Article by Candace Lee
Photo credit Niko
Under the roof of the long-standing Union Square Theatre, the troupe of La Soiree promise a night of part-cabaret, part-circus madness. An inspiring plethora of individually perfected acts combining talents from around the world tailored to the New York audience.
With its intimate setting, La Soiree tantalizingly entertains its viewers with glistening bodies, a performance from Bath Boy, a man who plays with water in his jeans, and the English Gents’ shirts disrobed in mid-air while they traverse a pole unlike ever seen before to the tune of “Singing in the Rain.”
This suggestive jubilee has a group of skilled aerialists and artists. Jess Love, who dabbles in the burlesque with glittering hoops twirling around her body, dancing in-between them while acrobatically keeping her act literally in the air.
The ever-talented Mooky Cornish’s performance of puppeteering, piano-playing, accordion-squeezing, and chicken-training is pledged to have the audience quivering in their chairs with laughter. The long-awaited reincarnation of Freddie Mercury in the leather-clad flesh, Mario, Queen of the Circus, juggles and charms the audience with anything but stinginess, and Spanish striptease Ursula Martinez crafts a new definition of “hanky-panky” and the shameless extravagance of one’s anatomy.
Last but certainly not least, the glamorous Meow Meow’s vigorous voice and alluring stage-presence pervade the theatre in a show of modern-day cabaret and explosive burlesque.
Each act brings entrancing acrobatics that ramp up each segment the potential the seemingly simple circular stage carries, luring the audience further and further out of their seats and, with an irresistible pull, towards the larger-than-life figure sparkling on the spotlight-encircled stage.
From the dripping wet Bath Boy Steven Williams swinging to and fro somewhere in the space between the floor and balcony seats to tongue-contorting, table-leg-swallowing Miss Behave, La Soiree provides a great deal of entertainment—a provocative and purely escapist affair that guarantees the risqué and lurid with no apologies.
Creative Producer: Brett Haylock
Cast:
David O’Mer
Stephen Williams
The English Gents – Denis Lock & Hamish McCann
Mario, Queen of the Circus – Clarke McFarlane
Ursula Martinez
Mooky Cornish
Jess Love
Miss Behave
Meow Meow
For more, please visit: www.la-soiree.com
