Burlesque at the Beach: A Coney Island USA Program
July 24th, 2015
Hotel Tryst, a kitsch Coney Island hotel celebrating its final hours before being razed and developed into condos; a story we New Yorkers know all too well. Part Overlook Hotel, part Chelsea Hotel and part Elephantine Colossus, Hotel Tryst exists in an unknown time and is home to an eccentric group of guests and staff.
After swapping my ticket for a room key, (read: program) I head straight for the bar of the hotel’s Lobby Lounge for a Coney Island lager. I was chatted up by one guest (Dr . Lucky) the hotel’s resident cat lady, who showed me inside her suitcase of tchotchkes and promised to read me poetry. I also had the pleasure of meeting a friendly flight attendant with a killer manicure and a considerable collection of miniature shoes. And just as about half the lobby’s patrons were whisked upstairs, Sabrina Chap took center stage as the hotel’s talented, albeit surly, lounge singer. In true form, she cursed at a couple in the front row for thumbing their smartphones, all the while belting about being present in the moment. She really is a thrill to watch in action.
After a spirited sing-along about heartbreak, it was my turn upstairs. I took a self-guided tour of the Coney Island museum, overheard a charming tarot reader (Trick the Bastard as Alabaster Stone) and bore witness to several murders. Once the bodies were removed, we were ushered downstairs and into our seats as the show began.
I was excited to see Armitage Shanks for my first time outside of the Burlesque Hall of Fame weekend, and I was not disappointed. He gave new meaning to the phrase “polymorphously perverse” as he bellowed a murderous melody in a half mask that rendered him both butcher and swine. He was a delight to (nearly) all of my senses!
Armitage Shanks
Other highlights included Sapphire Jones as the hotel elevator operator doing an adorable strip to Mary J’s “Going Down”. The expression across her face as she repeatedly pressed her strategically placed buttons was almost as gratifying as pushing the elevator button myself.
Cherie Nuit performed a hilarious striptease as a tourist, complete with fans made of maps and fanny pack lingerie.
Coco Framboise did a beautiful, classic fan dance as a spirit who haunts the hotel. But even with an introductory seance, the act felt more like an after thought than a resurrection.
Armitage closed the show by getting everyone on their feet for his rendition of Pink Elephants On Parade. And parade we did, right back to the bar. Overall, Hotel Tryst was more adrift than it was immersive, but still an affair to remember.