Super Happy Funtime Burlesque at recordBar

The Super Happy Funtime Burlesque troupe bills themselves as the only Western Michigan touring troupe, and it makes you sad to think that there might be other troupes like this in Western Michigan that aren’t touring. This is their first national tour, and the Kansas City stop was smack in the middle of 30 they have scheduled. The group played in Lawrence, KS, the night before and I am kicking myself for not driving the hour out there. 

I only heard about the show through the magic of Facebook – but not the Record Bar’s facebook- and the Record Bar’s lack of promotion as well as the rain that came through provided a crowd of twenty-five or thirty at its largest. 

And that’s a shame, because I think that I’ve watched the best night of burlesque and entertainment since I’ve been in the city. There’s nothing like it around, and it’s a welcome change. The troupe plays its own music with a back-up band, writes most of their own songs (in fact, I recall only three covers throughout the night, all with a unique flavor that the band brings to its sound), and provides some of the finest performance art I’ve been able to see in a while. SHFB would definitely fall into a Dark Cabaret style of show, but with all the burlesque elements, it’s merely a genre quibble.

Before the show, hard working members Regular MAN (not Guy, but MAN), Joe the Cabdriver, and Jon Benet Buttercup were generous to give me some of their time and fill me in on their background. The core members met at a poetry reading about five to five and a half years ago, and tossed around the idea of forming a burlesque troupe in the Grand Rapids area. The idea spiraled from there, and became what we are able to see today. 

From the tale of a twelve-year-old hooters girl who sleeps with bigfoot, to a Blues Brothers revival where ‘Jake’ does piles of blow and ends up sexually assaulting ‘Elwood’, an 8 year old girl giving us the TRUE facts of “burlqusek dancing”, a ‘Mommie Dearest’ send-up complete with Danzig soundtrack, and so much more, I cannot praise this act highly enough. 

The local duo of Annie Cherry and Artemis Vulgaris performed ‘The World’s Oldest Magician’ during a break in the action, and fit right in with the rest of them. If you’ve never seen them perform this skit, it’s always amusing, even if, as Annie Cherry said “Everything went wrong”. True performers will never let you know something is amiss, and these two did not miss a beat.

The audience spent the entire evening in laughter. The only person who really didn’t seem to enjoy themselves was the worlds most reluctant magician’s assistant, Kansas City native ‘Kate’, who in her defense, was volunteered by Magician (and dancer) Philly Goodtimes.

As the show went on, I realized how refreshing it was to see some KC natives be able to perform alongside this troupe as Annie's and Artemis’ brand of performance went hand-in-hand with the actual “performance art” aspect of burlesque the SHFB troupe was presenting. Overall, the night really reminded me why I fell in love with the art in the first place, and why KC has so much potential in its own scene to draw on. If you're ever in the Grand Rapids, MI, area, check out their website and see a show - You won't regret it.