Tuesday Tease: Discounted Tickets to New York’s Gotham Burlesque!

July 2, 2013
By Brown Paper Tickets

New York’s Gotham Burlesque has been a critics pick at TimeOut New York almost since their inception. They regularly get glowing reviews in major publications like the New York Times and Broadway World and The NY Daily News even called it “Wonderfully theatrical…sometimes to the point of insanity.”

We featured Gotham back in August of last year and we think it’s time to shift our attention once again to this amazing monthly show at Stage 72 (formerly the Triad NYC). Hosting a monthly show is no easy task and producing a show that features the level of talent that Gotham brings every month is mind boggling. Since their inception in 2011 they have featured some of the top names in burlesque: Dirty Martini, Jo Weldon, Nasty Canasta, Angie Pontani, the World Famous *BOB*, Trixie Little and the Evil Hate Monkey and more!
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Tuesday Tease: Original Tease

June 18, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

I recently sat down with Donna Touch of Chicago-based burlesque collective Original Tease to talk about their upcoming show at the White Rabbit Cabaret in Indianapolis. Original Tease is a group of incredibly talented “classic” burlesque performers and their shows are unique in that they incorporate group routines, a musical hostess and comedy, creating an authentic vaudeville-style experience. Be sure to pick up tickets for their Indianapolis show on Saturday, June 22 right over here, before they’re gone!

Donna was kind enough to answer my questions about the origins of Original Tease, their upcoming shows and her experience of taking a burlesque show on the road. She even offers up some great advice to burlesque producers that are interested in hitting the road.

So, without further ado, I give you Miss Donna Touch:

First of all, tell me a little about how Original Tease started. You call yourself a “collective” as opposed to a “troupe”. What’s the difference?
When I started Original Tease it was in response to an opportunity to take over the monthly 2nd Friday night show slot at one of my favorite Chicago bars, Lincoln Tap Room. I had already had a great relationship with the bar and knew the space was ideal for a show, but I didn’t necessarily have the cast yet. I hand-picked and invited a small group of girls to be a part of the initial launch. They all committed to be a part of the show and shared my vision. There are no contracts, group rules or restrictions to participating. We are just held together by our common goals which include putting on a great show and advancing our personal performances. We get together when we need to practice our group routines as well as workshop our numbers, providing a constructive environment for giving/receiving feedback and helping each other out with costuming, dance moves and advice. We are all sharing in the experience and responsibility of making whatever we do great. So far, that has been a stronger glue than a troupe member title and it shows in the quality of what we create.

Do you consider yourselves to be more traditional and/or retro or do you incorporate modern elements into your shows?
We are definitely on the more traditional/retro spectrum. We are the girls that love sparkle, giant headdresses, well placed appliqués and lots of feathers! While we all have routines that are modern in theme, they still really showcase the art of the tease in a traditional burlesque sense.

Tuesday Tease: The Return of Vaudeville!

May 28, 2013
By Jimmy Berg

In the last half of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th, vaudeville ruled American and Canadian stages. Vaudeville performances usually consisted of a variety of different, unrelated acts grouped together on one bill. Typically, this included comedians, musicians, dancers, magicians, actors, acrobats, and, in the more risqué houses, burlesque. Vaudeville was an extension of the travelling medicine shows, sideshows, circuses, burlesque shows and dime museums that had entertained working class audiences around the country in the early half of the 19th century. It basically took the crowd-pleasing elements of these travelling shows and combined them under one roof while, in most cases, toning down the bawdy material, in an attempt to draw in middle class audiences of all ages.

Ironically, despite the attempt to tone down more risqué material, it was in vaudeville that we first started to see America’s fascination with the female form. Many historians believe that it was during the early days of vaudeville that the female body became a “sexual spectacle” in itself. For the first time in American culture the sexualized female form began to permeate popular culture: in the shops, the restaurants, the grocery store and in the newspaper. And as the image of the sexualized female form became more popular with the general public, vaudeville producers began including more female acts where the women would wear revealing attire and tight gowns. Even an innocent sister act would sell better than a comparable male act and many female vaudeville performers were then encouraged to focus less on talent and more on their figure. Eventually, audiences would be surprised when a female possessed actual talent in addition to being good looking.
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Spit Take Saturday: Demetri Martin

March 30, 2013
By Julie Seabaugh

Welcome to Spit Take Saturday, courtesy of Brown Paper Tickets’ Comedy Doer Julie Seabaugh and her professional comedy criticism site The Spit Take. Julie’s goal with the site is to “elevate the public perception of stand-up comedy to that of a legitimate art form, and to enable comedy criticism be taken as seriously as that of theater, film, music, food, even video games. No a**-kissing. No bias. No mercy. Just honest, unfiltered, long-form reviews written by professional, knowledgeable comedy critics.”

Every week Julie will select an entry from the site to be included on our blog and hand-pick some related events happening that week that she feels all you comedy lovers out there will appreciate.

So, without further ado, let us introduce you to this week’s Spit Take Saturday!

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Demetri Martin has a remarkably clear voice. Whatever he’s doing onstage or in print, playing guitar or drawing humorous cartoons, that sedated silliness remains. It’s a strange experience, reading something like “Point Your Face At This,” Martin’s second book of cartoon art, and hearing that voice even when there are no words. It helps that Martin incorporates different media in his live act, and also did so on his short-lived Comedy Central show, “Important Things.” A book of Martin’s creations doesn’t seem so much a sideline, as it might with other acts, as a natural extension of what he already does. It will feel familiar to fans the first time they pick it up.

Tuesday Tease: Discounted Tickets to New York’s Gotham Burlesque!

Tuesday Tease: Original Tease

Tuesday Tease: The Return of Vaudeville!

Spit Take Saturday: Demetri Martin

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