A West Side Story Burlesque Show (2/10/24)

Hmm, from Baroque dance to Broadway. Sort of.

My ticket had ‘from 12:30 PM to 3:00 PM (EST)’. So, I dutifully showed up at 12:15 PM and joined a short line. And waited. And waited. Long story short, this was an ‘event’ where we were let into the lobby at about 12:40 PM and were told that we could mill about (swag tables, hot dogs for sale, bar available) until they opened the house at 1:30 PM. Odd, my ticket didn’t mention any of that. Today, I finally found an online description of the event – “A West Side Story Burlesque Show, AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s (AHF) original take on the classic Broadway musical, is … [a] free, hour-long dance celebration of safer sex featur[ing] international burlesque …”

I can’t tell you who performed, because the cast list was only available via a QR code. That said, the fifteen or so dancers presented a high-energy production of a lot of the music (canned) from West Side Story. All of the dancers were great, including most of the male ensemble who were bare chested at times. There were three stately drag queens, who also strutted and danced quite well. The real gals were not too shabby either.

I have never seen a one-hour presentation with as much energy as I saw that Saturday afternoon. But I'm not sure I'd call it burlesque. Yes, there were some wink-wink moments. And some of the dance moves were suggestive/risqué. I'm just not sure that added up to burlesque.

Am I glad I went? Yes. Do I wish they had presented more info ahead of time? Definitely, yes. Would I go again? Maybe, if the schedule were announced ahead of time.

ConcertMeister