MORE FROM THE FRINGE - STOREYVILLE BURLESQUE

This town has a burlesque scene. There is a nightclub and bar dedicated to the genre. Two of the shows at the Fringe were burlesques. The festival has a no censorship policy but I couldn't help but wonder how a lot of women react to it - objectivization, male gaze and all that.  I shot both of these shows and the audience was about equally men and women. And the ladies were having just as good a time.

 

The woman who performs as Lola van Ella, in the green dress, had been putting on these shows and running a school in St. Louis for a long time. A couple of years ago she moved to New Orleans where the market for this sort of thing was better. Van Ella produced a two hour show with music and comedy, all pretty racy, and the usual gradual display of bodies. The conceit was that it was set many years ago in Storeyville, an area of New Orleans where any of your vices could be satisfied. The crowd loved it.

 

It should be no surprise that there were a lot of photos from this show that it would by unwise for me to post online.        

Declyne of Civilization

The other MC, judge and general disruptor at Act Your Pants Off was Desire' Declyne.  I once heard her give a full-blown performance of the finale of Hello Dolly at one of these shows and it was a mind blower.  Here, she takes an audience member into her ample busom in what seems to be some kind of blessing. (Wait, now - are she and her the right pronouns?) She strikes a pose and has a good laugh with Lola van Ella. It is impossible to say which of the two has the greater stage presence.            

Let Me Entertain You

A bit more Lola van Ella from Act Your Pants Off. At one moment she looks like the goddess of spring, the next the provocative mistress of ceremonies with the whole cast. How does she just turn on a smile like that?              

The One, The Only . . .

Lola van Ella, St. Louis' favorite ecdysiast, She sings. she dances, she's funny and she has a perfect sense of timing. And she can curl your toes. There's not a lot of fabric left when she finishes her act, but, you know, that's how she makes her living so if you want the full view you will have to attend one of her shows. And if you would like to learn how to do it, sign up for one of her classes.You'll never regret it.

A bit more of this tomorrow, I think.          

Why They Call It That

The Act Your Pants Off show has a couple of premises. There are a certain number of professional actors and comedians, seven this time around, and two rounds of performance. If I got it straight, in the first half each actor is given a (usually silly) monologue to perform. In the second round they choose their own, which can be serious material. However, co-MC Desere' Declyne calls out directions from the balcony, ostensibly to test a range of acting skills, telling the actors to do, say, a Home Shopping Network pitch as Mickey Mouse or Euripides as a revival preacher. 

The audience buys "Fringe Bucks" for a dollar each and "tips" their preferred performers. This is totaled. In the second round the audience is encouraged to throw real cash at the actors, which they get to keep. When mistakes are made in the second round, the performers are in theory required to remove articles of clothing, hence Act Your Pants Off. Some bogus scoring occurs and an overall winner is declared. I might not have all the details correct but that's the general idea.

Above, Fringe executive director Matt Kerns feigns surprise over all this. Some performers really do have something to show off, like Alex Carnes, and Lola van Ella shows the right way to take off a glove.   

Act Your Pants Off 2017

Tuesday night brought us the annual fund raiser and warm-up for the St. Louis Fringe's festival season, Act Your Pants Off. It has been featured in these pages before. The festival runs from August 17 to 26 and if you are in the STL area and you don't go you are Not A Friend Of This Blog.

The top photo features the Fringe's executive director, Matthew Kerns, and our mistresses of ceremonies, The Lou's favorite ecdysiast, Lola van Ella, and our premier drag queen, Desire' Declyne. Below, Lola belts out a very hot version of Love For Sale. (Reminds me a bit of Evita Peron singing Don't Cry For Me Argentina. The pose, not the song.) She wasn't wearing this much later in the evening. It was a great time. Plenty more to come.