Are burlesque shows bringing sexy back?

At some point during the latter part of the 20th century, the term burlesque became somewhat synonymous with the type of striptease act featuring seductive dancers wearing pasties that Don Draper would take one of his out-of-town clients to see in an episode of "Mad Men."

While this connotation isn't completely wrong — sexy striptease does indeed play a role in the show — Sabrina Chap of modern burlesque act The Schlapentickle Family is hoping to educate audiences one show at a time about the true spirit of the genre that exactly 100 years ago was a mainstay of vaudeville. The troupe makes its Cleveland debut tonight at the Beachland Ballroom.

"I think burlesque means to make fun of something," said Chap, a singer-songwriter, calling from her Brooklyn, N.Y., home. "In the very early days, they were having burlesque shows and it would not be striptease. There was a story line where you slowly revealed yourself in a sexy and funny way. And the body was more than a body, it was a character that was showing itself and stripping."

The Schlapentickle Family is part of a modern burlesque scene that includes the Suicide Girls, BurlesQuepade and Marilyn Manson's ex-wife Dita Von Teese. The movement began in the '90s on the coasts and has since slowly crept to the Midwest. Chap's involvement began when she tired of touring as a solo artist. After enjoying the wildness of the burlesque circuit, she decided to form her own troupe featuring sideshow acts, performance art and live music. The current Schlapentickle Family lineup includes Chap, Miss Pussykatt, Marla Meringue, Paco Fish and Scarlett Let-Her.

"America's Got Talent" viewers will recognize Miss Pussykatt and her spark-inducing electrical grinder act. However, as you'll find out, her talents — as with other Schlapentickle Family performers — go beyond just grinding away at her metal chastity belt.

"Miss Pussykatt does basic stuff like nailing things up her nose or swallowing balloons and walking on glass," Chap said. "We also have Paco, who does boy-lesque. His style is really hilarious, a little bit twisted. There's always something hidden with him. You're never sure when he starts stripping what is the core of his character. Like there's this very, very, very dirty businessman character he does, and at the very end of the act he has this big hand that sticks out of his crotch and he asks people in the audience to shake his hand."

She continued, "There are different types of burlesque performers. Marla Merengue does really sort of twisted burlesque. She's 21, really sexy but also her stripteases are a bit demented. Like she does one where she forces people to be dominated by oranges. She takes volunteers from the audience and sees how far she can push them in terms of doing what she wants using oranges. It's weird. So there's a little bit of theater in there as well. She does straight burlesque where she strips but there's little vaudevillian moments of just sort of creating an atmosphere of sexiness and bizarreness and definite entertainment."

In some ways the burlesque show is similar to that of an R-rated movie minus the full-frontal nudity. In fact, Chap admits The Schlapentickle Family plays up the misconception that their show is nothing more than a striptease act.

"Yeah, some people think that, but I don't mind them," Chap said. "I don't care. I'm not saying we're the most intellectual thing. Basically, this entire show is about very base entertainment. It's fine if people think it's a (expletive) show. It's not completely — there are breasts in it and the furthest we go down to is pasties. We do the infamous Carmina Boob-rana sketch, which is probably my favorite part of the show, where we all just grab our breasts in our hands to the tune of ‘Carmina Burana' with flashlights attached to our head and move our breasts up and down. It's hilarious. It's sexy but also just ridiculous. And everyone laughs their (expletives) off."

One person sold on the movement is Beachland Ballroom Public Relations Director Katherine Isenhart, who over the past few years has increasingly booked more burlesque acts into the venue on Cleveland's East Side.

"We like it. It's different and kind of kitschy," Isenhart said. "It's titillating in a nice way and charming. They're doing burlesque, but they're attracted to a younger audience. I wasn't sure what to expect when we started doing them, but it's a pretty normal crowd. I was really surprised. There are a lot of couples that come into the burlesque shows. It's really cool, and they have a great time. It's like not triple-X porn or anything like that. It's just fun."

Details

Who: The Schlapentickle Family Burlesque and Revue with Pinch & Squeal and Bella Sin.

When: 9 tonight.

Where: Beachland Ballroom, 15711 Waterloo Road, Cleveland.

Tickets: $10.

Info: 216-383-1124 or visit www.beachlandballroom.com.