Windy City Media Group Frontpage News

THE VOICE OF CHICAGO'S GAY, LESBIAN, BI, TRANS AND QUEER COMMUNITY SINCE 1985

home search facebook twitter join
Gay News Sponsor Windy City Times 2023-12-13
DOWNLOAD ISSUE
Donate

Sponsor
Sponsor
Sponsor

  WINDY CITY TIMES

All-male burlesque group takes off with Liza Minnelli
PERFORMANCE: NEW YORK
by Alex Lubischer
2012-07-25

This article shared 6800 times since Wed Jul 25, 2012
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email


All-Male Burlesque group The Stage Door Johnnies have been heating up Chicago stages since 2009. Come August, members Bazuka Joe, Ray Gunn and Jett Adore will be taking it off for their biggest gig yet: a one-night-only show at Fire Island's Ice Palace nightclub in New York alongside gay icons Alan Cumming and Liza Minnelli.

Windy City Times sat down with Bazuka Joe (also known as former Chicagoan and Windy City Times 30 Under 30 honoree Ken Gasch) to get the skinny on The Stage Door Johnnies' high-profile gig.

Windy City Times: What was the very first show that Ray Gunn, Jett Adore and you performed in together?

Bazuka Joe: Well, there were two very first milestones. The very first time we ever did a group act it was for the Grabby Awards—which is like the porn awards, you know—it's the same weekend as IML [International Mr. Leather] every year.

But the very first time we ever performed our solo acts was at this bar called The Waterhouse in Lincoln Park. It was for a Bacardi promotion and people were really confused. The girls were really into it, but there were a lot of people who were really confused about the idea of male striptease—[especially with] it not being, like, the standard kind of male striptease. But, overall, it went really well and, coincidentally, my mom was in the audience because she just happened to be in town that weekend.

WCT: Oh my God! What was it like having your mom in the audience?

Bazuka Joe: It was so bizarre. She was really into it. This is particularly weird because I grew up Mormon and she had been Mormon for 30 years and just sort of stopped going—stopped attending church. And so for her to be in the front row taking pictures as we're getting naked—it blows my mind to this day! And it's one of the funniest stories. She got upset, but the only reason is that the battery in her camera ran out halfway through Ray's act and she couldn't take pictures and she was really disappointed. Actually, she and my sister were there. They sat right up at the front table and they were all for it.

WCT: What would you say separates cabaret from the strip club?

Bazuka Joe: Mainly the intention. Burlesque definitely goes for more theatricality, lots of storytelling, lots of very character-based acts—and it's always sort of an endeavor for burlesque performers to find new and unique ways to make the strip happen. So it really is more about the tease than the flesh or the sex part of it. Obviously, there are some very sexy performers and stuff, but it's almost less integral than the whole art of it.

It's definitely more about connecting with the audience. Typical acts are four, five, maybe six minutes long and you have to get the audience to understand who your character is, what the scenario is and then get to the end by the time you're more or less naked. [Laughs]

WCT: Is the audience at your shows predominately gay men, or is there a surplus of straight women who attend?

Bazuka Joe: It kind of fluctuates depending on where we go, obviously. Lately, the crowds have been really, really, really mixed. … Actually, some of our best compliments from straight guys—like, "Oh man, that took a lot of balls to get up there and do that!" Sort of the same way the guy in the fraternity who goes streaking is like the campus hero. That kind of thing where it's like, "That took a lot of guts to get up there and do something that crazy."

The show we're about to do on Fire Island is definitely gay-focused, but if I had to generalize I'd say it's pretty well mixed as far as straights, gays—and guys and girls, for that matter.

WCT: You're performing with musical theater legends Alan Cumming and Liza Minnelli at Fire Island's Ice Palace in New York Aug. 4. How did you book this sweet gig?

Bazuka Joe: It was purely by accident. This really well-known producer out in New York, Daniel Nardicio, had seen us. We had been to New York a few times and he was like, "Hey, I'd really like to bring you guys out." And none of us had ever been to Fire Island. So over the course of talking the dates got bumped around a bunch and then the contracts weren't right and it was kind of this long process and finally we landed on a date: Aug. 4.

Then months later we got a call and he [said], "You know, I really hate to do this but there's a performer coming to town who I've been dying to get, and the same day you guys are performing is the only night she can do it." And, of course, we thought, "Oh, man. He's gonna bump us back again or cancel the whole show altogether." And so I was like, "Okay, lay it on me. Who is the performer?" And when he said Liza Minnelli, literally, my jaw dropped. I was silent for at least a good minute, I was like, "You've gotta be shitting me!" You do not have to ask our permission. Just go ahead! Yeah! Absolutely!

So we kind of hit the jackpot with that one. The producer thought it would be really nice to mix the genres: the musical theater style with burlesque. We were completely floored and, actually, when I talked to Ray and Jett they didn't believe me, so I had to send them a copy of our contract to prove that their [Minnelli's and Cumming's] names were on it!

WCT: What's the first thing you're going to say to Liza when you meet her?

Bazuka Joe: [Laughs] We [The Johnnies] joke around because we're huge fans of a show called Arrested Development. And so we joke around that we're going to say "We're really excited to meet you, Lucille Two"—just to see what she does. I'm like, "Maybe that's not the best way to introduce ourselves." The only thing you can say is that it's an honor to meet her. Obviously, she's a legend in and out of the gay community. She's an icon.

The Stage Door Johnnies are performing Aug. 4 at the Ice Palace, 181 Bayview Walk, in the heart of Cherry Grove on Fire Island, NY. The show is currently sold out.

If tickets become available, an announcement will be made on www.danielnardicio.com .

For more information on The Stage Door Johnnies, visit www.thestagedoorjohnnies.com .


This article shared 6800 times since Wed Jul 25, 2012
facebook twitter pin it google +1 reddit email

Out and Aging
Presented By

  ARTICLES YOU MIGHT LIKE

Gay News

Theater Review: Billy Elliot, The Musical 2024-02-19
- Book and Lyrics: Lee Hall; Music: Elton John. At: Paramount Theatre, 23 E. Galena Blvd., Aurora Tickets: 630-896-6666 or Paramountaurora.com; $28-$79. Runs through March 24 Billy Elliot: The Musical may nearly be two decades old, but ...


Gay News

SHOWBIZ JoJo Siwa, Tom Holland, Bowen Yang, Pet Shop Boys, Mariah Carey 2024-02-02
- In the wake of Nigel Lythgoe exiting So You Think You Can Dance, queer personality JoJo Siwa is returning to the series, per Deadline. Siwa, who was a judge on season 17 of the Fox show, will replace Lythgoe, who left ...


Gay News

DANCE Choreographer Dwight Rhoden talks David Bowie, Alvin Ailey, queerness 2024-01-31
- In "STAR DUST: A Ballet Tribute to David Bowie," Complexions Contemporary Ballet co-founders Dwight Rhoden and Desmond Richardson—backed by their Alvin Ailey lineage—and their dance troupe tackle many of the ...


Gay News

Chicago Dancers United and The Dancers' Fund become Chicago Dance Health Fund 2023-12-14
--From a press release - Chicago Dancers United, which has supported the health and wellness of Chicago's professional dance community through The Dancers' Fund for more than 30 years, announces that, effective January 1, 2024, the organization will operate and distribute ...


Gay News

DANCE 'Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker' running Dec. 20-30 2023-12-12
- Tony-winning producers David Garfinkle and Dr. Ron Simons announced the world-premiere of "Sugar Hill: The Ellington/Strayhorn Nutcracker"—a holiday dream told in dance—which will play at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. ...


Gay News

MOVIES Rick Cosnett chats about 'Shoulder Dance,' Molly and Jason Momoa 2023-12-05
- In the new movie Shoulder Dance, which is out on streaming, friends Ira (played by out actor Matt Dallas, looking and sounding quite different than from his days on TV's Kyle XY) and Roger (played by ...


Gay News

DANCE Deeply Rooted performing Nov. 3 at the Auditorium Theatre 2023-09-27
- The Auditorium Theatre, 50 E. Ida B. Wells Dr., is presenting Deeply Rooted Dance Theater—a Chicago-based contemporary dance company rooted in traditions of American and African-American dance—in a one-night-only performance ...


Gay News

Chicago Dancers United raises more than $365K at Dance for Life 2023-08-29
- Chicago Dancers United (CDU)—which supports the health and wellness of Chicago's professional dance community—welcomed 1,600 people to the 32nd annual Dance for Life on Aug. 19 at Auditorium Theatre, per ...


Gay News

Teen suspect arrested in killing of gay dancer 2023-08-05
- The New York Police Department arrested a suspect in the fatal stabbing of 28-year-old O'Shae Sibley, who was attacked last weekend at a Brooklyn gas station. According to The Advocate, Sibley, a professional dancer, had been ...


Gay News

NATIONAL Drag news, HIV-bias lawsuit, Disney, Brittney Griner, gay dancer 2023-08-04
- Swastika flag-toting neo-Nazis, some of them armed, were at a Wisconsin LGBTQ+ Pride celebration that included a drag show, The Advocate reported. Members of the neo-Nazi extremist group Blood Tribe joined other right-wing hate groups, like ...


Gay News

Billy Masters: Cattrall passive-aggressively returns just like that 2023-06-06
- "I kinda look like a 200-year-old pole dancer now! I don't think that's gonna happen, but thank you anyway." —Sylvester Stallone's response when Sherri Shepherd asks if he'll wear his tank top and booty shorts in ...


Gay News

ART on THE MART's summer programs include Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project, Pride celebration 2023-05-11
--From a press release - CHICAGO, IL — ART on THE MART, an innovative digital art project that transforms a Chicago architectural landmark into a larger-than-life canvas, will introduce two new commissions this summer. Building Light, a new projection by Gensler, ...


Gay News

South Chicago Dance Theatre to debut 'Memoirs of Jazz' on June 10 2023-05-09
--From a press release - (May 8, 2023) Through the 1960s and '70s, Jazz in the Alley on Chicago's South Side was a hotbed for jazz and a meeting place for some of the country's prominent musicians, visual artists, poets, activists, ...


Gay News

Artemis Singers presents June 10 "Better Times Will Come" Pride Concert and Dance 2023-05-03
--From a press release - CHICAGO─Artemis Singers, Chicago's lesbian feminist chorus, will present "Better Times Will Come" Pride Concert & Dance, Saturday, June 10, at the Irish American Heritage Center, 4626 N. Knox Ave. ...


Gay News

Andersonville Midsommarfest to return June 9-11 in its 57th year 2023-04-30
--From a press release - CHICAGO (April 27, 2023) — The Andersonville Chamber of Commerce (ACC) is pleased to welcome summer with Andersonville Midsommarfest, one of Chicago's oldest and most beloved summer street festivals. Now in its 57th year, the ann ...


 


Copyright © 2024 Windy City Media Group. All rights reserved.
Reprint by permission only. PDFs for back issues are downloadable from
our online archives.

Return postage must accompany all manuscripts, drawings, and
photographs submitted if they are to be returned, and no
responsibility may be assumed for unsolicited materials.

All rights to letters, art and photos sent to Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago
Gay and Lesbian News and Feature Publication) will be treated
as unconditionally assigned for publication purposes and as such,
subject to editing and comment. The opinions expressed by the
columnists, cartoonists, letter writers, and commentators are
their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of Nightspots
(Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay,
Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature Publication).

The appearance of a name, image or photo of a person or group in
Nightspots (Chicago GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times
(a Chicago Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender News and Feature
Publication) does not indicate the sexual orientation of such
individuals or groups. While we encourage readers to support the
advertisers who make this newspaper possible, Nightspots (Chicago
GLBT Nightlife News) and Windy City Times (a Chicago Gay, Lesbian
News and Feature Publication) cannot accept responsibility for
any advertising claims or promotions.

 
 

TRENDINGBREAKINGPHOTOS







Sponsor


 



Donate


About WCMG      Contact Us      Online Front  Page      Windy City  Times      Nightspots
Identity      BLACKlines      En La Vida      Archives      Advanced Search     
Windy City Queercast      Queercast Archives     
Press  Releases      Join WCMG  Email List      Email Blast      Blogs     
Upcoming Events      Todays Events      Ongoing Events      Bar Guide      Community Groups      In Memoriam     
Privacy Policy     

Windy City Media Group publishes Windy City Times,
The Bi-Weekly Voice of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans Community.
5315 N. Clark St. #192, Chicago, IL 60640-2113 • PH (773) 871-7610 • FAX (773) 871-7609.