Fringe Festival "My Girdle is Killing Me" review by Piddums

If you thought Khaan the musical was too high brow, this is for you.

Rating: 2

My Girdle is Killing Me

KC Fringe Festival

I'm have mixed feelings posting this review. I have a great time watching it, vastly uneven though it is. The Kansas City Society of Burlesque has put together what is supposed to be a murder mystery, but it doesn't seem their heart was really in it, so instead it is a couple of songs, a bit of physical comedy and a whole bunch of strip teases.

The girls are lovely, but the stripping is the weakest thing in the show. It seems ungentlemany to say so, but aside from Violet Vendetta's strip to Nick Cage's "Red Right Hand" and Annie Cherry's stripping while she sang, the numbers were sort of "meh". After a while it began to seem like Ed Wood's "Orgy of the Damned", where lackluster stripping is tied together by an absurd script.

And I wasn't expecting a strip club. This is obviously intended to be ironic and nostalgic and it aims at both and misses more often than not.

Now to the good stuff. Annie Cherry's singing is better than her stripping, and her stripping's pretty good. Daisy Bucket's one song was a showstopper and I kept hoping for more. And Artemis Vulgarus (Damian Blake) gave a beautiful example of physical comedy with one of the most perfect pratfalls I've ever seen.

Again, I had fun. It was just good enough I kept hoping it was better.

read the review at KC Stage