★★★½☆ Queen of the Burlesque pays homage while investing a 21st-century feminine sensibility.

Adelaide Festival Theatre
June 13, 2016

Having grown accustomed to Cabfest audiences of my generation and older, I couldn’t help but notice the complete contrast with the full house of mostly young women glammed up to the nines à la Betty Page to see Dita Von Teese. Von Teese is the queen of the neo-Burlesque, paying homage to the golden era of the art form, but investing it with a 21st-century feminine, dare I say new feminist, sensibility. Yes, only a merkin, pasties and g-string are all that separate her from her birthday suit by the end of a routine, but Von Teese’s disrobing is a form of self-expression rather than an object of male sexual gratification. This isn’t a show for dirty old men in raincoats. It’s Dita who has the power and she dictates the terms.

I need to make a disclaimer. As a gay man, the titillation factor was out of the picture (although Von Teese did have a couple of buffed male assistants), so pleasing me was going to be hard work given she could only flick the switch...