After enduring a decade of chunky chicks in contrived shows back in Gotham, we regarded burlesque a trend that lingered too long, like the flu. So we flinched when the mezzo soprano invited the Legman to catch her act in Downtown LA. But the lure of bourbon and brunettes was strong and now we’re elated, finding the Rag Dolls a thoroughly enjoyable entertainment for our hard boiled eyes.

A world of difference from desperate hipster novelties playing out in Brooklyn, Rag Dolls Burlesque is an over-the-top costumed celebration of tits and ass in an elegant, boozy milieu. It works because there’s abundant LA talent willing to work out of the mainstream and it’s the vision of an auteur.

“It is a different direction” Amanda Marquardt tells the Legman. A Shakespearean who previously directed A Mid Summer Nights Dream in a Santa Monica Boulevard black-box, Marquardt hammered out every element of the production. “Here, we’re honoring the female figure” the director continued, bending over in fishnets during a break and going on about the girls reveling in their sexuality. She’s got to get back on stage herself to flaunt her figure, leaving us impressed that the choreography and dialogue was inspired by original vaudeville scripts. The venue, Bordello Bar is also the real deal. Formerly Little Pedro’s-which lays claim to being the oldest bar/whore house in town- we especially dig an ornate gilt stage evoking that aspires to the grandeur of say Seville Cathedral. And while the last Williamsburg tittie show we caught reeked of deadman-shop rags, the costumes here are pure Hollywood. Legman adored the glam dress worn by Tamar Kagan when belting out Edith Piaf, and the Aida evoking wardrobee of an Egyptian themed segment, with Cleopatra and her ladies in waiting gyrating before a mass suicide, tumbling into a orgiastic-but tastefully so- pile of babes. Its one of those times where you feel like a man, surrounded by interesting women, and it all goes down with a drink and a laugh. In Hollywood.
Marquardt’s new show at Zombie Joe’s Theatre is inspired by the musical Cabaret, set in  early 1930’s in Berlin.

Aura Nightclub
12215 Ventura Blvd Studio City, CA
December 16th
ONE NIGHT ONLY!!!

Doors at 9pm
Door charge is 15

& Schmutzigen Deutsche Kabarett…
Dirty. German. Cabaret.

Zombie Joe’s Underground Theatre
4850 Lankershim
North Hollywood, CA

Dec 4, 5, 10, 11, 18, 19 @ 10:30pm
Tickets are 15 dollars