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Susannah Crowell

Pitchford

TD 317D

May 4th, 2018

“I’m a Pretty Girl”: Burlesque, Musical Theatre, and Progressive Female Sexuality

The modern-day musical is an international pop cultural staple. It pervades throughout

our society, referenced and parodied in everything from news stories to television to our lines of

reference on what it means to rise to the top, to be in love, and to be ourselves. Burlesque may

not be thought of in such a spotlight, but it has nonetheless influenced how we as Americans

make our art and how we think about sexuality. After all, it has been one of musical theatre’s

biggest influences from its creation. This “taboo” burlesque has influenced and saturated the

more “mainstream” American musical theatre industry, yet today’s rebirth of burlesque in

neo-burlesque has evolved past the progressive ideas of feminine sexuality that have been

reached in musical theatre.

For the purposes of this paper, “burlesque” is defined as a performance genre

encompassing early vaudeville-esque shows and individually-focused striptease acts, as its

cultural and industry definitions have morphed over time. In this way, “burlesque” will be

everything burlesque has been and is today in neo-burlesque. The examination of neo-burlesque

will be focused upon through performer Dita Von Teese, one of the world’s best-known

neo-burlesque artists. “Musical theatre” is defined as American-born theatrical pieces which tell
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stories through song and dance. Musical theatre and its portrayal of female sexual agency will be

explored mainly through the burlesque-influenced musicals ​Gypsy ​and ​Cabaret​. “Progressive

sexuality” is the level of acceptance and diversity given to women controlling and presenting

their own bodies and sexuality, as well as the ability of their environment to accept and respect

them if they break traditional rules of dress and behavior.

American burlesque began around the turn of the 19th century as a variety show of sorts.

To “burlesque” a popular play or opera of the time meant “to parody,” and many “punderful”

burlesques (such as the ​Ben Her​ parody ​Bend Her​) were essentially the equivalent of today’s

pornography parodies or the ​Scary Movie​ franchise (Davis 77). They were comedic, bawdy, and

oftentimes sexually-driven. Performers in these acts mainly consisted of male comedic actors

and female erotic dancers, though they often employed many opening, closing, and

intermissionary acts unrelated to the show. By the end of the 1800’s and early 1900’s, however,

vaudeville and burlesque’s popularity declined and touring productions began losing money, a

fact demonstrated in the musical ​Gypsy ​through Rose’s vaudeville troupe’s decline. Around the

same timeframe, the dances in these acts grew in popularity secularly and became what we know

of today as “burlesque.”

Meanwhile, Florenz Ziegfeld was developing musical variety performances on the stages

of Broadway in New York City, popularizing the image of the American musical. Elements of a

number of different preexisting art forms, including dance, comedy, theatre, opera, popular

music, vaudeville, and even burlesque, were pulled into big, spectacular performances. One of

the most iconic elements of Ziegfeld’s musicals were the “Ziegfeld girls,” tall, beautiful, and

dancing white women dressed all alike in gaudy, suggestive costumes. This element was
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particularly reminiscent of burlesque. Onward, from the debut of the first book musical

Showboat​, musical theatre developed into its own complex, plot-driven platform of an artistic

showcase displayed through stage and film.

As burlesque grew into its own focusing on its dance elements in the early twentieth

century, the theaters’ employees and performers shifted to increasingly female; the stripteases

were performed exclusively by women. Many burlesque performers started as chorus girls/show

girls, some even from classical dance like ballet (Barronnet 7). The line was commonly blurred

between chorus girls, show girls, and burlesque dancers. All of these sexually-driven forms of

dance fell under a societal category of “dancers of ill repute.” They had varying levels of risque

and striptease elements, though all displayed a sensual style of dance in revealing clothing.

With so much overlap of female performers between the two artforms, these elements

would commonly make their way to the forefront of American musicals (Barronnet 4). One of

the most famous examples is the 1959 musical ​Gypsy. ​The show was inspired by the life of

burlesque performer Gypsy Rose Lee. While the musical mainly focuses on Lee’s childhood and

forceful stage mother, Rose Hovick, the end of the show introduces the world of burlesque and

Lee’s coming into the industry. Gypsy Rose Lee didn’t start out in the performance world

stripteasing; she was a performer in variety acts run by her mother as she grew up. As vaudeville

went out of fashion, the act “ended up” at risque clubs with burlesque dancers, and the act

eventually ended up with Gypsy “stooping to their level.” In the lense of ​Gypsy​, burlesque was a

cop-out to keep the money coming when non-sexual performance failed, but it was also an

escape for Gypsy and a place where she was a star. It may not have been the most authentic,

empowering message considering the show was written by three men (Jacobs), but burlesque
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served as an ultimate positive for one of the stars of the show to find a sort of happiness after

years of being thrown to the side. Many see the conclusion of the show as Lee “having no

choice” but to sell her sexuality on stage to make a living. However, Gypsy Rose became

creative and gained control through burlesque. Her display of sexuality on stage was on her own

terms. Oddly enough, Gypsy Rose’s success sprang from her willingness to make the audience

laugh rather than gasp and to be funny while stripping and not quite baring it all or doing

anything overtly raunchy. This story of her success beyond her first performances is not so

highlighted in the musical. Lee gains fame at the end of the show, and her mother is anything but

supportive. The show can definitely still be considered problematic. Aside from the fact that its

title and title character are a racial slur, the story came from an all male creative team, and the

audience walks away seeing burlesque framed as the place where a young misfit betrayed her

family.

Through years of history of burlesque like Gypsy Rose Lee’s and its decline in the late

20th century, there has risen a new genre of neo-burlesque in the last decade. Women have

reimagined vintage-style corsets and costumes of early-20th century burlesque as well as their

own costume designs, choreographed their own story-laced dances, and created shows by

women, for women, proudly baring womens’ bodies. One such neo-burlesque performer is Dita

Von Teese, our generation’s Gypsy Rose Lee. Teese tours across the country with lavish shows

that she claims are made up of a majority straight women and gay men who are attending not for

sexual pleasure but for an empowering spectacle of staged sexuality (King and Von Teese).

Through her performances and lingerie lines, she is reclaiming sexuality as a personal, enjoyable
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artistic medium, not necessarily for audiences’ pleasure but for the pleasure of the female

performer.

Another modern case study is Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2014 production of the

1966 musical ​Cabaret​. ​In the show, the German cabaret where burlesque is performed is a place

of necessity rather than art. The cabaret is shown as run-down and dirty, making the burlesque

look cheap. Although there are dirty, run-down theaters as well, the image of the theater in

American society is usually that of the Broadway theatres, lush red curtains and big, open space

to rival an opera house. While the Kit Kat Club in the production is also displayed as a safe

haven from the greater evils of the Nazis, the show perpetuates the stereotypes that art on a

budget necessarily translates to desperation and unhappiness from its performers, and vice versa.

Though some rewriting has transpired in ​Cabaret​ with the Roundabout Broadway revival, the

new choices made were not necessarily plot-specific or pushing for feminist ideals in bringing

the band on stage and focusing on the relationship of ​Fräulein Schneider and Herr Schultz. If

anything, this shift in plot focus brings less attention to the cabaret and its people, giving less

time on stage to humanize the grimy stage. ​As burlesque has redefined itself in regards to women

and their own bodies, musical theatre’s older portrayals of burlesque and feminine sexual agency

(or lack thereof) in classic shows continues to be done today, with little to no steps forward. This

brings on the question, has burlesque surpassed musical theatre in feminine empowerment and

equality in regards to control over their own bodies? And why?

With audiences of both modern musicals and neo-burlesque containing enthusiastic

audiences of a majority women, where is the equality? For one thing, men write these musicals

about women, while women write burlesque for women. Gypsy’s book and music were written
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by Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim, and Jule Styne, while Cabaret’s were by Fred Ebb, John

Kander, and Joe Masteroff. These all-male creative teams can try but do not ultimately achieve

completely authentic voices for its female main characters. These and many other “classic”

musicals are redone constantly, with few new shows being funded to the point of fame and

production. While there are a few new musicals breaking onto Broadway with female writers and

production teams, such as ​Waitress​, we can only hope for more on the way in the middle of their

years-long journeys to final production. Musical theatre takes longer to produce and much more

money than burlesque, which is typically smaller, self-run, and much more ephemeral. The

turnover rate for new material is much, much greater than musical theatre’s material world.

Hence, musical theatre has been able to stew in past women’s roles and patriarchy. ​With the

same musicals being done as were written in the sixties and seventies, and full musical

productions running slower compared to a one-woman striptease, musical theatre has kept

modern in some regards, but not necessarily in the field of gender equality and the theatre

featuring body-positive, sex-positive shows.

Burlesque got more risque with pole-dancing trends in its less-popular times but has

recently has hit a neo-burlesque era of going back to the classic striptease and reclaiming and

renewing the artform in today’s terms and by women controlling their own act. ​With burlesque’s

origins of having always pushed societal norms and what is deemed “appropriate,” caution was

thrown to the wind when bringing it back into today’s third-wave feminist America in

neo-burlesque. ​Musical theatre, on the other hand, has rarely faced a dearth such as burlesque’s.

This further explains why it is far behind in realistic, sexually-empowered women. There is no

neo-musical theater from the feminist lense. While shows like ​Hamilton​ may be considered
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modern groundbreakers, the show’s women are still strapped into corsets and pulled into the plot

through romantic relationships. Overt sexuality is rarely seen in a musical, and when it is, it is

done as a desperate cash-grab and a shameful thing. ​Gypsy​ and ​Cabaret​ are two of the least

“slut-shaming” musicals available as they focus upon and sympathize with burlesque performers.

When it comes to ​who​ we see on stage, the “chorus /Follies girl” from back in Ziegfeld’s heyday

is still a staple in the industry for dancers in musical theatre, and little beyond certain, very small

or very large and non-dancing “types” of woman are cast, while burlesque artists now work more

on their own terms, with any body who wants to perform performing at clubs around the country.

Dita Von Teese, for example, was originally discouraged as a dancer, but she is now incredibly

successful and (keyword here is) controlling her own act. Musical theatre’s male-dominated

showbiz industry has a long way to go.

With such intertwining paths, burlesque and musical theatre have, at some points, been

one in the same. Compared to burlesque’s booming rebirth and turning point in neo-burlesque in

the 21st century, however, musical theatre has remained static and stuck in its old views of

female sexual agency, largely due to its limited amount of repurposed source material and

male-dominated industry. If only the same sort of reclaiming of musical theatre could hit big and

shake up Broadway the same way that neo-burlesque shook up erotic dancing, more women

could be reached and empowered, and society may take a step forward in gender equality and

freedom of choice.
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Bibliography

Barronnet, Marie. ​Legends: The Living Art of Risqu​é​. Idea Books, 2004.

Cabaret​. By Fred Ebb, John Kander, and Joe Masteroff, directed by Sam Mendes and Robert

Marshall, performances by Roundabout Theatre Company, 30 Mar. 2016, Bass Concert

Hall, Austin.

Davis, Andrew. ​Baggy Pants Comedy: Burlesque and the Oral Tradition​. Palgrave Macmillan,

2014.

This book explores the history of burlesque comedy in America and the formulas

that make up its routines using classic jokes, movies, and comedians as examples “to

bring this kind of material before the public, while organizing and classifying the stories

in a way that allows for cross-cultural comparison and analysis”. Davis believes in an

organic development of the racy genre from points of parody, ever-borrowing bits of

preexistent lewd humor, and entertainment. The descriptions of burlesque comedy fuse

burlesque costumes, scenarios, and performance with what would typically fall under

“comedy.” With this blurred perspective of the two genres, I can harness similarities and

differences with shared examples from this source.

Jacobs, Laura. “Taking It All Off.” ​The Women Who Inspired Gypsy​, Vanity Fair, 23 Feb. 2016,

www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2003/03/inspiration-story-gypsy-musical/amp.
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King, Larry and Von Teese, Dita. “Dita Von Teese.” ​Larry King Now​, Ora, Los Angeles,

California, 16 Feb. 2013.

Liepe-Levinson, Katherine. ​Strip Show: Performances of Gender and Desire​. Routledge, 2002.

Sobel, Bernard. ​A Pictoral History of Burlesque​. Bonanza Books, 1956.

Stencell, A.W. ​Girl Show: Into the Canvas World of Bump and Grind.​ ECW Press, 1999.

Weldon, Jo. ​The Burlesque Handbook​. It! Books, 2010.

Weldon’s primary source is the mecca resource for current and upcoming

burlesque performers about burlesque’s history, current industry, and what the job and

performances entail. Like in ​Baggy Pants Comedy​, the art itself is broken down into

formulas and smaller components, but this time, it is the sexual performance of burlesque

itself, not just the hints of it through risque comedic burlesque sketches. Weldon’s

perspective is that of an incredibly well-researched professional in the burlesque field

with a theatrical background, and for that she, too, shows the interchanging influences of

burlesque and theatre that my research is searching to demonstrate.

Willson, Jacki. ​The Happy Stripper: Pleasures and Politics of the New Burlesque​. I.B. Tauris,

2008.

Willson explores modern burlesque through a feminist lense by describing her

educational history with the subject and the transformation of her opinion of the artform

from negative to empowering. She elects burlesque as a type of feminist theatre and

retells its journey from a male commodity to a current form of rebellion. This specific

interpretation of burlesque (as a literal form of theatre) and focuses on the “why” and the

“now” apply to the present-day burlesque aspect of my thesis but somewhat clash with
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the interpretation of what separates burlesque from popular theatre. This differing opinion

is necessary to paint a full picture of what “burlesque” can be interpreted as and what the

modern performer identifies herself as as well.

Zeidman, Irving. ​The American Burlesque Show​. Hawthorn Books, 1967.