KC Fringe "Divine Divas" review by Bard_of_Avon

A painfully bad burlesque talent show.
Rating: 1

Divine Divas
  KC Fringe Festival

The best things about this show are the comforts of the Off Center Theatre. Hats off to the techs, volunteers, and house staff for creating a nice theatre space for Kansas City audiences to see a show.

My mother taught me if you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all, and I have the utmost respect for anyone willing to challenge themselves by getting up on stage and performing for an audience. So please, don't tell momma ...

If I hadn't seen anything else this Fringe, I'd be asking if this is a workshop festival. Fringe pretty much allows any performance group or artist to participate if they have the application fee, which is great for emerging artists who do not already have an audience. However, every year I cringe knowing there are a handful of shows that will turn off new patrons who are checking out the performance arts scene for the first time. If they see one bad show, you run the risk they will decide this isn't for them and miss out on the shows that are well written, rehearsed, and performed. There are numerous really high quality shows worth seeing this Fringe so, yeah.

The show has one diamond in the rough: Luna Flare. She is entertaining as the mistress of ceremonies with confidence on stage and comic wit. She does her duties well in spite of the macabre happening all around her.

Red Hot Annie, a well known burlesque performer from Chicago, was there as a guest the first night, and she's always a crowd pleaser. Unfortunately she was only there for the opening night.