Ten Foot Rat Cabaret at Under St. Marks x2

Ten Foot Rat Cabaret

Various Performers -- Produced by Rob Dub and Gregory Levine

Under St. Marks -- 94 St. Marks Place; New York, NY 10009

Reviewed 12/9/17

Pic via Ten Foot Rat at http://www.tenfootrat.com/blog/wordpress/

The Ten Foot Rat Cabaret impressed me again with a solid line-up of talented performers at Under St. Marks Theater. This theater, Under St. Marks, and the Ten Foot Rat seem to represent some of the edge that nostalgically lingers over New York’s streets. I’d say it’s a must-see variety show of strong acts for anyone who lives in the East Village especially considering you get them all under one roof for one of moonlit Manhattan’s best deals. This line-up featured the stalwart Guilty Pleasures Cabaret girls in some of their classy dance routines as well as the return of the darkly mesmerizing Shayfer James.

Shayfer James opened and closed the night and certainly put us into a trance starting off with an intense, “Oh your time is coming fast and the ferryman only deals in cash.” If you expected only comedy and a taste of burlesque, then you might have been in for a dark surprise. With a little bit of a parlor room, upbeat piano over which James croons sweetly in a husky voice about murder, it’s a little like sitting in on the in-house entertainment for the Adam’s Family’s annual ball.

Tough to follow that up with comedy? I’m not so sure especially for Melissa Aquiles who made it easy to laugh at a drunken santa left over from last year’s santa con. The audience joked around with her too as she went through the trials of being that typical “frat boy” who went too far. Having been that far gone myself a few times (as has the rest of the audience maybe), there were a lot of moments to chuckle at one’s own blunders.

Appearing again for the Ten Foot Rat was also the excellent Gregor of Berlin. No one handles the anti-joke with such stunning alacrity as the character’s creator, Gregory Levine. As he talked about the tribulations of poor Rudolph and bemoaned the sadistic traditions of Christmas fables, we were lured into the quiet cunning of Levine’s mastery of the art form. Once again the lesson? Live! Live your life to the fullest! Just seeing one of Levine’s sketches of Gregor of Berlin is worth coming to the Ten Foot Rat.

Another awesome sight to see was the Guilty Pleasure Cabaret girls. These dancers put on a revolving sequence of skits that are often holiday and seasonally themed. Their talent for acrobatics, timing, and ability to do all of their complicated skits in the middle of the night time after time make them one of my favorite acts in New York. Truly a pleasure to get a chance to see them work and to see what intricate costumes they’ll dance in next!

If Shayfer James’ hadn’t started us off with dark, then Noam Osband’s skit would have certainly added it. It was an easy one to laugh/cringe at. He sang about love from the perspective of Hitler’s wife, Eva Braun. It doesn’t get much more convoluted than that as one might simultaneously hope the heroine gets her love whilst knowing that she loved…yeah…

Before the Guilty Pleasures girls and Shayfer James, sent us off into the night with another dance and song respectively, Pamela Wess performed one of the most clever burlesque asks I’ve seen. As a clown, burlesque dancer, she attempted to perform a strip tease and constantly failed to do so. She easily found a space that combined funny and sexy although without the clown nose it may have been hard to figure out.

Hope you get a chance to see the Ten Foot Rat Cabaret! They’re a good group of people including host, Jillian Thomas, whose wise cracks about Canada versus the US have only gotten more nuclear ammunition as of late. Get ready for the next show in this monthly series tonight, January 13th!

Guilty Pleasures Cabaret at the Duplex

This review of Guilty Pleasures Cabaret at The Duplex was written by Christopher M. Struck and published in Volume X, Issue 7 (2017) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!

Guilty Pleasures Cabaret
Directed & Produced by Bridget Bose & Andrea Palesh
M.C. - Katie Sasse
The Duplex
61 Christopher Street
New York, New York 10014
Reviewed 10/13/17

Fortunately for my friends and I on a spooky Friday, the 13th, in October, we got the good end of the luck spectrum in attending a phenomenal show performed by the Guilty Pleasures Cabaretcrew in tribute to the 1990s and Y2K. Not only were they a well-choreographed dance group, but they included clever raps, songs, and jabs that stoked the audience's excitement. Frankly, it would be too easy to discount the talent level of these dancers given that Burlesque has lost some of its traditionally sophisticated airs lending more to stylish stripteases, but if you did that, you'd be missing out on the biggest in-secret dying to break beyond the borders of Manhattan's West Village. These girls are the newest innovative dance troupe to hit New York continuing the traditions of the first Rockettes and even the Ziegfeld dancers by combining multiple musical and dance styles to create a stunning effect.

One of the clear advantages of their performance is that it is sexy, but it's way too classy to not give it more than a couple of hashtags on social media. Each dance and each dancer brought a unique twist to the evening. I'll share with you some of the best-executed performances in order to give you some insight into what you can expect if you decide to experience Guilty Pleasures Cabaret in the flesh.

In the first of their 1990s mashups, which led off the night, Megan Stricker shined as the lead in a trio: schoolgirl uniform dance to Britney Spears' classic pop hit, "Oops!...I Did It Again." Throughout the mashup, the performers executed without hesitation, and the costume changes were so efficient that what must have been less than 60-second song clips were enough to go from sports bras to glittering leotards. The majority of the songs in the Guilty Girls' set were some variation of this style with well-done, themed costumes and acrobatic dance moves set to 90s music such as a raunchy "Come As You Are" that Kurt Cobain couldn't have imagined.

Photo provided by Guilty Pleasures Cabaret

There were a couple of other dance numbers that broke the mold. One of them being "Ray Of Light" led by the exceptional Andrea Palesh. This song demonstrated the girls' ability to work together with incredible timing and coordination. Basically a flashlight dance with colored lights, the girls were able to mime a story in a movement that evoked deeper emotion when performed in almost complete darkness. When set between songs featuring glitz and glamour, it had a strong effect.

The third song I felt was best executed and conceived was the rap to "Shoop" by Bridget Bose. If you ever imagined a white girl rapping, you probably didn't imagine the show Bose put on as her fellow performers danced synchronously to her left. There were plenty of the girls' trademark hair flips and high kicks too, but Bose's ability to drop heavy lead with more than just her legs was fantastic.

Ultimately, dancers owned the spotlight, but it was stolen temporarily by an incredibly talented supporting cast including M.C. Katie Sasse and vocalists Melissa Becker, Julia Goretsky, and Shayna Blass. If you haven't seen these simmering singers perform, they are worth a look. It was exciting to see the budding star, Shayna Blass, perform again. She crushed it on the song "Criminal" and brought the whole 90s spoof night home with a killer graduation speech which played off many of the misconceptions of the 1990s such as using old cell phones and the early opinion of the internet.

Fantastic stuff all around. I can't say enough about these performers. Their shows are more than fun. Check them out for the upcoming Halloween events from the 27th through the 29th at The Duplex. Get tickets or find out more information at http://www.guiltypleasurescabaret.com/ 

Stand up and Take your Clothes Off! at the Kraine Theater

This review of Stand Up & Take Your Clothes Off! at The Kraine Theater was written by Christopher M. Struck and published in Volume X, Issue 7 (2017) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!

Stand Up & Take Your Clothes Off!
Various Performers
Produced by Jillaine Gill & Kerryn Feehan
Music by DJ Stevie C
Stage Kitten was Flora Carnivora
The Kraine Theater
85 East 4th Street
New York, New York 10003
Reviewed 9/3/17
 

The Stage is set at the Kraine.

Jillaine Gill and Divina Gransparkle (filling in for Kerryn Feehan) co-hosted and curated an excellent line up of comedy and burlesque at the historic Kraine Theater in the East Village. Their comedy accentuated a night of laughs and sexy strip teases that kept viewers engaged and left them wanting more. Typically, this monthly variety show is co-hosted by Jillaine and Kerryn Feehan who will be back next month, but the chemistry between Jillaine and Divina was a pleasure to watch. For example, Divina dropped that she was coaching Jillaine to win the "Miss Coney Island" title this year and there happened to be a challenger in the crowd. It was a fun sequence which Divina followed up later by prompting Jillaine to read a prepared monologue. She read the part of the Judge's wife in Thinner. Jillaine got deep into character for the read with some campy retorts followed by a thrilling and conclusive shouting match. The audience responded enthusiastically. The duo also introduced the acts which included the female comics, Joyelle Nicole Johnson, Jen Mutascio, and Amber Rollo, as well as the burlesque performances of Sweet Lorraine, Miss Frankie Eleanor, and Clara Coquette.

Joyelle Nicole Johnson did a clever bit that combined political angst and sexual shock appeal revolving around a date with a white Trump supporter. He told her, "Black Lives Matter was a terrorist organization," and she decided that she has to do the deed as her part to help bring the nation back together. I'm loosely paraphrasing that because she also joked that the only reason she brought him home was "because he had weed." The funniest part, however, was her take on white privilege which culminated in, "he's mad because he didn't do anything with his whiteness." It had me laughing the next day too as I reflected on the performance. She also reminded us "you're about to see some titties, loosen up."

Sweet Lorraine, the founder of Shades of Burlesque, followed her and was easily my favorite act of the night. She strutted in wearing a wire mesh dress with a black corset to the song, "I Will Take That Ride" by Bette Davis. She had a classy, vintage hair style which hung just above her eyes which were painted to look like little almonds. As the song sensually chanted, "Lord have mercy...I'm mighty thirsty," Lorraine pulled off her opera gloves and shimmied out of her layers revealing her voluptuous figure. At one point she leaned over one of the audience members and began pulling off a glove with her teeth. She teased both guys and girls with sensual and sexual hand gestures.

Jen Mutascio came next and earned a lot of laughs. She made a number of self-deprecating jokes such as "I did grow up in Jersey. That is why I am so feminine" as well as one involving the guy in the front row who was sitting alone. She addressed him saying, "Hey, I'm a female comic. I'm not picky." Another highlight of her set was her joke about her mom finding her brother's gay porn in her closet. Her mom was appalled and Jen responded that is indeed what got her hot "because you can't get pregnant taking it in the back."

Miss Frankie Eleanor strutted on stage next in a beautiful golden dress with flowing, long, black hair. She moved smoothly to the Latino beat of Desatre by Pilon. She showed a lot of leg as she sensually removed various shimmering gold garments to reveal sheer underwear. She had incredible confidence and didn't even bat an eyelash when her bra caught as she removed it. In one deft swoop of her wrists, she snapped it off and tossed it aside to laughs, claps, and whoops from the women in the crowd.

Amber Rollo rounded out the comedy for the evening. She was a little in-between the other two comics with a mix of self-deprecating jokes that had some clever build ups as well. For example, she introduced that as a stripper, she made money by providing a "Girl Friend Experience." She listened, made eye contact, and didn't touch their dick." She also joked that she trades nanny service for a haircut and that the three-year-old was asking to be exclusive. She's "still got it," she laughed, and then dropped that improv (something she also does) was the lowest of the low as a performer because she could still be "booked as a stripper."

Clara Coquette upped the tension in the room coming out in full latex to the hard rock song "Feed My Frankenstein" by Alice Cooper. After pulling off her flowing cape, she caressed her curves and then turned up the intensity of her act. She made aggressive strikes into the air as she violently threw zippers and straps aside. Where only her eyes and lips had been revealed, she showed hand, arm, and leg until she went down to her bare chest. When she finally let her mask fall to the floor, the only thing remaining was her panties and high-heeled boots. Electric performance!

Ultimately, all the performers did a good job. The comedy was entertaining and included some very funny jokes. Props again need to go to Jillaine for delivering a solid monologue. The October show next month will be the show's six-year anniversary. Additionally, Divina will be back to her burlesque routine, which if it includes as much sass and attitude as her stand up, promises to be fun. Tickets can be found on The Kraine Theater's website for $10 (or $15 at the door). See link here: http://www.horsetrade.info/event/4e8273d0c379530633751cbc53de0221   

Ten Foot Rat Cabaret at Under St. Marks

This review of Ten Foot Rat Cabaret at Under St. Mark's Theater was written by Christopher M. Struck and published in Volume X, Issue 7 (2017) of the online edition of Applause! Applause!

Ten Foot Rat Cabaret
Jillian Thomas - Master of Ceremonies
Produced by Gregory Levine & Rob Dub
Featuring Various Performers
Under St. Mark's Theater
94 St. Mark's Place
New York, New York 10009
Reviewed 8/2/17

Ten Foot Rat Cabaret is an entertaining and worthwhile experience for anyone interested in a taste of the New York Cabaret Scene. In a small black-box theater on St. Mark's Place, this variety show has been running for four years now. As far as cabarets go, this extravaganza features older, experienced performers as well as newcomers. With a rotating roster combining the classic single singer, comedy, and burlesque routines from month to month, there is an opportunity to immerse yourself in New York Culture and get an idea of what types of shows might interest you. Additionally, you may see one or more of these performers returning, and perhaps also get a surprise visit by Neil Diamond - if only. The following six performers were featured at the Ten Foot Rat Cabaret on August 2nd:  She She Dance, Kevin Michael Smith, Gregor of Berlin, Galatea Stone, Shayna Bliss and the JJs, and artist-in-residence Bill Chambers as Neil Diamond. The comedian, Jillian Thomas, was the Master of Ceremonies. I am told the name Ten Foot Rat Cabaret was inspired "by those giant inflatable union-local on-strike Rat balloons seen throughout New York City and, of course, our durable hometown critters themselves."

Pre-show (Taken by press)

She She Dance opened and closed the night. Introduced by Jillian Thomas as one of their returning performers, she opened us up with a bang. Blues singer She She Dance, a pseudonym for Azusa Dance, has a strong voice, a positive attitude, and solid dance moves. Putting those together in the intimate, grungy atmosphere at Under St. Mark's Theater was like putting an energizer bunny into your living room if your living room looked and smelled like a basement with a bar. She sang Dancing In The Street and Ain't Nothing But A Hound Dog with the verve of a Red Bull. At times, her deep voice was a little scratchy, but she really packed a lot of power into each line which made for a good opening.

Kevin Michael Smith was next up. An Air Force Man, Kevin's jokes tended to revolve around his time as both a reserve and deployed member of the USAF in Afghanistan. Some of the references that might have drawn a few cheers from a different crowd didn't get the same reaction from this Lower East Side audience. Still, he earned a few good laughs and was able to adjust his routine to the audience as he went including the gem that he probably set the record for "most condoms on (him) at one time while having unprotected sex." He performs a weekly show, Polished Comedy, at Beauty Bar in Manhattan.

He was followed by Gregor of Berlin (Gregory Levine) who was "contractually obligated" to appear. First, he pontificated on the trials of being relegated to a lower status of a comedian by his agent who wanted him to hone his craft. It was a clever sequence of self-effacing jokes which appeared within grander statements. He would remark on his frustrations on being sent to rooms with comedians who actually needed the help as if he was unaware that his comedy wasn't quite up to snuff. One of these destinations was Disney World where Gregor entertained children. With a stalwart set of stout anti-jokes, Gregor was able to deliver jokes in the form of advice and mockery of American children. He'll be at 54 Below on September 8th. He also hosts and co-directs Guilty Pleasures Cabaret.

Gregor also got the best job of the night according to him, introducing the burlesque dancer, Galatea Stone. Galatea strutted in dressed in blue with a feathery turquoise scarf that draped to the floor on what looked like 9-inch heels. Somewhere 7 or above at least. Talent. She danced for the song Sex & Candy by Marcy Playground, gradually pulling articles of clothing off and enticing the crowd to follow her hand gestures. It seemed like she would bare it all only to reveal a pair of stickers covering up her nipples. If you are interested, she'll be at Legion in Brooklyn for her monthly show, We Are Legion, at 8 p.m. on August 9th.

Shayna Bliss followed Galatea and disarmed the crowd with her voice rather than her legs although she did dance a little to the music as well. Accompanied by the JJs, a pair of brothers on the drums and piano, she sang Patsy Cline's Strange and The Beatles' The Fool On The Hill. She brought a lot of emotion to her performance which struck me as she seemed to pour her soul into her music. She wasn't quite able to coax the same volume out of the PA system that She She Dance did, but she obviously dug deep. An enticing performer, I look forward to seeing her again.

Neil Diamond came last. The impersonation portrayed an astute parody of the pop-culture giant, but I must confess to having never seen Neil Diamond live. A crowd more familiar with the hallmarks of a Diamond performance might have gotten more out of the solid Bill Chambers' performance. Still, his jokes about weed and old New York hit a few members in the audience, and his singing of one of Neil Diamond's classics while gyrating violently was a nice touch.

Very fun stuff. That's what you can expect from Ten Foot Rat Cabaret. Tickets for $10.00 can be purchased online at http://www.tenfootrat.com/blog/wordpress/ or at the door. Starting next month, the show will be on a Saturday night. The next show will mark their 4th Anniversary!