“[Burlesque] is about the sexy strip tease, the art of strip tease and seduction. But ours also has an element of humor to it, with a pop culture focus,” said Missy Suicide, founder of suicidegirls.com and organizer behind the Suicide Girls’ Blackheart Burlesque Tour.
“[Burlesque] is about the sexy strip tease, the art of strip tease and seduction. But ours also has an element of humor to it, with a pop culture focus,” said Missy Suicide, founder of suicidegirls.com and organizer behind the Suicide Girls’ Blackheart Burlesque Tour.
“Our numbers are pop-culture themed, and set to modern music… It’s a really fun, modern take on burlesque. There’s sneakiness, sexiness and a whole lot of fun.”
On November 11th the Suicide Girls’ Blackheart Burlesque Tour will arrive at The National, and it’s sure to add a national angle to Richmond’s already booming burlesque scene.
Suicide explained that the Suicide Girls take on burlesque stands out because of the hardcore choreography they work into the show. Suicide Girls works with choreographer Manwe Sauls-Addison, who Suicide describes as “insane.” Sauls-Addison has worked with everybody from Michael Jackson to Beyonce, JLo, and Lady Gaga.
“I’ll call him and say, ‘Hey, I think I want to do an Adventure Time themed number, how about we try the Black Keys song?’” said Suicide. “And he’ll listen to the songs and then he’ll say ‘OK, I’ve got something.’ Then, he’ll shine a light on everything I was thinking.”
Junker Designs creates all of the Suicide Girls costumes, which Suicide said combined with the choreography of Sauls-Addison beautifully. “[The costumes] come together in a way that I could not have imagined, 10x better than my wildest imagination.”
Suicide Girls began in 2001 with a website known for featuring alternative female models in a pin-up fashion. They broke ground on the adult internet scene and before long turned their digital work into a touring burlesque show. In 2003, they starting opening shows for Courtney Love, Guns n’ Roses, and even touring festivals in Europe for a number of years. What you’ll see at the National next week is a continuation of that tour.
But because of how labor-intensive the productions are, they didn’t get a whole lot of other projects done.
The girls put their tour on hold to do a movie, and about about two years ago, they released a book, Hard Girls, Soft Light.
Suicide says, “We sent two girls on a book signing tour, like a road trip up and down the West Coast, signing books at comic book shops. There were like 500-750 people lined up outside always, so we knew that clearly people wanted a live experience, and we knew we could do a much better show than just two girls signing a book. So it was time for us to get back on the road.”
Last year Suicide Girls toured the US, Australia, and Canada, and are back in the US again this year. The newest show had been in the works for the past three months, and in July, at the San Diego Comic-Con, Suicide Girls performed a two-hour set of every number they were thinking of doing for the upcoming tour.
They used Comic-Con for their receptive audience, and from there decided on the official set.
“There are so many [numbers], it’s hard to pick my favorite,” said Suicide about her favorite parts of the show. “I don’t want to give too much away, but there’s this Clockwork Orange one that’s pretty badass.”
The Suicide Girls Blackheart Burlesque Tour features striptease performances that poke fun at Star Wars, Adventure Time, Game of Thrones, Planet of the Apes, and more.
The tour has been on the road for about 20 days and audiences “have been going crazy for them,” said Suicide. “It’s even bigger and better than last year.”
Tickets are available at blackheartburlesque.com or from The National’s website. The last US tour sold out almost all dates, so make sure to grab your tickets quickly for what’s bound to be the hottest night of the week in Richmond.
