The Toronto Theatre Review: Crow’s/Big City Kitties’ Tease

By Ross

Beginning with a shimmy and a (not so) shocking fact, the titillation that is Tease, a multi-faceted theatrical cabaret experience that radiates with humour and sex appeal being presented by Little City Kitties at Crow’s Theatre in Toronto, sensually ushers us in with some Sweet Charity video clips filled to the rafters with bloody Shining images of Maggie G and her Secretary days, all the way back to Ann M. and her Elvis. “Do you wanna have fun?” the show asks, as it blows forward in full-force burlesque form. Well, there’s no doubt about that. I’m totally in, and with hilariously witty visuals by videographer Liam Grue and video editor Nigil Vazquez, this woke work-bitch engagement, with full consent, aims true to form, enticing and drawing us in with ease and a tickle. And we go willingly as these three big city kitties shimmy forth in solid smart form. 

As created and directed, a wee bit too casually sometimes, by award-winning comedienne Lindsay Mullan (Second City’s Everything Is Great Again), Tease dives into the decadence with a clever-witted, comparative stance, asking us to play along to find out what the proper response is to a strip tease, who in the audience is the most naive, and who is game for a bit of woke adventure. Sadly I had to sit that game out; down and eliminated quite quickly in the first round. But the show, with an off-balanced lighting design by Mathilda Kane, and steller costuming by Janelle Joy Hince with accessories by Charlie Quinn, definitely knows how to pull us all in and connect. It’s deliciously funny, bare naked, and slyly vulnerable, while also finding an alternative witty vantage point to unpack some cowboy song lyrics that make us all sit back in amazement.

That solo-act cowboy song is an eye-opener as it “ain’t all sunshine and lollipops“, but the number, and the show, sure is sure of itself, and only gets better with each number presented. The show is overflowing with personality, talent, and a naughty side wink, with woke-ness a-blazing full-frontal. Showcasing two per performer with delight, the three; the phenomenally gifted Glenys Marshall (Trip the Light Theatre’s Nuit), the engagingly funny Mei Miyazawa (Ovation Productions’ Cabaret), and the fearlessly naked Mullan, totally give us our money’s worth, especially if you divide the cost by six as instructed. Tease asks us to embrace them all, and the Sugar Daddy Funeral row space, with the appropriate (not sad) enthusiastic rowdy responses worthy of the titillations delivered. And we happily comply.

Early on, some of the pieces need some further sharpening of its clever “Personal Jesus” knife, with the visuals feeling a tad bit pre-dated and Madonna-esque. But as the show drives forward, revealing itself with much more confidence, focus, and spirit, the skits become stronger and smarter, filled with complex flips mimed and danced out by the three talented envelope-pushing performers/creators/choreographers (with some additional choreography by Gabriel Gonçalves and Dana Thody). They start out French, with a bit that is somewhat simplistic and underwhelming, but it doesn’t take long for the three magnificent performers to gather themselves together and blaze forth, riding those burlesque saddles of fun forward into our entertained hearts, with a special midshow guest by the name of Bianca Boom Boom, who did a hilarious number that wonderfully reminded me of those Gypsy strippers and a Drowsy Chaperone Sutton, all rolled up into one.

Tease is a nakedly smart and unflinchingly entertaining blend of sketch comedy, improv, and burlesque, wonderfully digging, diving, and poking into the patriarchal and misogynistic attitudes towards women and their bodies. The exploration is a bit heterocentric, with lots of attention to the straight person’s reaction to their titillations, leaving us LGBTQ+ personages in the audience to find the framework that fits all on our own. It feels like a missed opportunity for a few wise swipes at what and how someone who doesn’t identify as straight could be responding to the fun, especially to the raw nakedness of the brave nightmare at the center of this exploration. But the quotes from the random (horrific) things these three have been told within their career do hit home hard, focusing us away from their fem body sex costuming to their shared experiences of what it means to be a woman, particularly in the entertainment and performing world. Tease, as presented by the Big City Kitties in association with Crow’s Theatre, finds the exactingly funny golden segue from sharp engagement to a raunchy dance number, and all we can do is loudly hoot and holler in the previously instructed appropriately loud and wonderfully appreciative burlesque manner.