We do not go in for burlesque much in Washington, but to our northern neighbors in Charm City, it is a big deal. Burlesque is so much in the fiber of Baltimore that its chief sage and poet, the great H.L. Mencken, invented a term to describe the art: ecdysiast, meaning “an artist who, while dancing, takes off her clothes, for cash money.” So it should not be a surprise that for a show featuring ecdysiasts, the performers should be from Baltimore, here to take D.C. money.
Thus in Cupcake Cabaret, the ecdysiasts – two attractive young women, Lola Rose and Patty Cake (not their real names), and a third attractive person, Cwen L’Queer, who, by the program appears to be keeping the gender options open, ply their trade.
They do so within the following frame: Sherry Somebody (Julie Chapin) has on her fiftieth birthday discovered that her husband has been sleeping with other women basically since they were married. Sherry’s friend Delaina Duboix (Belinda Fadlelmola) has taken her to an ecdysiasts’ palace, trying to get her to think of herself, for once.
Each of the ecdysiasts, having heard of Sherry’s plight, compares her dilemma to that of some famous fellow ecdysiast (such as Gypsy Rose Lee or Josephine Baker – among the “bad women” of the play.) Then, in turn, they perform a dance to some prerecorded tune, by Madonna or whatnot, which ultimately ends with them revealed in underpants and tasseled pasties. We hoot and holler during this display, as they did in days of old (and as the program instructs us to), and thus experience what Mencken did, and also our grandfathers.
This is what ecdysiasts do: they dance. They don’t act (Ms. Rose is a decent storyteller). Neither, regrettably, do the actors engaged for that purpose, although I should note that even Holly Twyford would have had a hard time making the lame dialogue plausible.
Eventually everything comes to a conclusion. I will not tell you what it is, but you won’t be shocked.
As ecdysiasts are part of American culture, it is your patriotic duty to see some at one point in your life, and the three who present themselves here are a pretty good sample of the species. But no one is obliged to witness ham-handed writing and bad acting.
Cupcake Cabaret has 5 shows, ending July 29, 2012 at The Shop at Fort Fringe, 607 New York Ave NW, Washington, DC.
Details and tickets
Tim rates this 2 out of a possible 5.
I don’t know if I appreciate the extra descriptive effort — I feel like I’ve destroyed a completely fluid review — but I know I wasn’t wearing tassels. (Or underpants.) 😛
Thank you for taking the time to write this!
Tim didn’t say it was rare: just that “[w]e do not go in for burlesque much in Washington.” This is true. Although there are several shows in the area, audiences for those shows can hardly be described as large. In fact, many shows I’ve seen at Phase 1 or the Red Palace have audiences where more than half aren’t watching the show. Compared to audience sizes in Baltimore, NY or even Philly, DC burlesque just isn’t as big, comparatively.
That doesn’t belittle the work that the fine dancers in the area do: it just speaks to the climate.
Having seen the above show, I’d also say it’s accurate and fair to point out that modern DC audiences hear burlesque, and they think women. He wasn’t “calling them out” so much as clarifying for future audiences, which, quite frankly, is the entire point of a review.
Only one of the dancers is from Baltimore. 🙂
Also was it really necessary to call out the gender optional person? I mean they could have just been described as three attractive people right?
Also a little Google search would have shown you that burlesque in dc is not as rare as you might think.
If you don’t like the play that’s one thing but really I think you should endeavor to be accurate.