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Monday night's Sweet & Nasty Burlesque
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Sweet & Nasty Burlesque on Monday Night at the Public Assembly in Williamsburg, hosted by Nasty Canasta: this reporter has not yet discovered why Canasta is preceded by Nasty, or why the show was described as nasty, but on Monday night it invoked boldness and fearlessness rather than disgust. Nudity is to be expected in burlesque, but ordinarily, not quite as much flesh is revealed as it was here. This is a blessing for women rather than something to be reviled, especially in the US, which is cursed with an excess of prudes. One pervasive American conundrum is that it allows, perhaps glorifies, continual, excessive violence in movies but censors the fully naked woman, which is truly nasty. Nudity is not porn and should not be censored; watching burlesque makes some women feel that clothing might be a little unnecessary. A rather excited woman at the bar nearby danced uninhibitedly for her partner, doing everything but removing her clothes. The couple evidently had a rollicking night; the entire audience was enthralled.
The Sweet and Nasty evening was a tribute to director Paul Thomas Anderson ("PTA"), who gave us There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights, The Dirk Diggler story and Magnolia. The concept was established right at the beginning with Madame Rosebud, go going as Roller Girl, in denim skirt, rock-star t-shirt and seventies skates. In fact, it's testament to Rosebud's protestant work ethic that she danced, or rolled, between skits and during musical technical difficulties. A proper blue-collar grafter, she soldiered on between long pauses in the show, longer than any woman should have to, stripping completely naked early on and later, lathering up with whipped cream. Then she stunned me with her multi-tasking when, job done, she dropped down into the audience to wipe up the floor. Judging by the flyer, she was filling in for Ginger Brown: Go (go) Girl(Friday)!
Nasty Canasta did classic cigarettes & coffee in red. Darlinda Just Darlinda, Pork Pie and Bastard Keith did Julianne Moore's pharmacy meltdown bit from Magnolia complete with fur coat, tossing a fantastic head of hair, which appeared to be completely real.
Bastard Keith then returned and read the "taking my straw and putting it in your milkshake" monologue from There Will Be Blood and was so convincing that if you shut your eyes you would have sworn it was Daniel Day Lewis. "Meee-thod acting," he called it.
Darlinda Just Darlinda then reprised her Magnolia role and stripped slowly with obviously declining energy, portraying the effect the pharmaceuticals were doing for her. Then almost naked, she collapsed.
Victoria Privates did a melodramatic turn as Fiona Apple, the pop videos of whom PTA directed when they were dating, after which Bastard Keith did a highly impressive spoof of Paul's sermon from There Will Be Blood.
The effervescent and animated Sapphire Jones, who has star magnetism in spades, came on and did a turn with the milkshake, ending up covered in syrup. Here's a burlesque performer who loves performing with her food. She's been seen elsewhere with sausages.
Always inventive, Clams Casino, bound by a telephone cord, slowly unraveled, then cut herself free.
After perfectly rendering the emotionally charged Philip Seymour Hoffman scene from Boogie Nights, where he tries to kiss Dirk Diggler after showing him his new car, Bastard Keith turned over the stage to Nasty Canasta who presented her finale of the evening. The dynamic Canasta, in full jungle garb, got naked under a tiger-skin rug.
The show was a speeding train of hilarity: witty, exciting, creative and engaging. It appears at the Public Assembly every third Monday of the month.
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