An Evening of Burlesque
Rating: ★★★★★
Venue: Spotlight Theatre, Hoddesdon 
Cast: Ivy Paige, Velvet Jones, Isabella Bliss, L'Sheila Showgirls, Sebastian Angelique, Bruce Airhead, Belle De Beauvoir and Matt Pang

Roll up, roll up. . . a scintillating night out of sparkling entertainment – the UK’s longest running burlesque show – is back touring the nation. And, it’s bigger than ever.

Join us for the good old-fashioned night out as we bring you the ultimate variety show, blending stylish cabaret, comedy, music, circus and burlesque to light up all your senses.

Burlesque and cabaret have always been favourites here at Stage to Page; and for me, are always overlooked in the world of theatre. So an evening filled with glamour, sexiness, and overflowing with talent - what could be better? 

Ivy Paige was our hostess with the mostest for the evening. She was full of confidence, wit, and of course, oozing with sexiness. Ivy kicked the show off with the L'Sheila Showgirls, and a belter of a performance of "Welcome to Burlesque". Ivy truly set the mood for the evening, and the audience were mesmerised from the opening number.

While burlesque was the focal point of the evening, the show managed to pull in a range of variety acts, from fire breathing, to balloon dancing, to escapology. The staging was fairly simple for the evening, but the use of props and lighting was brilliantly done, and did well to highlight the talent on the stage throughout.

There were a few standout moments for me from the evening. As an avid musical theatre fan, I adored the burlesque medley from Belle de Beauvoir to a medley from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. In fact, it reminded me a lot of the Sparkling Diamonds scene from the musical itself. Another favourite was the backwards strip tease from Velvet Jones - who knew getting dressed could be so sexy?

Comedy cabaret isn't something I'm too familiar with, so the balloon dancing from Bruce Airhead and the escapology on a unicycle from Matt Pang were absolutely fantastic, and added some light relief from the dark and sultry vibes from the rest of the show.

However, the star of the show is, without a doubt, Isabella Bliss. From impersonating Marilyn Monroe (with audience interaction), to stripping against an oversized high heel, to eventually ending the show in a giant cocktail glass, dripping with water. She was brimming with sexiness and the crowd were hypnotised whenever she was on stage. 

An understated moment in the show was an iconic fan dance to a beautiful cover of the hit, Running Up That Hill. It was performed by the L'Sheila Showgirls, and was absolutely stunning.

If you're looking for an evening full of nipple tassel twirling fun, with glitz, glamour, humour and talent - An Evening of Burlesque is the show for you. Whoever you're attending with, one thing is for sure, you'll be leaving with a smile on your face.

You can catch An Evening of Burlesque on it's nationwide tour, here.