mind.

I closed out the set with my tribute to the alleged axe-murderess of Fall River, Lizzie Borden. I was a little nervous because it involves water, and a wet, slippery stage is no fun for anyone. Scratch had provided a large plastic tablecloth and it seemed to work just fine.

Since I am The Martha Stewart of Burlesque, I packed a plastic bag in which to stow my wet underthings. However, there was this wonderful fireplace! And here are my danties drying out.

After a short break, we were back. I opened the set with my fan dace to “Jezebel”. Well, I was supposed to. iTunes chose that moment to have a hissy fit and refuse to play. Eventually Scratch & Dan the DJ beat the computer into submission and I could begin.

Then Scratch did a little trick involving a 6-inch-long metal spike, hidden under one of three cups. A successful conclusion involves 2 smashed cups and no injury. An unsuccessful one… Well, let’s just say that spike is really sharp. I can never watch when he does this one.

Stella, Devora, and I closed out the show with an adorable (if I do say so myself) dance with witch’s brooms. (Stella & I look a little hazy in the photo because we’re wearing veils over our faces).

We had a great time! If this has just whetted your appetite for burlesque, come on down to The Teaseday Club tonight. The Boston Babydolls will join Samantha Farrell and her band for a little something special.

M2

Published in: on 5 November 2013 at 9:58 am  Leave a Comment  
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Late Night TV

Dear Constant Reader,

Saturday the Boston Babydolls were delighted to be guests on a new local talk show, Ali@Night, hosted by Ali Fatale. Ali and her crew were wonderful!

Well, I do promise you the inside story on the oh-so-glamourous stuff. When we first got to the studio, the green room was full of children, so we started getting ready in the restrooms. Old hat. At least they were spacious and clean. Once the kids were kicked out, Stella and I moved into the green room, which looked like it did double duty as a break room. She has a nasty bruise on the inside of one shin where she clipped herself with her shoe heel while doing some turning drills. So, wearing but a thong and bra, she had that leg up on a table to apply cover-up. At just that moment, some guy walks into the green room carrying a plate, mumbles an apology, and quickly backs out. Stella never even looked up.

Alina did a few interviews with us all and then we got to perform. The show will be airing closer to the holiday season, so we did a bunch of appropriately themed acts. We got to go down to pasties; no Boston version here! As I was preparing for my fan dance to “Sugar Rum Cherry”, I could see Brigitte & Stella peering through the window into the studio. Later Stella said to me excitedly “You looked really naked!” She says the sweetest things.

And here’s Betty, Brigitte, and Stella:

Scratch made those giant peppermint sticks, of course.

I’ll let you know when it airs!

M2

Published in: on 28 October 2013 at 11:56 am  Leave a Comment  

Upcoming Shows

Dear Constant Reader,

I know it seems like ages since we hit the stage and you’re dying for a little Boston Babydoll Burlesque. Fear not! We’ve got a couple of shows coming up!

First off, on Tuesday, enjoy a little Halloween burlesque at The Lansdowne Pub!

It’s free! And the Sox are off that night! So, you have no excuse not to come one down for a little spooky, sexy fun.

Then, on November 5th we’ll be making a special appearance at The Teaseday Club to do a couple of numbers to the music of Reigning Teaseday Cookie Queen Samantha Farrell. How cool is that?

If you just need a little burlesque in your life *right now*, B.A.B.E. is offering Burlesque for Beginners with Stella Diamond tonight at 7. Advance registration is open until noon, so you can save a few bucks off the at-the-door price.

There are more shows coming, but you’ll just have to check back to find out!

M2

Published in: on 24 October 2013 at 9:29 am  Leave a Comment  

Haunted Overload

Dear Constant Reader,

I love October and I love Halloween. This probably comes as no surprise. Usually I’m working much of October at The Wrathskellar, which is a delight, so I’m not (very) sorry about all the other fun things I have to miss. This year, one of the few silver lining of the lack of show is that I got to see my friend Rae at Haunted Overload.

She’s an actor there, but also heavily involved in fabricating the sets and costumes. She’s ridiculously talented and I’ve been dying to see her work in person, but for the past several of years it was not to be (similarly, she’s never seen The Wrathskellar). So, this Saturday we headed up to NH for what might be my only chance to see the haunt in action.

I do like all things spooky and creepy, but I’m not much of a fan of gory or startling. I’m pleased to say Haunted Overload is mostly spooky and creepy with some startling.

I knew going into it that the actors don’t come into physical contact with the patrons (“Touch nothing and nothing will touch you” is the rule), which relieved me a little. When we saw Play Dead in workshops in Vegas and Dusty Summers, as a reanimated corpse, ran her fingers through my hair, I nearly screamed (and if I hadn’t seen her in makeup before the show, I absolutely would have). And Scratch once decked a haunted house actor who thought he could scare the big guy by getting right in his face. So no touching is a good thing with our group.

The haunt is at a farm with delicious treats like cider and donuts (and giant chocolate spiders) to prepare you for the long hike. You’re going to be walking through the woods for about 45 minutes, so dress warmly and wear good shoes. It’s an unguided tour, but the path is clearly marked and if you start to stray an actor will set you aright.

Things start off fairly lightly with a gypsy fortuneteller who is more humorous than haunting. As it turns out she was being played by someone I know, so she called me by name. For the benefit of the group behind us, I loudly wondered “How did she know my name? What amazing powers!”

HO skullAfter stumbling through the vortex (I can’t even describe it), we found ourselves in Pumpkin Alley, facing an enormous wooden skull. I’m not joking about enormous. This picture I lifted from their Facebook page hardly does it justice. NecrotiaThere we found Rae as Necrotia, a zombie pirate (or maybe pirate zombie).

Too quickly, it seemed, we were at the head of the queue and sent through a dark corridor to enter the haunt proper. It was amazing. The sets are very well done, quite detailed. I was thrilled to see many of the pieces I knew Rae had worked on (and I few I didn’t know about, but I recognized her style). And the actors’ costumes and makeup are also excellent. I’m not going to give away too many specifics.

There are several places where you walk through a completely dark building. I found those the most tension-inducing. And there are a *lot* of actors. There are those in the scenes and those wandering creeps who sneak up on you. Probably more of the creeps than really needed. There wasn’t a lot of downtime between startles to let you relax before they spooked you again. As promised, nothing actually touched us. They do sometimes get as close to you as possible, sometimes just walking along side the guests waiting for you to notice their presence. And someone blew on the back of my neck at one point. Yes, I did jump.

I had a particularly bad moment in a building with continuous strobes. Strobes don’t usually bother me, but I found myself terribly disoriented and had to grab onto Scratch’s coat to steady myself. Betty spent most of the time in the dark spaces clutching the back of my jacket.

About 3/4 of the way through, I though “I have had enough.” I was tired of keeping alert for actors who wanted me to scream. I was tired of walking through dark spaces. However, I kept going (what option did I really have?). The final set, a creepy circus, was a spectacular finale and well worth experiencing.

If you like haunted attractions, you really ought to check this one out. If you don’t like to be scared, they have two options: you could go during the day or to “Fright Night Lite”, which has all the sound and lighting effects, just no actors. And the sets really are worth seeing. I’d like to go back for the “Lite” night and really admire Rae’s handiwork.

M2

Published in: on 21 October 2013 at 12:56 pm  Leave a Comment  

The Teaseday Club 10/8/13

Dear Constant Reader,

The Teaseday Club opened again this past Tuesday and again your Faithful Correspondent was in the Box Office. We had quite the crowd, so I was hopping well into the first set. (For future reference, folks, box office and bar open at 7pm, doors open at 7:30, the show actually starts at 8. Getting there at 8:15 and paying with a credit card just annoys everyone.) Mr. Scratch once again hosted the show.

(All photos from Mystic River Studios by Rich Jarvis Photography)

Set 1
Anthony Capobianco opened the show with a little stand-up. I was in the Box Office, still taking tickets at this point, so I missed pretty much all of his routine.
 
 
 
 
 
 
Brigitte Bisoux, reigning Cookie Queen, did a classic glove-and-gown strip to “Tombstone Blues”. Again, I was working, but I’ve seen this one before. As with everything Brigitte does, even the simplest movements look particularly dirty. I was amused that Dita used a version of this song when riding her mechanical bull on Sunday night.
 

Peril S. Curves was an adorable waitress in Sticky Buns. Stella, the stage kitten (in yet another delightful corset), laid out some tarps, which was enough to make me nervous and curious. Persil ices the buns on the table, as you can see in the photo. And then ices her own buns. I was only watching on the monitor, which doesn’t give a good view of the whole performance area, but I gather there was flying frosting everywhere!

Samantha Farrell and her band performed two songs, “Temptation” and one she wrote in honor of Benjamin Franklin. That’s nowhere near as strange as it sounds. By the way, the fellow playing bass next to her is Dave D’aranjo, creator of “The Wrathskellar Theme” and “April’s Blues” (2011).

Set 2
It’s Halloween season, so Delilah Spring of The Tasty Pasties performed “I Put A Spell On You”. Despite the fluffy pink fans, Delilah was uncharacteristically in black. This is a song, by the way, that the Babydolls are prohibited from using. Our very first Halloween show (Out for Blood 2005), I believe every single performer asked Scratch if she could use that song, so nobody got to. And so it stands to this day.

Baseema performed a bellydance with zills (that’s the Turkish name for finger cymbals. Consider the day lost in which you learn nothing.) to “Desert Rose”.

Anthony Capobianco provided some more comedy. This time I was in the audience and could actually hear the set. Honestly, we’ve had funnier at The Teaseday Club.

Scratch pulled a volunteer from the audience to help him demonstrate his super-human sense of smell with a deck of cards. She was a good sport about the whole thing.

Dagny Vanderlust brought a little creepy burlesque with a costume of latex gloves and stockings, a vinyl corset, and bondage tape. She slowly unwound the tape to Canvas Wonderland. Usually the tape is black (like her heart!) but this time it was pink! And Delilah was in black instead of her usual pink. It’s like they swapped for Halloween or something. Craziness!

Set 3
Samantha Farrell played two more songs, Nina Simone’s “Sugar in My Bowl” and a song she wrote called “Shake”, because her mother pointed out she hadn’t written any songs you could “shake your ass to”. My kind of mom. And I believe all the Babydolls do want to shake their asses to that song.

Peril S. Curves also brought a little halloween burlesque with her “Devil Bride”. Check out those amazing boots! The music was “O Fortuna” from the Carmina Burana. Scratch tried to make a little joke about Orff (the composer) being a burlesque dancer, but we never got to hear the punch line because some audience member decided it was time for a history lesson.

Bassema returned with a sword dance to “Un World Mysteriouse”. She’s an amazing sword dancer and is a real treat to watch. Just when you think she’s impressive with one sword, she adds a second.

Brigitte Bisoux closed out the show with “Alcohol”. I think this is one of Brigitte favorite numbers because she gets to wear her beloved Walter (that’s the name of the mink stole) *and* gets to stagger around the stage, smushing people’s faces into her boobs and stealing their drinks. Although, what was up with the people in the front row and their coffee? She likes to grab an audience member’s drink and down it. Seriously, who bring a cup of Dunks to a cabaret? Especially one with a bar. Anyway, it was a ton of fun to see her in her element.

And who won The Great Teaseday Cookie?

Samantha Farrell*! You’ll see her again next month.

The Teaseday Club is moving to the FIRST Tuesday of the month, so the next meeting will be November 5th. Remember, remember!

M2
* Yes, Brigitte was the runner-up. It was a difference of a single ticket. Don’t forget to support your favorite performer when you buy a ticket, it could be you that makes her (or him) a winner!

Published in: on 10 October 2013 at 11:43 am  Comments (2)  
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Strip, Strip, Hooray

Dear Constant Reader,

Yesterday The Boston Babydolls canceled Sunday rehearsal for the first time in ages. Why?

ditaticket

When Dita comes to town, everything stops. When planning The Wrathskellar (alas), we didn’t schedule a show on this day. There’s no reason to compete with the biggest burlesque act in her Boston debut.

When we Babydolls go out together, we like to make it clear we’re all together. We decided to all wear black and red and met at Eastern Standard for dinner in the Corio Lounge. It was a little tricky squeezing 7 of us around two tiny tables and having a few friends with the same pre-show plan drop by for a little socializing, but we like having dinner in the shadow of Her Majesty, The Queen.

Fortunately, the rain had stopped by the time we arrived at the House of Blues to stand on the *very* long line. There were many well-dressed people, but I was a little aghast at some women’s choice of foot wear, seeing as we were going to be standing all evening. Betty and I were wearing trusty and well-worn Fluevogs, both stylish and comfortable.

We managed to stake out a spot relatively down front, although very stage right. And waited for the show to start. And waited. I know it was after 8:30, but I didn’t check the exact start time. I only mention this because at this point we’d already been on our feet for more than an hour and a half. Thank goodness for comfortable and stylish shoes.

The show is hosted by Murray Hill, who I’ve seen many times before.

Dita, of course, opened the show with her Martini Glass act. I’m a sucker for men’s wear on women (as you know if you’ve seen some of my acts) and her tuxedo was exquisitely tailored.

Natasha “La Cholita” Estrada performed a high-energy flamenco in a dazzling ruffled costume. I think she provided the only tassel twirling of the evening, which she did with blinding speed. So fast, in fact, that she lost one of her pasties.

Lada Nikolska comes from The Crazy Horse in Paris and performed a sensual number from that show, rolling about on a couch shaped like lips. Near the end, she removed her panties while behind the couch and then lay on the top, screening herself with her thigh. Very hot. We were then surprised when she slithered down onto the couch, revealing herself sans even a merkin.

Selene Luna roared out on a diminutive motorcycle and rocked out. For a little person, she has a big presence.

Then Dita was back with her Rhinestone Cowgirl act. I knew about the mechanical bull and the encrusted costume, but I wasn’t prepared for the glittering pink tumbleweed or cactus. We were awfully amused that her bullriding music was Brigitte’s favorite “Tombstone Blues”.

During intermission I made a quick trek to check out the merch table which ran the range from $5 pens to $300 Olivia prints.

Dita opened the second half with her Bird of Paradise act. As a fan dancer, I was interested to see that she didn’t really tease with the fans. There was no conceal and reveal; she mostly used them for framing.

Monsieur Romeo from Paris was the first boylesque performer of the night with a teasing remove of his suit, cigarette never moving from his lips throughout. I thought the sexiest moment was when he held up his hand to show a wedding band and then slowly slid it off his finger. I found the ending a bit odd.

Then Murray Hill Challenge. My least favorite part of the show, but it’s part of his schtick. The winner was a woman who mentioned that she had just married her girlfriend. In addition to the regular prize (an autographed picture of Murray Hill), Dita invited them to meet her after the show. Nice!

I had no idea what to expect from Prince Poppycock. He burst out in 18th century finery, singing (actually singing — the previous 2 acts with vocals were pre-recorded) an aria from “The Barber of Seville”, while he stripped. Near the climax of the act, he gestured enthusiastically, knocking off his enormous powdered wig and his microphone with it. He just kept going, singing silently while he yanked off his wig cap and fluffed his real hair. The stage kitten (one of the Vonterage, as they were called) quickly tried to disentangle the microphone, but Murray Hill rushed on with a handheld first. It was a lovely example of keeping one’s cool in face of a potential on-stage disaster.

Perle Noire was a huge highlight of the show. I could see the Babydolls falling in love. Her strip was very good, very engaging, but her Josephine Baker-inspired banana dance was *amazing*. So high energy and acrobatic. Just dynamite.

The Opium Den closed out the show. It was everything I expected, except for the sightlines. We were standing to the stage right side of the stage and for the sequence when Dita is groped by red-gloved hands, she was standing in the back of her setpiece, stage right. The front column blocked much of the action for us. Fortunately, we got Betty to move forward so she could actually see her kindred spirit a little.

After a run to the merch table to get a program and a moment or two to chat with Murray Hill, it was after 11 and we departed, quite footsore, despite our sensible (yet stylish!) footwear, but thoroughly inspired.

M2

Published in: on 7 October 2013 at 3:18 pm  Leave a Comment  
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A Letter We Never Wanted to Send

Dear Constant Reader,

I wish I wasn’t sharing this letter from Mr. Scratch.

It is with heavy heart we announce that we are forced to cancel all show dates for “The W. R. Athskellar Cavalcade of Curiosities” at this time.

The venue does not have the proper permits to allow us to perform there, and while they have been working on it for some time, it is clear they will not be in compliance with the the City of Somerville in time for us to open on Thursday — and they cannot give us a firm date as to whether they will open this month at all.

It is possible we will be able to reschedule for a later time in the year, but at this time all tickets are being refunded.

This is the first time in The Boston Babydolls long history that we have had to do anything like this. I fervently hope it will be our last.

We can neither express my level of frustration and disappointment with this turn of events, nor my gratitude to the performers and crew who have put in many hours putting together what would have been a spectacular show. I’m also grateful to all of you who purchased tickets and it is my fondest wish that we will be able to put on this truly unique and amazing show at some point in the future. If we do, you’ll be the first to know.

My thanks and apologies,

-=Scratch & The Boston Babydolls

Sorrowfully,
M2

Published in: on 2 October 2013 at 8:05 am  Leave a Comment  

The Teaseday Club 9/10/13

Dear Constant Reader,

The Teaseday Club met again on Tuesday, September 10th with hostess Sarah Blodgett. 6 months of teasing!

Scratch was at The Boston Theatre Expo, but we were in good hands with Maddy the Stage Manager, Hunter, Kendra, and Jon in the booth, Stella as Stage Kitten (and what an outfit!), and yours truly in the box office. That means I didn’t get to watch much of the show in the theatre. Fortunately, there is a monitor in the lobby, so I did see some of it. But my usual descriptions of the acts are going to be extremely sketchy.

Frankie Merlot of the Wortown Bombshells was taking photos and I’ll share them with you when/if I can.

Set 1
Vikki Likkerish opened with her signature Painted Lady act to “Black Velvet”.

Samara, a bellydancer, performed to “Sail”.

Beau Blush performed a balloon pop act to “Jump in the Line”.

Rory Raven is a mentalist. He had two people pick a book from a stack of several and pick a random word from each. And then he proceeded to read their minds and discover the words.

Set 2
Emily Hecht sang something fabulous. (I don’t know which song; I was in the box office)

Beau Blush did a fan dance to “Fever”.

Sarah Blodgett, Comedy’s Funny Honey, gave us a little taste of her stand-up act.

Brigitte Bisoux did a sultry striptease to “Caramel”.

Samara danced to a remix of “Feeling Good”.

Set 3
Rory Raven did a little reverse mind reading. During intermission he had picked a card and flipped it so it would stand out in the pack. Then he had an audience member come up and read his mind to determine what the card was. She eventually nervously selected one. He riffled through the deck to find the one card with its back showing and it was the very card she had chosen!

Vikki Likkerish performed her etherial striptease to a dreamy version of “Addicted to Love”.

Emily Hecht returned to sing “Mercy On Me”. She has got a great set of pipes!

Brigitte Bisoux finished things off with an energetic striptease while tap dancing to “In the Mood”. She can twirl tassels while she taps…

And who won The Great Teaseday Cookie? No shock, it was Brigitte!

I hope you’ll join us again on October 8th!

M2

Published in: on 12 September 2013 at 2:57 pm  Comments (1)  
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Dixie Evans Week in Boston

Dear Constant Reader,

B.A.B.E. and The Boston Babydolls were proud to be a part of Dixie Evans Week. We held 2 events, both to to raise money for Dixie’s memorial fund.

B.A.B.E was part of the 100 Classes for Dixie with “Blonde Bombshell”, a 3-hour workshop in which we taught an entire, brand-new routine to “Diamonds Are a Girl’s best Friend”, in honor of The Marilyn Monroe of Burlesque.

It was an experiment of sorts. Now, any new choreography is a bit of an experiment — you never know if it’s going to survive contact with dancers — but we’d never created or taught a class in this way before. Brigitte, Stella, and I each choreographed 1/3 of the song, checking, of course, to make sure everything was compatible. And then we team taught it, which was an awful lot of fun.

The students were great! Everyone was really enthusiastic, including the bride-to-be who was using this as a kick-off for her bachelorette celebration. We started off the class by talking about Dixie and then showing “The Casting Couch”. Everybody was inspired by it, even the teachers.

It turned out that the only issue with the joint choreography was that both Brigitte and Stella used a step-touch, but Brigitte started with the touch and Stella with the step. The students were getting confused as when to use which, so Brigitte declared that she would change to start with the step instead. And everyone was happy.

And here are our glamourous students!
Bombshell Students

But we weren’t done yet! Right after class, we all headed over to Davis Square for
Dixie sign

Big thanks to everyone who came out, despite it being Labor Day weekend. (For those of you who are not Bostonians, that’s the weekend when thousands and thousands of students descend upon the Boston area to move into their dorms or out of their summer sublets. The sidewalks of Allston are filled with discarded belongings and moving vans get stuck under bridges on Storrow Drive.)

Bigger thanks to those of you who chose to pay more than the lowest ticket price or made an additional donation.

And biggest thanks to the Davis Square Theatre for giving us a very reduced rate and to the performers and crew for donating their time.

The show went a little something like this:

Scratch opened with a speech about Dixie Evans, who she was and why she’s important.

Stella started with her “Date Night” number to “Moonglow”. We thought this was a good first act since it’s got some similar elements to “Casting Couch” — Stella is seduced by a man who isn’t really there, just his jacket.

For a little variety we turned to Betty in her fast-paced bellydance-inspired number to “Airmail Special”.

Next up was Brigitte with a dirty striptease to “Tombstone Blues”.

Devora presented a dance en pointe with just a hint of striptease (she took off gloves and a scarf, but left her filmy tunic in place). This is usually done with a balloon, a la Sally Rand’s bubble dance, but the ceilings at the theatre were too low.

And then I did my fan dance to “Harlem Nocturne”.

Stella sang “Always be True to You”. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the microphone, so she could barely be heard over the backing track.

Betty closed out the first half with an act we like to call Geek Love. Betty, dressed in jeans, sneakers, a flannel, and a t-shirt, gets really hot & bothered by her laptop. The costume may not be sexy, but Betty is as she bumps & grinds to “Night Train”.

And then we took a little intermission.

To make up for the previous audio problem, Stella came back and sang “I Hate Men”. She hadn’t planned on singing twice, but she’s just that good.

Next up, I preformed “Champagne on Ice”, a moody striptease with some ice. Again, we picked it because there’s an invisible partner. When I finished, there was dead silence. It stretched long enough that I was wondering how to get off the stage with any dignity when a woman’s voice drifted down from the back of the house: “Wow…” Thunderous applause. Thank goodness.

Brigitte brightened things up with a tap dance to “In the Mood”.

Devora had a little surprise for the audience during her can-can striptease to “Love Me Or Leave Me” — assels!

We had given the Blonde Bombshell students the option to perform the routine they had just learned in the show and one of them was brave enough to do it! Trixie Santiago made her burlesque debut right on our stage with a choreography she hadn’t known mere hours before. Brigitte performed it alongside her, but Trixie did great!

Then, with the help of a volunteer from the audience, Scratch performed a card trick which didn’t quite go as planned…

Betty, Devora, Stella, and I closed out the show with “Leap Frog”, the number we presented at the Ohio Burlesque Festival.

And Scratch ended by once again talking about Dixie and how the funds raised were going to be used.

It was a fun show, but bitter-sweet. I hope we did Dixie proud.

M2

Published in: on 5 September 2013 at 9:48 am  Leave a Comment  
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