If your fantasy is to watch a naked Khaleesi eat a bloody horse heart in real life then your wildest dreams are about to come true, because Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin has just approved a burlesque show based on HBO’s hit series Game of Thrones (based on the ‘A Song of Ice and Fire’ books). George R.R. Martin signed off on ‘Burlesque is Coming: A Tribute to the Works of George R.R. Martin’ primarily due to his deep respect for the art of burlesque, a respect that is rooted in a historical appreciation for the performance art that has been practiced since the 17th and 18th centuries.
Now for the good and bad news. The good news is that if you live in the Mid-Atlantic you’ll potentially be able to catch a burlesque version of Daenerys Targaryen eating a bloody horse heart on stage while swinging around nipple tassels. The bad news is that ‘Burlesque is Coming: A Tribute to the Works of George R.R. Martin’ is being put on at Gottwald Playhouse at CenterStage in Richmond, Virginia, so unless you live in that area or it’s driving distance chances are you’re sh*t out of luck.
George R.R. Martin announced his approval of ‘Burlesque is Coming: A Tribute to the Works of George R.R. Martin’ in a blog post on his site ‘Not A Blog‘:
Here are some silly quotes from Blacklist Burlesque:
“For the night is dark and full of rhinestones.”
“Arya gonna come see us? Aw, c’mon, you gotta have a Sansa humor!”
Blacklist Burlesque refers to themselves as the “first name and last word in Richmond, Virginia and beyond for neo-burlesque and nerd-lesque shows.” They already had me at “Burlesque,” but they won my tiny black heart with “nerd-lesque.”
Holy fishnets, Batman! I did not know that “nerd-lesque” was even a thing until we booked Blacklist Burlesque’s Game of Thrones-themed act at the Cocteau. Apparently, in the world of nerd-lesque, there are Star Trek cabarets, super hero acts, high fantasty burlesque shows, and—quite frighteningly—Cthulhu strip-teases. There are just some things in this universe that the human mind shouldn’t be exposed to. Or maybe I should just get out of my lair every once in a while.
For those who don’t know the basic history of burlesque, it is an art form that has thumbed its nose at upper-class cultures and social conventions for hundreds of years. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the umbrella term “burlesque” covered many varieties of theatrical lampooning or “travesty.” In the 19th century, burlesque producers and performers would take specific arias and oratorios from famous operas, and rewrite the lyrics for comedic effect—just like “Weird Al” Yankovic! In other words, the middle and lower classes got to knock “serious” art off of its pedestal from time to time.
But what about the strip-tease, the feather costumes, and the pasties, you ask? Strip-tease, an important aspect of modern and neo-burlesque, became standard around the 1930s. Think of the bawdy cabaret culture of the 1930s—and then the pin-up girls of the 1940s and 1950s. Now this is just a brief overview from a humble ogre, so if any of you readers have any interesting or tantalizing tidbits to add about burlesque, please leave a comment—and see you at the show!
Apparently tickets to ‘Burlesque is Coming: A Tribute to the Works of George R.R. Martin’ are selling like wildfire (awful pun intended + GIF above related), so if you’re interested in checking out the burlesque show then CLICK HERE to buy your tickets today!!!!
[TIME]