Boobs and Goombas: A Super Mario Burlesque. Playwright: "MsPixy"
The Boobs of Khan: A Star Trek Burlesque. Playwright: The Nerdologues
Both at: Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave.. Phone: 773-598-4549; $20. www.gorillatango.com . Open run
At Gorilla Tango Theatre, Boobs are the brand when it comes to burlesque. This rental theater space has given prime performance slots to many Boobs-title spoofs based upon fanatical fanboy properties ranging from The Lord of the Rings ( Fellowship of the Boobs ) to Indiana Jones ( Temple of Boobs ) .
With so few new shows opening at the start of January, I thought I'd sample some Gorilla Tango burlesque with two of its long-running 18-and-older shows: Boobs and Goombas: A Super Mario Burlesque and The Boobs of Khan: A Star Trek Burlesque.
Now I'll admit that as a gay man, I have limited experience following burlesque shows ( save for Vaudezilla's super-fun 2009 burlesque of the film The Big Lebowski called Rollin' Outta Here Naked seen at Gorilla Tango as a rental show ) . Without the titillation that comes from seeing so much female flesh of various shapes and sizes on display, I'm going to understandably focus on other production elements ranging from the stripping costumes to the script.
Inevitably, most of these shows feature a flimsy plot twist where the usually male heroes of the original have been transformed into women, forcing them to go on a quest to become men again. In between come striptease numbers based upon the various characters or creatures from the original properties.
In terms of acting, I was disappointed that many of the performers ( identified by their burlesque names ) only half-heartedly attempted to offer imitations of the originals. In the Star Trek spoof, Sadie Hotking wasn't robotic enough as the android Data, while Zantana Zor-elle wasn't as stoic and wooden as she could have been as the Vulcan Spock.
Bella Canto did try to bring some William Shatner-styled overacting as Kirk, but she seemed to go over the top up front rather than build to a peak of over-exaggeration. As the plumbers Mario and Luigi, Coca Puffs and Angel de Vil respectably felt hindered by their spicy-meat-a-ball Italian accents. Only Diva LaVida seemed to create fully defined characters, be it the snarling villain Khan in the Star Trek spoof or the drug-dealing Toad in the Super Mario spoof.
The costuming for both shows certainly were the creative high points, especially the fantastical Super Mario creatures. ( The panel-revealing turtle was plenty of fun. ) Yet I would have liked better striptease choreography and more of a sequential taking-off reveal as we eventually get down to the pasties in both shows.
Now I know that I am not in the target audience for Gorilla Tango's burlesques. But with better acting, choreography and storylines, these Boobs spoofs might be more worthwhile even to those who aren't as interested in what each title promises.