Costumes — evidence!

Dear Constant Reader,

A little while ago I talked about costumes for The Wrathskellar. Betty Blaize, as I pointed out, had made 2 new costumes for herself. And because I think you deserve a treat, here they are:

This costume was made for an act we called “The Tango of Death”. The bra and unseen hip belt are made from sari fabric, decorated with red crystals and red Egyptian glass fringe. The jacket and skirt are created from sequined fabric and trimmed with red feathers. Her matching headpiece was designed so that she could more easily balance a sword on her head.

If you saw The Wrathskellar, this was the costume for the number with all the hands (if you didn’t, boy, did you miss out…). Some of the design influences here were steampunk (the jacket) and Indian dance (the skirt). Betty had to be careful in designing this outfit since some elements were going to be removed by others and she was going to be dancing quite vigorously, albeit in a small space. Just imaging how all that fringe flew when Betty executed her trademark shimmies… And some of the large beads actually flew off!

Until next time, dear reader.

Published in: on 7 November 2011 at 2:48 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: ,

The Crew

Dear Constant Reader,

We’ve been having a wonderful time presenting The Wrathskellar and it’s easy to wax enthusiastic about the cast — they’re the visible presence (quite visible, some of them) on stage. Right now, I’d like to take a few moments to talk about the crew.

First, there’s our stage manager, Mr. Bergeron. He’s responsible for moving set pieces around and making sure props are where they are supposed to be. Plus wrangling volunteers and occasionally picking up clothing. He also plays Hans, The Wrathskellar’s stage manager. Not only is he making sure all our things are in the right place, he also has to hit his cues! He has a vital role in our plot and is integral to one of the acts.

Sam is the newest member of our crew and what a jewel she’s turned out to be! You might have noticed her, in vest and cap, discretely playing the music during the show. What is less apparent is that she designed the audio set-up for the theatre. There is sound all over the place, including the hallway leading to the bathroom. At certain parts of the show, the music moves across the space as the performers do. Listen for it.

And then there’s Hunter, our technical director a.k.a. The Lighting Guy. He’s been with us since the beginning and has worked on almost every major show (and has attended most of the minor ones). Lighting is one of those very tricky things, and it’s even trickier on this show. The lighting has to set just the right mood and we use a number of special effects. Not to mention we’re doing this in a converted storefront, not a theatre! The challenges are really quite amazing. Usually when I arrive at theatre, he’s already there, tweaking a light, changing a gel, working for perfection.

Thank you all. We could not do this without you.

Published in: on 17 October 2011 at 3:12 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags:

What Have We Wrought

Dear Constant Reader,

It’s hard to believe that only two weeks ago we walked into a gutted storefront full of construction debris. Tonight we open the door on The Wrathskellar, our disreputable tavern…

Published in: on 6 October 2011 at 4:17 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags:

So Glamourous

Dear Constant Reader,

As I may have mentioned, the life of a burlesque diva is not all champagne and rhinestones. Sometimes it’s downright dirty, and not in a fun way.

The Boston Babydolls are preparing for our annual halloween show The Wrathskellar (do you have your tickets yet?). This year, instead of asking you to believe that a nice theatre is a disreputable tavern, we’re building an entire custom performance space. How cool is that?

The space is a gutted storefront, basically a construction site. Lots of exposed studs and bricks, broken drywall, bare lightbulbs. It’s perfect for creating our dark, distressed cabaret. However, did I mention it’s a construction site with all the associate paraphernalia that entails?

And that’s why I spent my Saturday piling up a mountain of shredded fiberglas insulation for disposal. And then sweeping dirt, and sweeping sawdust, and sweeping bent nails. At least I have stylish purple work gloves.

Published in: on 26 September 2011 at 11:58 am  Leave a Comment  
Tags:

Good Night Irene, Fare Well Madame Burlesque

Dear Constant Reader,

On Saturday we presented a bonus production of Madame Burlesque, our sumer touring show. If you’ve been following along you know that our final show was supposed to have been August 6th in Portsmouth, NH. However, the Tempest Storm show we were supposed to perform in on Saturday was cancelled, so we took the now vacant date at the Regent Theatre and presented a changed-up version of Madame Burlesque.

Evie Sphinx, our oyster girl, was at a wedding that day, so we replaced one of her acts with a song and another with a comedy routine. For the third one, we gave Evie’s music to Brigitte Besoux who created a high-energy tap dance in no time at all. She can tap and twirl tassels at the same time!

Of course, Saturday was when Hurricane Irene was moving up the coast and we started getting panicked calls asking if we were going to cancel. You know that old theatrical saying… yes, that one.

Well, the show did go on! And we even had a good house, especially on such a dark and stormy night. I was thrilled to see some of my students in the audience too.

Now Madame Burlesque is well and truly done and it’s time to concentrate on The Wrathskellar.

Published in: on 30 August 2011 at 11:54 am  Leave a Comment  
Tags: ,

Just when you thought it was over

Dear Constant Reader,

All the cast and crew of Madame Burlesque were feeling just a little bit down that this fabulous run ended on Saturday in Portsmouth, NH. It had been 5 weeks, 4 states, and a lot of fun. But summer does become fall and it’s time for us to turn our attentions from the glamourous world of Madame Burlesque to that creepy, cobweb-crusted cabaret, The Wrathskellar.

Then an opportunity fell into our glitter-dusted laps. We will be presenting Madame Burlesque at the Regent Theatre in Arlington on Saturday, August 27th!

Even if you saw it in Cambridge, we’ve changed a few things and there will be some acts which have never been seen in *any* of the previous shows. I’m so excited!

Published in: on 10 August 2011 at 3:37 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags:

Life on the road again

Dear Constant Reader,

This week the Boston Babydolls’ perambulations took us to Brattleboro, Vermont and the Hooker-Dunham Theatre. It’s a quirky little space, but we took it in stride. Once we figured out how to keep me from falling off the stage during a group number and how to get the giant oyster through the narrow door, everything was perfect. Well, maybe we blew a fuse during the actual show… what can I say, Evie Sphinx is an dynamic dancer!

During our little down time, we visited a fantastic farmers market. I was content with a few pints of raspberries, but the guys had to buy a whole leg of grass-fed lamb! And there was Malian food too. And of course, there was some clothing shopping in town. Maybe I shall even post some picture of my treasures.

The only real negative was that someone stole our signboard. Hard to believe that we had it out on the sidewalk for two weeks in grubby Central Square, Cambridge with no problems, but after a few hours in pleasant, hippie Brattleboro, it’s gone. So if you see a sandwich board with a blow up of our logo and “retrofabulous”, we’d really like it back.

Before I close, I’d like to recognize our tech crew:

Creating excellent lighting is a challenging enough job, but doing so in a mere few hours, in an unfamiliar theatre, that’s not really set up for our kind of lighting, is a near miracle. And yet Hunter still manages to do it. With very little cursing. Even when he had to run extension cords down the hallway to get enough power. Or when the aforementioned fuse blew.

Brigitte was kind enough to loan us her boyfriend to run sound for the road shows. Despite spraining his ankle the day before, he was still game. And when he discovered the ankle was *broken*, he was still there to play our music. That’s what you call a trouper.

Next stop, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Peripatetically yours,

 

 

 

 

Published in: on 2 August 2011 at 2:57 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: ,

Life on the Road

Dear Constant Reader,

The Boston Babydolls are on tour! Madame Burlesque is such a great show, we just had to share it. We just finished a fantastic weekend in Portland, Maine at the Lucid Stage.

For those of you not in New England, it just so happened that the weather was *brutal* that very weekend. Over 100 degrees and humid. Thank goodness the theatre had air conditioning!

The show was well received and it was good to see some friends from the area. We had a little down-time and there were some adventures, like the quest for the topless donut shop (don’t ask…)

We’re looking forward to loading up again and heading to Brattleboro, Vermont on Friday. If you want to join us, get your tickets here.

See you soon,

 

Published in: on 27 July 2011 at 1:48 pm  Leave a Comment  
Tags: ,
Newer Entries »