Published: 1/19/2017 4:47:32 PM
Saturday night the upstairs ballroom at the Florence VFW is filled with over 200 patrons schmoozing and enjoying a cabaret-like atmosphere — only campier. Every month or so, stage personality Hors D’oeuvres and friends put on a drag brunch at a local restaurant, but tonight’s venue and show are a little different, a year-end culmination billed as Bon Appétit Burlesque’s Best of 2016.
In language spicy enough for a sailor, emcee Hors welcomes everyone and lays down the minimal ground rules for first-time attendees (“put your phone away … and enjoy”), but mostly it’s about having fun.
“You can hoot, you can holler, you can boo — all of these things are acceptable. The more noise you make during the performance, the better they will do because they feed on that energy.” The crowd, it turns out, doesn’t need much encouragement.
A full slate of thirteen acts is broken up periodically by raffles of items and services donated by sponsors — all proceeds go to tip the performers — and games involving volunteers from the audience. These are deceptively simple but challenging diversions, like demonstrating “the art of the sexy dance,” playing musical chairs or competing in the “tassel twirl-off.”
After the curtain call, Hors invites anyone who’d like photos with the cast members to join them on stage. “Thank you for being an amazing audience. We … love you.”
Kevin Gutting can be reached at kgutting@gazettenet.com