In a city where nearly every bar and club has some type of 'burlesque' dancer or show, the excitement generated by Dita Von Teese's 'Strip Strip Hooray' tour '- which took over the House of Blues on Friday and Saturday -' is rather significant. Saturday offered two shows; at the early one, the venue was packed to the rafters with the expected greaser guys and curvy gals in bright red lipstick, flowers in their hair and skin-tight vintage frocks.
Yet Von Teese represents the more mainstream side of burlesque, which was evident by a crowd that featured plenty of casually dressed couples in T-shirts and jeans, gussied up goths, blinged-out clubber types, old people, young people, straight people, gay people, black, white, Latin -- you name it. It seems the appeal of burlesque (and we're not talking faux Pussycat Dolls burlesque, but the authentic bump and grind sans tattoos or contemporary punk references) is officially a universal phenom, and Von Teese is its high priestess.
She may not have been the first, but no one, expect maybe Bettie Page herself, has done more for the popularity of burlesque than Von Teese. Retro-inspired stripper culture is almost incidental to Von Teese's star power, as she was once married to Marilyn Manson, has been featured in Vogue and Playboy magazine spreads and her name is branded on a bevy of merch. She doesn't sing, but if she did, could she be a pop star? Indubitably. Like Madonna, who's been influenced by burlesque culture herself, Von Teese has a mystical allure, a combination of shameless confidence and perfectionism.
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