Burlesque vixen and Pretty Things Peep Show founder Go-Go Amy wowed the crowd at Bowery Electric last night with a sultry performance that was equal parts strip tease and side show -- and revealed that some of her biggest fans are from the conservative set.
"When somebody says, 'This is a good Christian town' or 'Not a lot of people are going to be into your show,' it will be the busiest show of the tour," Go-Go Amy, who is the daughter of a priest, said last night.
"I know that we're going to sell out ... because if they don't have this kind of entertainment, they're desperate for it."
The show is a combination of sultry strip-teases with lace props and sideshow hijinks like whip-cracking, sword-swallowing and fire-breathing. Members of the Pretty Things crew have appeared in videos for 50 Cent and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and now they're seeking to bring the act to more burlesque-starved communities.
"We take burlesque to places where it hasn’t been since burlesque happened the first time around,” said Go-Go Amy. “Sometimes when we come back they’ve started one after they’ve seen our show,” she said.
The spectacle attracts a variety of fans.
“I’ll see an 80-year-old man talking to a punk rock kid with a Mohawk. Under normal circumstances you all would never talk to each other,” she said. “It’s really hilarious at the end of the night where it’s … like my priest dad and a drag queen, like, doing shots together.”
Though there is an obvious appeal to watching scantily clad ladies performing on stage, there is also an art to burlesque, which could help to explain the show’s wide-ranging appeal.
“True burlesque is all about the tease, not the strip,” she said.
