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Review: The Most Interesting Show in the World
First of all, there was the major scene outside the club. Even if it hadn’t been a free show, which it was, odds are high given Rose’s cult status there still would’ve been a line snaking around the block. It looked like every Burner, burlesque fanatic, fetishist and sundry other oddball was there, clambering to get in. Maybe some frat types, too, possibly drawn by the promise of free beer for anyone with a VIP badge and, from the looks of it, that was an awful lot of people. Such awesome people watching—for a town that rarely dresses up, this was a pre-Halloween feast for the eyes.
Inside, the music blasted, the anticipation mounted, and those clever enough to peek up into the second floor green room through the cut-out open window got the great pleasure of watching one of the über-limber Dos Equis dancers do a very hot warm up. Pre-show entertainment included schtick-dick emcee, Johnny Fava, trotting out three audience members onto the stage for a little karaoke competition which went over quite well with the crowd.
Then, the main event. For starters, all the performers pranced around, simultaneously giving itty-bitty teaser previews re: their respective bizarre specialties. It was so trippy that Bowie-the-seventies-version could’ve time traveled to Austin and descended from an oversized disco ball and garnered little if any notice. That’s how dazzlingly the cast was in unison before they whisked themselves away.
A little razor blade swallowing and unswallowing by Rose further warmed up the room and then our host retreated to a corner of the stage where he spent most of the performance perched upon an overstuffed wing chair beside a lamp, giving the audience a terrific sense of perverse voyeurism, as if we’d stumbled into his living room.
Lilia Stepanova contorted this way and that, culminating in a handstand-on-a-table pose that allowed her to shoot a bow and arrow—with her feet. Juggler extraordinaire, Mark “the Knife” Faje did a routine he titled “The Bowling Ball on Fire with Steak Knives in the Holes Trick,” which involved tossing that flaming ball from his foot to the side of his head and balancing it there—with a live scorpion in his underpants. Toss in a Japanese robotic dancer, a dreadlocked sword swallower with a metal detector to prove his prowess, and an Italian burlesque dancer with flashing faux nipples and guess what? You’re still not getting the picture because really, you must must see this show to believe it.
But the night’s crowning achievement came courtesy of Leonid the Magnificent, a seven foot-tall Russian drag queen (or, as the program puts it “the quintessential Russian cowboy ballerina”). Not a dry seat in the house after Leo pranced about and high kicked in monster platforms, an itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny bikini, and a headdress to put Vegas showgirls to shame. While his sword balancing and multiple-Hula-Hoop spinning was breathtaking, what really took the cake was when he plucked some guy out of the audience and proceeded to dry hump him for a good five minutes. The guy didn’t mind and no one else seemed to either—in fact, it’s pretty certain jealousy filled the air.
The show’s stop in Austin was one-night only, but you still have two nights to catch it in Texas—Friday in Dallas or Saturday in San Antonio. Totally worth the drive. Hell, totally worth crawling there.
