Playwright: M.C. Curran. At: Gorilla Tango Theatre, 1919 N. Milwaukee Ave. Tickets: 773-598-4549; www.gorillatango.com; $35. Runs through: open run
Among the spectators at the standing-room-only show on a wintry day just before New Year's Eve was a lad who had celebrated his 18th birthday a week earlier, accompanied by his father and uncle. All three declared their choice of entertainment for a "boys' night out" to have been based on their shared enthusiasm for ... science-fiction movies.
Therein lies the distinction between "burlesque," as defined by Gorilla Tango's Dan Abbate and Kelly Williams, and your standard-issue skinfest. A Nude Hope's plotsuch as it isspoofs the groundbreaking 1976 space-opera film with a prologue in which a princess with a funny hairdo transmits a provocative plea via hologram. This time, however, the message is intercepted by a prepubescent boy on whom her sexual innuendoes are lost. Fortunately, his elderly mentor is intrigued by this mysterious intergalactic booty call, and so the rescue journey commences.
Did I mention that all the roles are played by nubile young women, and that their adventures all involve taking their clothes off? Rachel Singer's choreography calls for two sections of starship chassis to be transformed into props for a fan-dance, the mercenary Han Solo executes a steely-eyed chair dance, and a pair of storm troopers clad in masked helmets, pasties and bikini-bottoms lead our heroes in a marching drill to a spirited anthem ofwhat else?"Macho Man." The disco-era songbook takes a break during a full-cast Busby Berkeley-style Charleston line, but returns to the 1970s for the final battle and "Disco Inferno."
You won't see anybody tucking money into bras or garters, though a hat is passed, should anyone want to contribute. Nor do the eight beauties ever invoke offensively lascivious behaviorthese are not blank-faced gentlemen's-club chorines, nor tight-lipped academics conducting research. Instead, the impression conveyed by the convivial smiles of the athletic ensemble is of nothing more than healthy and wholesome maidenhood engaging in good, clean, naughty fun.
The show's Saturday-night slot, 60-minute running time and $35 admission price make this a perfect stopover during an evening's Bucktown crawl. Oh, and if a gray-wigged-and-bearded Obi-wan Kenobi doing a peekaboo dance to the coy double-entendre "Brand New Key" only leaves you wanting more, there's a sequeltitled The Empire Brings Sexy Backat 10:30 p.m.