We’ve been here almost two years, but it took me until now to get to a burlesque show and draw!
Luckily I got to start at an exceptionally fine one, as Queer’lesque producer Sheila Wolf, above, invited me to draw Vaudeville Variety at the Wintergarten.
Berlin’s legendary Wintergarten is a classic cabaret supper club, with velvet seats and a starry sky ceiling.
It is beautiful, luxurious and comfortable, a fitting tribute to the original Wintergarten which was destroyed by bombs in 1944. I had a table to put my stuff on and wasser mit gas and everything!
I was seated next to Gloria Viagra, shown here; Gloria was the afterparty DJ and is a very well-known Berlin performer. We had a delightful chat!
The show was wonderful. I couldn’t draw everybody, but I did get in a lot of drawings.
The ravishing, award-winning boylesque babe Tom Harlow (legs for days!!!) danced to the Tom Jones and Jools Holland version of “St. James Infirmary Blues”. I drew Dave The Bear, stripping to “Video Phone”.
I was mesmerized by the sublime “Opium and Bondage” performance of Marlene Von Steenvag, where she actually ties herself into a rope harness at the end while dancing.
I’d never even dreamt I’d get to see her perform live. Let me tell you, the only thing more amazing than Immodesty Blaize in a corset is Immodesty out of a corset!
I stopped drawing after the second one and just watched her move. Here‘s Immodesty and Gloria, with Sheila in the background!
Immodesty Blaize at Vaudeville Variety by Suzanne Forbes March 19 2017
These drawings are licensed Creative Commons, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0; you are welcome to share them or print them out as long as you give credit to Suzanne Forbes, artist.
You can find full-size downloadable versions here on my flickr. Burlesque album (NSFW!)
As always, the support of my precious Patrons on Patreon makes it possible for me to do this work documenting the community and share it with you all. You can help for as little as a buck a month!
Update: here’s one of the beautiful pictures Gloria took of me. Look how fucking happy I am in Berlin. You can see the rest here, on Gloria’s pinup fashion feed!
Photo of Suzanne Forbes by Gloria Viagra, March 19 2017 at Vaudeville Variety
Sarah Goody was an amazing aerial performer!
I drew Yvonne in the lobby during the interval.
These two performed to the Dresden Dolls song “Missed Me.”
