This is a funny show and I think any guy would find it as entertaining as the women in the audience seemed to, because from a guy’s perspective so much of the show is just watching the women in the audience respond. I took my wife to this one because I wanted her comments from the female perspective. Men are a tiny minority of the audience. The theater seats 364 guests and it was packed. I’ll estimate there were a total of five or six guys in the crowd. You’ll notice this as you’re standing in line waiting to enter. Lots of women are there in groups. The ones you see wearing tiaras are the brides-to-be heading in for a bachelorette party.
Usually in my show reviews I describe the musical selections in detail, but not in this one. You can hardly hear the music in this show because the women are screaming so loudly throughout. Any guys who acted in a strip club the way the women act at Thunder would be risking ejection by a bouncer. These women are totally out of control.
Before the show even starts, during the seating process, three large video screens show continuous footage of shirtless hunky dudes in jeans or swim suits or jockey shorts, and when the shirtless hunky dudes on screen suddenly drop trou to show their butt cheeks, the screamers go nuts. It’s just a video. No frontal nudity. The MC hasn’t even come onto the stage yet. Women are still trying to find their seats and already they’re losing their minds.
This is flat-floor seating, which is usually a poor setup for a production show, but it works well for this one, because the dancers continually come down into the audience and dance on the long tables.
The dancers strip out of business suits and cowboy outfits and pirate costumes and come out for one number dressed as an Australian SWAT team. Each number focuses on a different dancer who picks a girl from the audience to bring on stage. When they come out into the audience looking for a girl, the audience is not shy about wanting to be chosen. Every girl in the crowd is waving her hand to say pick me, pick me.
The women they pick range from young hot babes to middle-aged women and for one number they even brought a granny onto the stage. In one routine, they picked three girls to come on stage for a fake orgasm contest. Even I was laughing my ass off.
The dancers go out into the audience frequently, sometimes wearing nothing more than their banana slings, hugging women and lap-dancing for them. And the women get totally into it. The only shows I could compare it to are the old burlesque shows I used to go to in Detroit as a kid, where the audience was comprised of mostly high-school boys, aged 14, 15, 16. It was just male hormones gone wild to be in a room with naked women and the strippers seemed to enjoy whipping us into a frenzy.
I asked my wife to write up a few comments on the show for me. Here’s the take of a female Harvard grad:
What gets the women screaming at Thunder are the classic romantic/sexual moves … Women can see guys’ bare chests all over the place. Men’s chests, to women, are not like women’s are to men. But the women screamed when the guys would suddenly rip their shirts off, and what surprised me most was I did too.
What’s exciting was the way these guys were ripping their shirts off. They would make a smooth move, like a hip gyration, give an “I’m going to fuck you” George Clooney look … then rip off the shirt like it’s the start of something. The whole show is a series of pre-fuck looks and moves. It’s all foreplay, which women can never get enough of.
And I have to say the guys in Thunder were particularly good at this. They are gorgeous guys, but it’s not their gorgeousness that’s turning all the women on. It’s more their gorgeous-guy-next-door look, very sweet, kind of tousled, with lots of personality. They’re good dancers, but when they weren’t in sync or whatever, I couldn’t have cared less. I was totally into the fantasy of this great neighborhood guy putting a move on me.
Notice too how strong the feeling between the women in the audience was. They were screaming before the guys even hit the stage, and it was partly to encourage and nurture the guys and make them feel appreciated (as women tend to try to do), and partly to encourage each other. The biggest laugh of the night was the girl simulating orgasm and shouting, “Fuck me, baby.” It’s women supporting the sexuality of other women—a very warm and wonderful atmosphere.
On the music, I seem to remember Big & Rich’s “Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)” during the country number. And I think I heard “Live and Let Die” during the pirate strip. And the firefighter routine used MC Hammer’s “You Can’t Touch This.” The main firefighter finishes this dance by turning his back to the audience, pulling his thong down over his butt, then making his bare cheeks dance in time to the music.
The MC was very funny, did a lot of back-and-forth banter with the audience and was quick with comebacks.
My wife was very vocal herself (I’ve never heard her scream like that when I take off my shirt), but to be honest, I could hardly stop laughing. Guys, this is my new recommendation for a show to take your wife or girlfriend to on a date. She’ll love you for it.
