Burlesque at the Bowl – Review

Tali De’Mar

If you were ever in the mood to watch a ten-foot boa constrictor slithering over the body of a belly dancer, and a couple of pińatas being bullwhipped into submission by a buxom babe in lingerie, and you really wanted to watch a redhead in her underwear smearing an ice cream cone over herself, and maybe a couple shirtless dudes (with pasties) who’d probably had a bit too much to drink having a tassel-twirling contest, then you should have been at the Brooklyn Bowl for the Cinco de Mayo version of “Burlesque at the Bowl.”

The Brooklyn Bowl is once again presenting irregularly-scheduled burlesque shows open to the public.  Last night’s show was MCd by the bawdy Miss Karla Joy and featured the Suicide Sirens, along with Tali De’Mar, Chelsea La Vone, Di Lovely, Valerie Stunning, Jenevieve (SerpentineSorceress) Zanasiote, Vi Vacious, and stage kitten, Kitschy Koo.

Jenevieve Zanasiotes
(with friend)

This was one crazy show. Jenevieve started out with her boa constrictor, then got into belly dance moves. Chelsea La Vone did a fairly traditional gown-and-gloves striptease—until she took out her bullwhips and punished the Cinco De Mayo pińatas hanging over the stage. Tali De’Mar also did a more or less traditional striptease though she ended up pretty messy in a wading pool covered in ice cream and God knows what all.

This was an almost two-hour-long show, primarily because Miss Karla Joy likes bantering with the audience and fooling around with the adorable Kitschy Koo between acts. I could watch Kitschy Koo all night. She and Karla had the audience laughing throughout. Karla had a “dance off” between two female members of the audience (though I suspect they were ringers), and a tassel-twirling contest between two male members of the audience.

The Suicide Sirens, who are way out on the cutting edge of neo-burlesque, have been appearing in this show the past few months. You can read my review of the Sirens here. The Suicide Sirens have been a fantastic influence on the Las Vegas burlesque scene, as more and more of the acts get crazier and more creative.

Kitschy Koo

I love the melding of the old-style striptease (gloves and stockings) with the wild tattoos and kinkier props of today. Rock’n’roll continues to take burlesque to places it’s never been before. This is a Vegas show worth seeing.

Lots of couples and groups who just happened to be walking through the Brooklyn Bowl stop to watch this show and many stay throughout. The performers are loudly applauded (and howled at) by both the men and the women in the crowd.

The Brooklyn Bowl is primarily a bowling alley and concert venue with five restaurants and numerous bars inside the Linq (formerly Imperial Palace) Hotel and Casino on the Strip. The burlesque shows feature local and national talent on the big concert stage adjacent to the bowling alley. In fact, you can see the stage from the bowling alley, and the video screens above the lanes screen the show live to the bowlers.

Other than the seats located in the bowling area, there aren’t more than a dozen seats for audience members for this show and they’re all located at a long counter by the bar. Most of the audience stands for this show.

There’s generally no admission charge or a low admission charge (recently $10), so this show is a great cheap date, and cheap dates are rare in this town. I went with my wife and we’ll go again.