Burlesque: a humorous and provocative stage show feature slapstick humor, comic skits, bawdy songs, striptease acts, and a scantily clad female chorus. Center Stage Players delivers just that in their new production, Beads, Bangles and Baggy Pants. What they don't deliver is a show ready for an audience. If this type of production interests you, wait a few weeks, closer to the end of the run, which is August 21, 2005.
Writer/Director/Top Banana Thomas M. Walker III has the medium of burlesque down pat. The various humor styles, the patter, and the show's style are all there. Traditional burlesque humor is rapid fire, for not all the jokes work, so they get lost in the laughter at the ones that do work. In fact, the whole of burlesque is always moving. Even the dance numbers have an upbeat tempo. Michael Thomas Tower's music and lyrics are classical burlesque. Choreographer Claudia Dyson-Hightower's dance routines are right on the numbers. And, to make everything work right, Walker and Shulamit's costumes hit the mark.
The casting was interesting and diverse, which gave the show an added authenticity. Walker, in the role of Top Banana, is amusing. Jim Dukes, as the straight man and the emcee, works well. Christina Esposito has a delightful routine about lawyers in court that I remember from the last burlesque show on the circuit in the early 50s. Kirsten Gallon, as the lead girl, has several feature spots. Amanda Robb, Rebecca Marberry, and Miss Darla are burdened with all of the chorus numbers, along with Esposito. They make a talented group. The men, Kevin Berry and John Hyatt, as well as the other men, are kept busy with many routines. Musicians Marty Aguilera and Jeff Hibshman keep the tempo up as much as possible. The cast is kept extremely busy changing Walker and Shulamit's fun, authentic costumes.
Beads, Bangles and Baggy Pants should be a good show. It isn't yet. The timing is off, the tempo is erratic, the patter needs to be machine-gun fast. All the elements are there; they just haven't jelled yet.
