Results tagged “burlesque”

                 

At the 7th Annual Miss Coney Island Burlesque Beauty Pageant last Friday night, contestants Rita Menweep, Fifi Dupree, Gigi LaFemme, Queen La Quefa, Little Miss Lixx, Pandora, Leroi the Girl Boi, Glenn Marla and Minnie Tonka battled it out for the crown, which had been on Gal Friday's lovely head for the past year.

Recently Jack Nicholson was spotted on the French Riviera simultaneously smoking and swimming, as well as shakin' his 72-year-old thang with a significantly younger woman. Typical Jack. It turns out that his lady friend hails from the Bronx, and is the daughter of a former NYPD officer. The NY Post reports that burlesque dancer Dakota Ferreiro's mom spotted her in photos last week with the famous face; she told them, "I opened the paper and read about Jack Nicholson, and I saw the photo and I said, 'Wow, she looks so familiar. That's my daughter!' Jack Nicholson is an icon, and I'm not jealous or envious, but I wish Jack could meet Mama!" Currently Ferreiro teaches Burlesque on the West Coast, as well as appears on Showtime's Live Nude Comedy. Here's a taste of what grandpa Jack got.

You do not mess with burlesque dancers—we learned that the hard way when a passing comment about the pervasiveness of cellulite on some performers sparked a mini-avalanche of irate emails. Now it's The Learning Annex's turn; they're being sued by Veronica Varlow, a big-name neo-burlesque star who taught a class there about seductive dancing. She also did instructional videos for the company's affiliate, oneminuteu.com, and her lawsuit accuses them of misrepresenting her online as a "Young Sexy P0rn Star Stripper Dancer How to Put Lipstick On" and "Big [Breasts] Sexy Teen Girl Love Sex Advice How to Be Flirty."

Simon Hammerstein, proprietor of decadent downtown burlesque theater The Box, has been hit with a lawsuit filed by two former employees who accuse him of sexual harassment. You may recall this sordid story; twin sisters from Portland, "famous" for their onstage sex toy routine called "Twincest," quit The Box over the summer amidst allegations that Hammerstein was "forcing" them to perform sexual favors for him, and generally treating The Box as his personal, drug-fueled harem. In a subsequent NY Mag profile called "The Impresario of Smut," Hammerstein denied the accusations, but a number of people associated with The Box seemed to support the twins' debauched depiction of the place. Their lawyer tells the Post, "He felt free to treat them as his porcelain toys to play with at will." But until they can get some payback from the Impresario, they'll be performing their act around Portland, and selling their book, The Porcelain Twinz, Our Life in the Sex Industry, through their website, where you can also purchase their DVD!

Tradition dictates that holiday variety shows be structured around a loose plotline of impending doom; Christmas is about to be canceled, Santa's under indictment, a rabid bear is mauling Elvis Costello. In A Murray Little Christmas, the rollicking and ribald burlesque comedy show now packing them in at The Zipper Factory, Xmas '08 is critically endangered by the multi-headed hydra of recession, Proposition 8, and, naturally, gentrification. Oh, also, there wasn't room in the production budget to install a working chimney in the "illegal gingerbread squatting apartment" that serves as the set, so there's no way for Santa to make his grand entrance.

Angie Pontani and her "world famous sisters" are arguably the brightest stars in the city's booming burlesque scene; or at least the most recognizable to mainstream audiences who don't spend much time at the Slipper Room. Pontani is currently starring in a funny/sexy revue she co-wrote with incorrigible cut-up Murray Hill, who emcees the evening. Called This is Burlesque, the two-act extravaganza tap-dances along a fine line between unrepentantly ribald humor and classy, atavistic burlesque without losing its spontaneous charm. (Read the full review.) We recently spoke with Pontani about the show, her love of grilled cheese and her exercise regimen.

Robert Murray, the 18th century merchant for whom the neighborhood of Murray Hill takes its name, might be troubled to see that his family's legacy has been reduced to a fratastic cluster of post-collegiate, quasi-dorms. But his ghost can also take comfort knowing that for the past decade or so a comic lounge singer in Rat Pack drag has made the name certifiably applause-worthy. Of course, being a Quaker, it might take Robert Murray's ghost a drink or five to warm up to Murray Hill's ribald shtick. His audience at Corio Friday night, on the other hand, was roaring with laughter even as they sipped their first "Pink Tassel" martinis.

As of yesterday, sideshow school was in session by the seashore. Lasting only one week, Sideshow 101 introduces the student to "Fire Eating, Snake Charming, The Human Blockhead, Sword Swallowing, Magic and More," according to the school's website.

Clams: We were going to shows on a regular basis and after a while I found myself coming up with ideas for acts...but I'm really shy in real life, so I didn't think it was something I'd ever do. Just for fun, I took a class with Jo Boobs, who put me in her show, Paperback Burlesque at the Cutting Room...and I've been hooked ever since.