Did you know there was a booming burlesque scene in Richmond? I’m talking old-school burlesque theatre:  stripteases, magicians, contortionists, and the whole nine yards. It’s happening minutes from your front door. If you’re not there, you’re missing one spectacular show, and Cherrie Canary is not going to let you get away with it. [I’m serious. She’s not.]
Sometime between the Red Satellites' last song of the night and my last beer at The Camel, I interviewed Ms. Cherrie Canary. God bless my tape recorder for always filling in the blanks that my weary memory tends to leave out. I couldn’t do this job without you, faithful tape recorder. What I do remember [and I'm sure the photographs have surfaced already], is following a couple of my pals along with Cherrie Canary to some new joint called The Belvidere at Broad. There was some buzz of a dance party going on there, and I've never been known to pass up a dance party. Why? Because I lunge at the opportunity to let it all hang out on a dance floor, ok? I’m glad I did, too. The DJ was playing nothing but funk and soul—my favorite stuff to step to.
Anyway, I’m getting off track here. I asked Ms. Canary to come along with me to this party, call it field research, so that I can learn more about her burlesque ways over a few cold ones. With her long dark hair, shiny red lipstick in sync with her multi-colored tatted arms, and a Dalmatian fur coat [that I apparently ended up wearing most of the night], she certainly dressed the part of a sultry seductress. Was she an evil vixen? Was she part of some collective conspiracy to lead me astray? I’ll never know for sure, for that was the beginning of another blackout. So instead of making up what happened next, I’ll rewind back an hour or so, and leave you with what was documented, complements of ol’ faithful.

MAG33: What is your name?
CHERRIE: Cherrie Canary.

MAG33: Cherrie Canary? I thought you were Kitty Monroe?
CHERRIE: Just changed.

MAG33: Oh.
CHERRIE: When I went to NY, the girls that I performed with, one of them being Runaround Sue, who’s actually from here, moved to NY to perform. She moved back here briefly and started the whole burlesque thing that’s starting to boom here.

MAG33: So she’s one of the pioneers of the Richmond burlesque scene?
CHERRIE: Yes. I would say so. There were other troops that attempted to do stuff and I know that Studio X was trying to do a burlesque type of thing also and it didn’t really take off. It wasn’t really embracing the old-school burlesque stuff. So, Sue came down and decided we need to have this going on here. We held a pseudo-audition sort of thing to see if there was enough interest and a bunch of people showed up for it so she offered a workshop. I would say 90% of the people that showed up for the audition actually went to the workshop. These are the girls that are now running a lot of the troupes that are around town. There is Richmond Varietease that is run by two of the girls and they have a monthly show that is held at Canal Club. They always bring in an act from out of town, usually from NY or DC and they also incorporate a variety act. The performance I did with them, they actually had a girl that was a contortionist.

MAG33: How would you define “burlesque?” And how do you think it has evolved?
CHERRIE: Well I know how it all sort of began in the US. It involved a girl that was a singer. She had a wardrobe malfunction. Now, the wardrobe malfunction, of course, caused a riot. The guys that ran the place promised her that if she could keep the people coming back to see her week after week, they would continue to book her. So, she played every week and did basically a 52 week striptease. She lost one piece of clothing every week. That was her gimmick and people jumped on it. It kept her booked. Back then, when it was really hard to find a job and make ends meet, you wanted to stay booked as long as you could. So that’s really how it started in America, a tongue in cheek, wardrobe malfunction thing that lead to something much more.

MAG33: What is Richmond’s take on burlesque?
CHERRIE: The cool thing about what a lot of the girls here are trying to do , is we’re not trying to do just a strip show. We’re definitely embracing the burlesque of the past. There are a few performers that will only do music that is of the jazz era, or 50’s and 60’s, and stuff like that. So a lot of what you’ll see is of the traditional burlesque. There is one troupe that doesn’t really do that. They’re classically trained dancers doing modern dance that involves stripping. And what’s funny is, a lot of people will go to those shows and they’re disappointed because they want the old-school, back in the day feel. They want the show. They want the big tease. They want the wanting and whatnot. We really get the audience involved. We want them to be loud and rowdy. We want them to have the best time they’ve ever had. We also incorporate magicians, fireworkers, contortionists, there was a girl that had a bed of nails and she did a fun thing with that. We’re definitely trying to make it more like it was back in the day.

MAG33: What is your role in all of this?
CHERRIE: When I first started I basically just wanted to perform. A lot of us kind of intermingle around with each other. We always use the girls that are in other troupes. It’s not like this is the only troupe we perform in and whatnot. We incorporate everybody. If we have a theme and we think you’re going to fit, we invite you. We say, “Hey, do you wanna come perform with us?” Nine times out of ten they are like, “Absolutley.” But I originally just wanted to perform, now I’m a little more on the producer end than I was when I was just getting started. The cool thing about that is getting to pick themes, getting to find the right girls, getting to do the whole production that you envisioned in your head. So that’s really neat when it comes to this kind of stuff. You’re not just given an idea and you run with it, you’re actually given a venue, then you get to make you own thing happen.

MAG33: What inspired you to get involved in this?
CHERRIE: I grew up watching a lot of old films. One of my favorites, hands down, is definitely “Gypsy.” A movie about a famous real-life burlesque dancer name Gypsy Rose Lee. I loved that movie. I loved her and all of the icons from back in the day like Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell. I just loved all of the glamour of old Hollywood. It was something that I always wanted to do. I’m from Orlando and we just didn’t have that there. So I moved here, and it was something that I was just randomly talking about and one of the people I worked with knew Sue and knew she was coming to town and knew she was going to be doing this whole thing so he put me in touch with her and it just went from there.

MAG33: What kind of reaction do you expect to get from the crowd at one of these shows?
CHERRIE: The first thing we do is ask if this is anyone’s first time. And the funny thing is they raise their hand. And that’s how we know for sure they have never been to a show before. People that have been before know that they are supposed to hoot and holler and have the best time and basically egg us on. We want to hear that you like what you’re seeing. So we get them comfortable. We let them know we want to hear from them and to be loud and have fun. At the end of the show, we always get so many compliments, “When’s your next show? Where can we see more of you?” An interesting response from a lot of the girls is that they want to do it too.

MAG33: And they ought to, if you ask me. Tell me what it feels like performing in this manner on stage. You must feel some amazing vibes.
CCHERRIE: A lot of it starts with a song. You hear a song and you just get this idea in your head. When you’re up on stage, it’s like everyone in the audience is your boyfriend. So you’re just hamming it up and you’re like, “Yeah you want this.”

MAG33: That sounds like something a stripper would say.
CHERRIE:  Yeah, for the most part. But I guess maybe the difference is that it’s someone you want to be your boyfriend, maybe. It’s like you’re trying to entice them. You’re not just trying to show them everything and say, “Hey, let me smack my ass,” it’s more of a, “Let me show you a little something. Do you like that? Let me show you a little something more.”

MAG33: Have there been any uncanny or unexpected moments while you’ve been up there? A moment that stands out in your mind?
CHERRIE: Well it’s live theatre, so there’s always unexpected moments, always wardrobe issues. There have been wardrobe malfunctions. The quote is, “pop a pastie,” and that’s what you say to burlesque dancers. And it does happen. Girls have lost pasties. Sometimes there’s music malfunctions. One time the music just stopped out of nowhere and the audience continued to sing the rest of the song so that the dancer would continue to do what she was doing! It’s really cool, people understand that it’s live theatre and it’s not going to be perfect every night. One thing that’s really rare to see in Richmond burlesque as of now is a merkin, which is a pastie that girls where for the front. The history of the merkin is actually very weird if you look it up… Go ahead, look it up, I’m not going to go into it. [laughs]

And that is your homework for the evening, folks. Research merkins on Wikipedia.  And while your online, try some of these links on your browser, see what burlesque can do for you.

www.myspace.com/richmondvarietease

www.myspace.com/onegoodbadgirl

www.myspacs.com/sugarshack

www.myspace.com/sugarshacksouth

www.myspace.com/bouncingbettiesburlesque

By Author and VP: Ben Cokeley

Ben was born in Pittsburgh during the summer of 1983 (the year Roxy Music disbanded). He has since inhabited Chicago, New York, and several Virginian cities including Richmond, where he prefers to spend the majority of his time. His interest in music sparked at age three when he began taking piano lessons. A passion for theatre and film would soon follow; he was known for acting in high school and college productions while focusing on the independent film scene in Richmond. Nowadays, you’re likely to catch him at a bar in the Fan or commuting to Fredericksburg where he works as a high school teacher/behavior specialist. Ben enjoys a variety of music, some long-time favorite musicians/bands include: Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, The Doors, The Isley Brothers, Buddy Guy, Tom Petty, David Bowie, and George Clinton.

 

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