The iconic Lakewood movie palace, built in 1938, is the last single screen movie theater still in its near-original condition left in Dallas. It still shows movies but also hosts concerts, dances and special corporate events. It’s also the site of a twice monthly burlesque event the first and third Friday of every month. Billed as the largest burlesque show in Texas, it features performers with names such as Minxie & MT Molotov, Miss Malicious, and Sweet Darla Danger. Some of the performers specialize in aerial acts, fire breathing, and comedy sketches, but, most of all, the ladies do burlesque. Good ole fashioned, retro, Betty-Page, tease ’em and please ’em strip tease. The photograph below is of the stage, sans the ladies, and is also a tease
The acts, however suggestive, are anything but tawdry, and the performances abound with humor and a sly, almost wholesome naughtiness. Some of the best fun, though, lies in watching the audience. It’s a mixed crowd, some couples, dressed in their weekend best—the man next to me wore an enormous cowboy hat and boots, emitting rebel yells anytime a new performer walked onto the stage—but the majority of the audience were women: bachelorette parties (!), and lots of women who just happen to like women.
Detective Betty says this about the Cirque: I find something uniquely satisfying about seeing this little bit of daring theater nestled in the heart of conventional, family oriented Lakewood. The only crime here is that the theater serves no food. So I would suggest the Al-Amir Lebanese restaurant in Addison beforehand. They have belly dancers on the weekend. And the food is great.
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