London Burlesque Festival Glitterati Gala

Bendevere

London Burlesque Festival Glitterati Gala

03 April, 2009
by: Bendevere

Returning for its third year, promoter Chaz Royale exposes Londoners and burlesque connoisseurs from around the globe to over 100 of the world's top tassel-twirlers, from the nostalgic style of burlesque's early years, through '50s kitsch to the modern avant-garde interpretations that are growing in popularity with neo-burlesque's younger set.

The event sees several showcases of sizzling striptease, vaudeville variety and burlesque pageantry taking place at the Scala Nightclub, Bush Hall and Madame Jojo's; climaxing with a Secrets In Lace Fashion show back at Piccadilly's ever-impressive Cafe de Paris this Sunday.

A highlight will be the Best of British Burlesque which takes place in two installments at Madame Jojo's. British girls seem to relish the tongue-in-cheek campness of burlesque and put the fun back into a performance art that often takes itself too seriously. But if you like your burlesque serious, the International Gala Jetsetter's Ball will see the crème de la crème of the international burlesque scene, with the likes of Coco Framboise and Lola Labelle, at Bush Hall on Saturday.

The opening gala features a long line-up of showgirls and vaudeville characters split into two halves and led by veteran compères Armitage Shanks, Ivy Paige and Des O'Connor. Among the bevy of provocateurs are Agent Lynch, Honey Lulu, Stella Starr, burlesquer British Heart and many others.

A girl or two thrown into a vintage cabaret event in London's growing retro scene has become more an obligation than anything else. A well placed tease as part of a larger show is always welcome, but an entire evening, five consecutive evenings in fact, of girls mooching around to trumpets?

Thank god for the compères. The slick, comic and professional imp of the perverse Des O'Connor particularly, manages to shake up an increasingly skeptical press audience. Something warm-up band Ta Mère fails to do. Playing swing and jump jive standards isnt automatically cool like it was five years ago.

So is burlesque actually rubbish? It's a question that I can't shake all night. I know it's chic, retro and ironic; and I understand that it's all about the performance darling but surely being attractive naked, or even semi-attractive semi-naked, is helpful? Or am I completely missing the point? One of the particularly dour acts actually spends five minutes putting her clothes on. How can you end a striptease routine with more clothes than you started with? Another has my Italian friend turn to me and say in all earnestness 'She looks like my Nan'. Is it chauvinist to want burlesque acts to turn you on just a little bit? Of all the acts this is accomplished but once, by Honey Lulu, walking the line between irony and eroticism like an expert riding a giant inflatable lipstick.

With five days to programme for the third year running Chaz Royale was never going to guarantee pure class every step of the way, and with any booming trend there's never more than a handful of serious talents on the bandwagon. But the scene is alive and more than a fad. The crowd are earnest in their affection for the art of burlesque and all the style and music that accompany it. The true head-turners are all in the audience, and a movement with this much well-dressed sass and sexiness that manages to refrain from looking down its nose at outsiders and remain both inclusive and fun can surely stick around.

Click here to see all London Burlesque.
Click here to see all London theatre.
Click here for things to do in Soho.

Latest From the Critics

• What's On
• My Spoonfed
• Critics
• About
• + Add stuff

Copyright © 2010 Spoonfed Media Ltd. All rights reserved.