They grow up so fast . ..
Peek-A-Boo Revue, Philadelphia’s renowned neo-burlesque ensemble, is celebrating its 16th year with a “Sweet 16 Birthday Show” May 2 at the Trocadero.
Ginger Leigh, the group’s artistic director, said the show will feature performances from current and former members of the revue.
“We’re going to have a big show and we’re bringing back a couple of alumni — Christa D’Agger, Tracey Todd Superstar and former longtime director Lulu Lollipop are coming back and will be part of the show,” Leigh said. “We’re doing a couple of favorites from the Peek-A-Boo archives. We’re having an after-party with a DJ and a couple more performances, craziness and debauchery.”
These days, everyone and their mothers and/or fathers are doing shows featuring their own spin on burlesque, an art form whose revival wasn’t anywhere near as common when Peek-A-Boo started doing its thing 16 years ago.
Leigh said that Peek-A-Boo stays at the top of its game because of how much effort the members put into their performances.
“We’re really focused on what we do and try to come up with new ideas,” she said. “We don’t really say, ‘We want to be different, so we’re going to do this.’ We just keep going with our own ideas. What does distinguish us from the other shows is we have a lot of trained dancers so we do incorporate a lot of dancing into our burlesque so it’s not just the classic striptease. We bring a little more of the technique aspect into it. Plus, we have a live band and we’re lucky because, not only are they able to arrange standards, they also write movements for us, which really distinguishes us from other burlesque shows.”
Leigh added that the newer members of the group also bring fresh inspiration and ideas into the arena of burlesque.
“Part of what helps keep Peek-A-Boo going is that everybody brings something to the table and it’s not always the same old thing,” she said. “At the same time, keeping the spirit of Peek-A-Boo alive is what we do, which is a good combination of the funny, the slightly inappropriate, the classic strip tease, but also bringing in trained vocalists and things like that. People bringing their own flavor is definitely good.”
Peek-A-Boo revue performs its “Sweet 16 Burlesque Show,” 9 p.m. May 2 at the Trocadero Theatre, 1003 Arch St. For more information or tickets, call 215-922-6888 or visit www.peekaboorevue.com.