Those who like burlesque or who are looking for a little bit of whimsical and naughty fun should like Through the Looking Glass on a three night stint at the Triple Door this week. The show features some of Seattle’s burlesque heavy hitters, Lily Verlaine, Babette La Fave, Miss Indigo Blue, Inga Ingénue, Kitten La Rue, Paula the Swedish Housewife and Waxie Moon among others. Like all good burlesque shows, Through the Looking Glass includes, dance, singing, comedy, puns, fantastic costumes, lighting and of course strip tease.
Overall I was very impressed with the show’s production values, attention to detail and pacing. The storyline was fun and the acts fit in with the Alice in Wonderland theme and had fantastical elements but also showed a darker side. In particular, Waxie Moon is a strange treat. Waxie Moon is a boylesquer (a male burlesque artist) and his turn as the Cheshire Cat left me laughing at his antics. Babette La Fave gave a great behind the screen, shadow dance performance as the Jabberwocky and Kitten La Rue as the Red Queen was a stunner in a fun strip poker number. Of course I must mention the wonderfully skilled and nuanced performances by burlesquers Inga Ingénue and Lou Henry Hoover portraying light Alice and dark Alice. Their choreographed dancing was perfectly matched and the looking glass scenes were spectacular fun. Jasper McCann as White Rabbit served as the emcee and he kept the show humming along and had a great rapport with the audience, warming them up and keeping everyone engaged. Kudos should go to Jasper McCann and Lily Verlaine for producing such a well orchestrated and clever show.
This was my first time at the Triple Door so this is a review about the venue as well. Since the Triple Door is attached to Wild Ginger, an Asian restaurant and satay bar, you can order from a limited Wild Ginger menu including cocktails and dessert. I liked the venue overall, particularly its architectural details. The ambiance was inviting and elegant for an evening show and you can still see a little of the venue’s vaudeville roots from a former incarnation as the Embassy Theatre showing through. While there was no dress code that I was aware of, this is good place to take the opportunity to dress up a little in casual Seattle.
I went to the 7 pm show and decided to arrive early to ensure better seats and eat dinner. General admission tickets are $25/each for this show and seating is given on a first come first served basis so arriving early is recommended. You can also pony up the ticket price plus an additional $180 food and beverage minimum to reserve a booth but this seemed too steep for a night of entertainment in this economy. Once I got there however, I recognized the advantage of a booth, the tables give very little elbow room and even getting in and out of the seats was challenging and I am not a large girl!
The food was good, not amazing but genuinely good. My only gripe is that the entrée took forever to arrive. Not only did it take a super-long time but I noticed that several tables surrounding mine got their food before I did even though they came later. At least when my seven flavor beef entrée finally arrived it was worth waiting for. I ordered the dessert special, a brownie sundae which the server raved about and while it was good, it was not rave-worthy and it came with only about 2 tablespoons of ice-cream. Seriously, only 2 tablespoons of ice cream and they call it a sundae?
I’d recommend both The Triple door as a venue and the show Through the Looking Glass. If I were to do it again, I’d try to go to the later show and eat dinner beforehand and stick to ordering drinks and dessert there because of the tight quarters. The total tab for 2 tickets, dinner, drinks, and dessert came to $140 or so – not too bad for a good show and dinner.
The Triple Door is located on 3rd and Union and the show runs through Thursday, March 26 (look for it again!) with 7pm and 10 pm shows.
Triple Door website: http://www.tripledoor.com
