Saturday 8 November 2008

The Hurly Burly Show!

Imagine this .... 

A friend says to me "some girls from work are going to see the Hurly Burly Show - do you want to come?"
I say "who are the Hurly Burly Girls?"
My friend says "oh, they are a Burlesque Cabaret group ..."
I say "oh - strippers, then?"
My friend says " yes, but it's all very tasteful..."

So, on Thursday night I went to the Hurly Burly Show at the Leicester Square Theatre ... I didn't really know what to expect.  I had watched a clip of the HB girls on the Alan Titchmarsh show ... so assumed that it wouldn't be that shocking .... 

We turned up at the theatre after a few champagne cocktails and a lovely curry ... and were surrounded by London's 40's/Burlesque scene ... girls with fantastic hair do's, full 40's outfits, hats, men in drag .... all this on a Thursday night! How exciting!  

We collected our free drink and took our seats ... Mr Dusty Limits (the compere) took the stage ... very camp and very funny .... "Please welcome to the stage Miss Polly Rae and her Hurly Burly Girls!!!!" .... the audience went mad (incidentally there were more women in the audience - including the fabulous Marcella Puppini of the Puppini Sisters!) .... 

The girls came on all corseted and did a brilliant dance routine, with Polly Rae singing ... it was great!  In fact the first half of the show was excellent....fab costumes, music (Glen Miller's "In The Mood", Benny Goodman's "Sing Sing Sing" [the soundtrack to Victoria Plum's life] ... comedy .... the odd glove, scarf and skirt being removed ... 

The second half was much more risque with more items of clothing being removed ... more tassels, bosoms and bottoms .... the artiness of the first half was lost, with the emphasis being on lots of shimmying their tasselled bosoms! 
I don't think I would rush back to an evening like this!  Although, it was fun to go to a cabaret night like this ... Miss Polly Rae spoke on the Alan Titchmarsh show about the HB Girls being about female empowerment ... but in the end, the girls were just stripping ... would there be a need for strippers if men weren't prepared to pay for them? I'm not sure how empowering it is, really ......... 

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