The Labor Day weekend has long meant one thing and one thing only for this little closet geek with a severe rhinestone habit: Dragon*Con! My car was literally packed to the ceiling and I was ready for a glam-bam a little more Edward James Almos Ma’am weekend! However, this year was a little different. I was wearing a press badge for The Examiner. No, it wasn’t all fun and games for me this year as I was tasked with no small undertaking—I was to attend and review the Dragon*Con Cabaret produced by Stormy Knight, a local Atlanta Burlesque performer and producer. She’s a performer staple for almost every Mon Cherie event in town, so it was no small wonder to see the underground production maven herself involved as the “backstage momma” for all of the lovely ladies involved. I couldn’t talk about backstage without mentioning the lovely Sunny Midnight, and the dashing Alexander Montgomery pantie wrangling now could I? With their own little inserts of intrigue throughout the evening, who could go without wishing they could buy one of them a drink and debate DC comics’ latest re-launch.
I say that this event was no small task to review because of the overriding theme of the show—comic book heroes. I have to say, that I had no idea that the pickings would be so diverse, sure you had your Wonder Woman, your Supergirl, and, of course, you have to imagine with the magnificent costume designs that there would be a reference or two to XMen. But even with my somewhat knowledgeable pool of comics’ history, I was impressed with the range of characters the performers decided to grab from. So much so, that I decided some research must go in to some of these to properly write about them. So, hats off ladies, from the very beginning, here is my geek salute to your obscurity as I do something I rarely do, write about everyone involved rather than just my personal highlights.
The night began with local honey, Baroness VonShmalhausen of Minnette Magnifique. She was dressed as the beautiful lady of intrigue, Zatanna Zatara. I expected at least a little backwards speak as a salute to the magical mistress of ceremonies. But the good Baroness weaved the audience into a lovely spell of her own with her signature charm. Her interpretation of the lady of illusion set the flavor of the night with an obvious marker. Though the theme was about comic book characters, the acts would be inspired by color scheme or costume far more than for their actual characterization, thus, making her the perfect emcee for the night as the theme did seem more in tune with visual rather than fan placation.
That being said, the show was quite enjoyable with many new faces peppered with a few acts and performers that have become D*Con Cabaret favorites, starting with that redheaded hottie, Charlotte, North Carolina’s finest Chanteuse Big Momma D , performer and producer of Big Momma Productions and The Great Southern Exposure. Her costume was a beautiful Victorian take on Sally Jupiter complete with a Comedian pin.
She sang about what everyone in the audience wanted to see. I love this number from her, and this time, she really was in rare form. Warming up the audience and letting them know just what was coming up! Boobs!
It truly was a cavalcade of endless celebrations of the comic-loving feminine form. Next was Sammy Sutra Jacksonvill Florida with her tribute to Poison Ivy. Here, we saw a more goddess form of the character harkening to the now famous picture of “The Women of The DC Universe” drawing done by Adam Hughes. She did a classic strip using her ivy strand as a boa. My biggest complaint was that this was the beginning of an endless struggle with the stage floor. Sadly, it seemed everyone had a bit of a moment with it. My heart went out to the ladies and I was happy to see that they each made it through their grandiose struts like absolute pros!
Freya West from Nashville, Tennessee did another classic strip with her rendition of Emma Frost. She was a lot warmer to the audience than I would have ever imagined Emma ever being, as Frea just can’t hide that foxy fiery nature of hers but I think the audience and I agree on at least a little appreciation for the artistic liberty. She wore a crystal encrusted body suit to emulate the diamond skin and her diaphanous white gown made for a lovely adaptation of the classic costumes Frost is known for.
I have to admit, my knowledge of comics was tested beyond its limits. I had to read up on the statuesque Scarlett Letter’s tribute. Here all the way from Hollywood, California the lovely Ms. Letter slinked her way across the stage as Marvel’s Medusa. (Look, I’m a DC girl ok?) Though, after reading up on my friendly Wikipedia site, I saw that Ms. Letter could not have picked a better character for herself. Her signature four feet long, lush red hair being tossed around punctuated her radically sumptuous moves. I wished I could have seen the number again with a better education! I am sure she made some XMen fans extremely happy!
Next was the classic Cesar Romero Joker by Katherine Lashe of Atlanta, Georgia. She's producer of Syrens of the South and Southern Fried Burlesque Festival. What I liked about this number is that it took risks. First, it was funny, it wasn’t classic burlesque in the glam sense, but more in a commentary sense as if to say: “Why so serious?” The sound level was low, making the storyline of the song hard to follow, however, if I recall, it was about having a nervous breakdown as she stripped out of a straitjacket in a neon green wig and the classic 1960s clown makeup. It truly was a nice break and stood out to me as being done by someone who really wanted to do her comic book character justice with no thought to the fact that it was not only a non-glam piece, (though the glam girl in me appreciated the fabulously sparkly purple suit) but she was cross-dressing to a degree as well. To that I say, well done!
The next performer was Alessa from Mexico with her tribute to Scarlet Witch, another Marvel character. This is a hard little character to 1) live up to and 2) do as a stage piece. This character, who can alter reality and bring back the dead in some cases, isn’t exactly easy to do without the advent of live action CGI (some day, Doc Brown, some day). I can say the woman could bend realities of how a human body should move though. She had amazingly good eye contact, facial expression, and I liked her costume. What I can say about this one is... you may hex me any time darlin’!
Por cel ain from Philadelphia did a tribute to DC’s Cheetah. Oh, how I wanted to see her and Wonder Woman duke it out on stage! That truly would have made my night. As it was, Por cel ain did an exquisite dance out of a cheetah suit and was dripping with glam from head to toe. I think the room held their breath, honestly. I wrote one word on my notes about her act... mesmerizing. I think that about says it all!
Désiré Èvoquer from Atlanta’s own Musée du Cœur was positively adorable. She took a page from one of my favorite movies as a child and had a brunette Linda Lee come out in her school uniform and turn into Supergirl, all while singing! The unfortunate part was that there was an issue with her mic, but she handled it like a pro. The crowd usually understands and supports live theatre for all of its eccentricities. I think we all agreed, she was utterly precious. My final thought on this was that though the critics panned the movie, children of the 80s dug it. Long live Helen Slater!
Next up was Atlanta’s own Alluring Amazon: Torra Torrid. Also from Musée du Cœur, she began as the dynamic Diana Prince, and stripped, rather than spun, her way into Wonder Woman. Clever catch was that she used her golden lasso to tie up her red satin corset. My only comment on this piece is that Wonder Woman was never an American, but the song is very catchy so I find it forgivable. Diana Prince did, after all, work first as a nurse in the Army and later in American Military Intelligence, so it fits. But never forget folks, that hot lady was always proud to be Themysciran! (Total WW fangirl... does it show?)
Next was red hot Blaze from Dallas, Texas. An obviously talented costume designer really put the movie moguls at 20th Century Fox to shame with her perfect costume, look and hair with her tribute to Dark Phoenix. Not that Famke Janssen wasn’t lovely, I just never thought they got her look right. “Last Stand” was just a terrible movie wasn’t it? But Blaze actually did what a lot of Alternate Universe revisionists are doing by making a costume inspired by the look of the comic. It made for a really fun number we, of the burlesque persuasion, would describe as a classic “glove and gown” piece. Her look was positively flawless. Though her act really had little to do with the character in the comic book, the comments from the peanut gallery of “OH MY GOD TALK ABOUT XMEN RISING!,” made it quite apparent that there weren’t too many complaints.
Coming close to the end of the night’s festivities, I was delighted by Silver Kitsune’s (from Charlotte’s Big Mama’s House of Burlesque) Victorian Harley Quinn. Her characterization and facial expressions were so fun, and creepy, that she kept you saying... Lord what’s next? And you weren’t always talking about what she was about to take off! She even left a lucky participant a lovely souvenir for the evening. A calling card of some kind, perhaps? I appreciated her use of props and creep factor. Like Harley Quinn herself, dangerously beautiful!
To close out the evening’s event Stormy Knight (the producer) struck the stage with her signature number as a tribute to Shi. I will admit to my ignorance as to how her number had anything to do with the character, but I will come clean to say I only have a very cursory knowledge of the bad girl. I think it might take a true fan of the character to understand what Ms. Knight was saying with her piece, other than mixing American go-go dancing with Kabuki theatrics and marshal artistry (Shi character is a girl of Asian American descent). So I give it the benefit of the doubt for being beautiful, high energy, and oh so very sparkly!
Overall, it was a change from the usual super classic cabaret for which avid burlesque fans at Dragon*Con has become accustomed. It was more valid to the crowd and the house was packed with people of diverse interests. My hope is that the future burlesque shows for Dragon*Con head in this upward direction of diversity, geek friendliness, and a generous dose of the fabulous feminine divine! I also hope that you will be sure to mark next year’s Burlesque show as your must attend show of the night! I know I will! See you there lovelies!
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