Halloween treat

Trick or Treat: A Halloween Boo-lesque
The Globe Theatre Saturday October 31.
Directed by Ian Harman
Reviewed by MICHELLE DUFF

If it was a treat you were after, a darkened Globe Theatre stage was the place to find it this Halloween.

The saucy quartet of Costa De Million, Trixie Treat, Yula la and Tina Colada were joined by emcee Mr Lola Illusion for a night of tantalizing burlesque in The Boom Boom Room dance troupe's production, Trick or Treat: A Halloween Boo-lesque.

The theatre was packed for Saturday's performance, with glossy-haired twenty-somethings sipping cocktails next to older couples and men in suits (one was wearing a batsuit, actually, but then it was Halloween.)

As the lights dimmed over the lasciviously-designed set - all velvet curtains and low slung chandeliers - an air of expectancy settled over the audience.

The next hour's entertainment did not disappoint.

Mr Lola Illusion, who some may have recognised as local choreographer and costume designer Ian Harman, played to perfection the part of the effeminate host.

With sky-high heels, black suspenders and a frilly pair of knickers capped with a waistcoat, jacket and top hat, Lola was part Rocky Horror Picture Show, part 1940s Hollywood burlesque glam.

As the singing emcee, he buoyed the show along with a series of dances and skits that were in turn mesmerizing and downright hlarious.

But it's the girls you really want to hear about, and these four characters were all class.

Costa De Million, with her not-so-secret shoe fetish, kept the punters guessing during a routine performed behind a giant velvet heart, with long, bare legs displaying a killer pair of diamond-studded heels and not much else.

In another scene she appeared as an ethereal, ghost-like figure, her body moving sinuously beneath a filmy white cloth.

Good-time girl Yula la held the audience enthralled as she passed two gigantic, feathered fans over her body, never quite letting the crowd catch a glimpse of the flesh underneath.

The playful Trixie Treat tempted the audience with candy, devious charm and flashes of bare thigh under a lacy gown.

And the hip'shakin Tina Colada provided some light relief, with a cheeky dance performed by her and Lola - where each tried to sabotage the other, while twirling in brightly-coloured, feathered tails - leaving the audience in fits of laughter.

Each new scene was a treat -  and while flashes of curved buttock, naked thigh and toned calf were frequent, this was no tacky strip show.

It was as funny as it was tantilising, with impressive dancing and the kind of costumes that made you want to go straight home and throw anything remotely resembling a granny pantie out the window.

And, it was short and sweet in under and hour. So if anyone was unsatisfied, it wasn't because of the show - it was because they left wanting more.

• If you didn't catch them this time, the dancers are back for Ring A Ding Ding; A Christmas Burlesque next month.

- © Fairfax NZ News