Combining sensuality, comedy, pop culture, and Christmas, Deanna Danger Productions brings the Second Annual Byrlesque At The Byrd: Holidays At The Movies to Richmond’s Byrd Theatre Sunday, December 8th.
Combining sensuality, comedy, pop culture, and Christmas, Deanna Danger Productions brings the Second Annual Byrlesque At The Byrd: Holidays At The Movies to Richmond’s Byrd Theatre Sunday, December 8th. Deanna Danger herself is the show’s only administrator, wearing the many hats of production, direction, and public relations. She has been hard at work on this show since the close of last year’s edition, but ramped up the intensity in the past two months, hiring around 45 cast and crew members to staff the production.
Between running her own production company, Deanna Danger Productions, teaching classes at Boom Boom Basics, her burlesque instructional studio, and performing in a variety of other burlesque shows around town and farther afield, Danger is in many ways the face of the RVA burlesque scene. But she got into it quite by accident. “Burlesque kind of found me,” Danger said. While working as a dancer at private goth/industrial club Fallout, she performed as part of an evening with a burlesque theme. From there, she was hooked. “It’s pretty magical when I think about it,” Danger said. For her events, she integrates her collegiate studies in production with her performance experience as a dancer in order to take active roles both onstage and behind the scenes.
The second annual Holidays At The Movies performance is the fourth Byrlesque At The Byrd event Danger has presented. “From the chandeliers to the art deco,” she feels that the Byrd is a perfect space for a burlesque presentation. “The idea of it being a movie house allows us to infuse movies in into the show, which was where a lot of the inspiration came from,” Danger said.
Holidays At The Movies will begin with a performance from Byrd Theatre organist Bob Gulledge on the Mighty Wurlitzer organ, as well as a holiday film montage presented by Pollak award-winning director/videographer (and RVA Magazine contributor) Todd Raviotta. The show will be hosted by veteran RVA vaudevillian Mark Slomski, who will be hosting alongside Richmond’s favorite drag queen, Miss Magnolia Jackson Pickett Burnside. Danger reports that their chemistry on and offstage is “very feisty, and pure comedy.”
The show mingles vaudeville and burlesque for a fun, amusing take on Christmas classics, which the assembled company will “turn on their heads,” Danger explained. Slomski and Burnside will play the roles of Mark Scroogeski and Mrs. Claus in a framing story that parodies A Christmas Carol, picking up with Scrooge’s adventures the day after Christmas. The show will also feature amusing interruptions from the Film Roasters, reprising their roles as “Eskel & Seibert,” roasting the show from the front balcony.
Performers in the variety show will include local burlesque dancers Deanna Danger, Deepa de Jour, Bitsy Buttons, Buster Britches, Puppie Buffe, Scarlet Starlet, and Kelli LiMone. They will be joined by award-winning New York-based burlesque performer and television actress Hazel Honeysuckle. Each performer’s routine will involve a different re-interpretation of a holiday film classic. ”Burlesque tells a story, and the stripping of clothes [always] has a reason to it that fits with the stories we are telling,” Danger said. “It’s always exciting, funny and sensual.”
In addition to burlesque, some performers will integrate hoop and baton routines into their numbers to bring a circus-like feel to the show. “Each act is its own story in itself, and they all fit together,” Danger explained. “The show has a lot of theatre bits, lines from associated films… Apart from other holiday events, ours is very cheeky, fun, risqué and hilarious…it’s an empowering experience instilled with holiday spirit in the most sensual, funny way.”
Danger chose the lineup very carefully to ensure she got the best performances from the entire ensemble. “I always want the best of the best from Richmond and beyond,” she said. “I always want the most creative acts with the most lavish costumes. A slice of Richmond that is going to blow other the city away.”
Come out Sunday, December 8th in your vintage or cocktail attire for Byrlesque At The Byrd: Holidays At The Movies at The Byrd Theatre (located at 2908 W. Cary St). Doors open at 7:30pm and the show will start at 8pm. Vendors will be present, and there will be a raffle before the show. An after-party will follow the show at New York Deli (2920 W. Cary, next door to the Byrd), with music from DJ Scarey Pete.
Three levels of ticket packages are available. The Gold ticket package, at $50 or $90 for couples, includes advance entrance, front row seating, champagne toast with the cast before the show, a post-show photo onstage with the cast, a poster for the event autographed by the cast, free popcorn, and dinner/drink specials from New York Deli, Don’t Look Back, and Portrait House. The Frankincense ticket package, at $20 per person, includes preferred theater seating and dinner/drink specials from New York Deli, Don’t Look Back, and Portrait House. And the Myrrh ticket package, at $13, gets you a no-frills general admission ticket. To purchase tickets in advance, click here. General admission tickets will be available for $18 at the door. For more info on this event, click here: https://www.facebook.com/events/687737157903358/
On Saturday, December 7, the night before Holidays At The Movies takes place, Deanna Danger Productions will also present Holidays At The Jefferson: A Classic Burlesque & Vaudeville Showcase, at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville. This event will feature many of the same performers as Byrlesque At The Byrd, but without the film-themed elements that will be integrated into the Byrd Theatre performances. For more info on this event, click here: https://www.facebook.com/events/602062656524326/
