COMBINING all the spectacle and glamour of yesteryear with a contemporary sexy edge, the Modern Vintage Varietease Burlesque Show at Café Roux on June 30 features four of Black Orchid Burlesque’s top artistes.
Headlined by Diva Disastar – “SA’s Original Dame of Burlesque” – joining her on stage will be Bon Bon, and boylesque stars King St.Fox and Dear James. Fleshing out the entertainment will be the sultry sounds of Honey Howlett as the perfect soundtrack for this dinner theatre experience.
Bon Bon
“Modern burlesque has taken on many forms, but it has the common trait of honouring one or more of burlesque’s previous incarnations. Today’s burlesque performers put emphasis on style, and are sexy rather than sexual,” says Diva Disastar.
“Burlesque has evolved since the 1800s and while a typical burlesque act usually includes striptease, expensive or garish costumes and bawdy humor, today’s performers have created acts which are memorable show pieces by incorporating elements of cabaret, circus skills, aerial silk, and more; sensuality, performance, and humour are kept in balance.
“This is why Black Orchid Burlesque SA is proud to claim we have been tastefully titillating South Africa since 2007 with a variety of performers each of whom explore and present performances that are full of character, charm and magic!”
Bon Bon will be presenting her new flapper act for the first time. “I’m going to be colourful and full of energy and fun,” she says. In the words of Zelda Fitzgerald, which Bon says sums her up: “She refused to be bored, chiefly because she wasn’t boring.”
Dear James describes his modern act as being based on the Roaring 20s, set in the city that never sleeps. “I use my newspaper fans to highlight the everyday routine of the average working man from this era, which is something we can all relate to.”
Dear James
Inspired by the amazing voice of Frank Sinatra, this routine shows you that being a gentleman will never go out of style, he adds.
Those who know King St.Fox know his acts are usually jam packed with comedic antics and always features his signature cheeky pelvic thrust, but in this show audiences can expect to see something a little moodier with a touch of that Foxxie seduction in his boylesque chair-into-feather-fan act.
King St.Fox
Modern Vintage Varietease is at Café Roux, 74 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town. Dinner will be served from 6.30pm, and the show begins at 8.30pm. Tickets are R120 from www.caferouxsessions.co.za
For more information, call 061 339 4438 or email info@blackorchidburlesque.
Please note this is adult themed show – yes, the clothes come off but no, there is no full nudity; the performers are ladies and gentlemen.
PHOTO CREDIT: MOONLIGHT STUDIO