Tonight’s audience is a modest size – while all seats are taken, there isn’t much of a standing crowd. It is a hot Thursday, the first of summer, and we’re here to see the temporary return of Trixie Little to the New York stages!
Sir Richard Castle is our host for the Wiggle Room, and starts with an apology: “I’m white, so… sorry. I’m male so … double sorry.”
Melody Jane is up first, a new addition to the Slipper Room roster. She crosses a frankly unfindable song with a classic, Peter Gunn.
Tiger Bay takes us to her jungle. I can never get enough of her wide array of funny faces and poses, and the crowd agrees. And so does Sir Richard Castle, who outros her with “I’d love to toss that salad.” Badabing.
Since there’s only three performers tonight for some reason (the start of slow summer season?), Sir Richard gets to fill more time inbetween. He works the crowd, suggesting a threesome with a couple: “A little dick sandwich, hm? I’m Richard, by the way.”
“Any other tourists? I see you’re too terrified to answer the question.”
Richard declamates a poem of hate, opening with “I hate spell check. Duck you, spell check.” I think we can all relate.
Next is tonight’s guest star, Trixie Little, now based in Los Angeles. Trixie starts in a classy dress with a champagne glass in her hand, gives a slight wave to the audience as if to say “I’m back!”, drinks up in a tantalizingly slow drop to a split, and shows off her head stand and back split. A huge balloon drops out of the sky into her arms, and it gets wrestled into submission, bumped and grinded, and rolled between the legs, preparing for the perfect finale: Trixie standing up, opening the balloon, and letting the air blow her hair up, up and away. Yes, Trixie’s still got it!
ANB A2S5 Trixie Little ~ Balloon
Time for the gogo box, which Tiger Bay claims first, then followed by Trixie. (Editor’s Note: rumors of the author being pulled onto the gogo box, stripped of his belt, and whipped by a riding Trixie are greatly exaggerated).
Melody Jane opens the second half of the show with one of her signature acts, dressed in a blue gimp suit to the tune of Under Pressure.
Melody Jane at the 2015 New York Burlesque Festival
Tiger Bay gets physical with an electric eel that seems just as smitten with her as the audience is. After careening all over the stage, the eel lights up to end the act.
The last act for tonight is Trixie again, in a yellow dress, pulling out a banana and eating it in a few quick bites. With the little banana gone, the big reveal comes – Trixie’s dress and hat is the real banana, and she peels off each piece of the skin, twirling around, until she’s halfway peeled. She continues peeling, revealing a black finger, and every piece of clothing she’s wearing has a little piece of banana skin on it. With all the peel gone, she ends with another split and headstand as well as a sideways handstand.
ANB A1S9 Trixie Little ~ Banana Peel
Richard Castle has no choice but to quip “that was a-peel-ing”.
So good to see Trixie on the stage again! We want more.