Jo Weldon's New York School of Burlesque

"Where the legs are as long as the jokes are bad, and every single girl is single..." I just got a link to the new musical Minsky's, with lots of cute, cute, cute video! "A racy musical comedy set in a time when entertainment was about bawdy comedians and dazzling chorines. It’s a world reigned over by the king of burlesque, Billy Minsky—until the day he falls in love and the cops come banging on his door! From the creators of The Drowsy Chaperone and the composer of Annie." A racy musical comedy set in a time when entertainment was about bawdy comedians and dazzling chorines. It’s a world reigned over by the king of burlesque, Billy Minsky—until the day he falls in love and the cops come banging on his door! From the creators of The Drowsy Chaperone and the composer of Annie.

There's no way I'm missing this! "Minsky's is a big, racy, new musical comedy set in a time when entertainment was about legs and laughs, and you had to push the limits to keep the customers buying tickets. A rollicking backstage story, set in Prohibition Era New York City. Tony Award winning costume designer Gregg Barnes talked about his creations for MINSKY'S on the show's official site in a wonderful audio/video essay that we are excited to bring you here on BWW TV! " Check out this video with the costumer talking about burlesque in the 20s and 30s, and how they designed the costumes for the show. I have no particular desire to make a living on Broadway, much as I love to visit, but oh, for a budget!! Video Article Posted by Jo Weldon, Headmistress of The New York School of Burlesque , for burlesquedaily.blogspot.com .

Minsky's Burlesque: A Fast and Funny Look at America's Bawdiest Era. By Morton Minsky and Milt Machlin. Arbor House, New York, 1986. From the first sentence: "I was only fifteen and still wearing knickers when I got my first look at the bouncing, bawdy, and often stimulating world of burlesque..." to the edifying appendices at the end, this book is completely engaging. It is such a favorite of mine. Sure, today's New York burlesque shows are as different from Minsky's as Lili St. Cyr's were from Lydia Thompson's, but a huge part of the attraction to burlesque has always been the fierce brazen energy of live enertainment made with adults in mind, and this book portrays it beautifully. Each chapter is headed by a terrible joke, such as: STRAIGHT MAN: (running his hand over the bald comic's head): Ya know, Charlie, your head feels exactly like my wife's backside! COMIC: (running his hand over his own head): Ya know, you're right! But...