Orlando Fringe 2023 review: ‘Corsets + Cuties: Sizzle’

Politically satisfying T and A from the local burlesque troupe

By Seth Kubersky on Thu, May 18, 2023 at 5:42 pm

[
      {
        "name": "Ad - NativeInline - Injected",
        "component": "31267952",
        "insertPoint": "3",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "5"
      },{
        "name": "Real 1 Player (r2) - Inline",
        "component": "31267951",
        "insertPoint": "2/3",
        "requiredCountToDisplay": "9"
      }
    ]

click to enlarge

Courtesy photo

Politically satisfying T&A from the local burlesque troupe

While the state of Florida may have Orlando’s vibrant burlesque performance community in its sights, Corsets & Cuties are far from putting away their pasties in fear. Quite the contrary, this Fringe season the titillating troupe is bringing their style of Sizzle to The Abbey with even more boldly ballsy edge than ever before.

The show kicks off in glamorous style with a group number set to "Made You Look" by Meghan Trainor (which made me wish there was a similar full-cast act for the finale), and continued with over a half-dozen individual performances featuring a diverse soundtrack ranging from My Chemical Romance to Janelle Monáe.

As always with the Cuties, Sizzle is more than simply a series of stripteases: It also involves athletic circus arts, live singing, comedic commentary (courtesy of “head bitch” Jaimz Dillman) and dynamic dancing.

A major crowd-pleaser — and my personal favorite segment — stars a nun singing “Ban the Books” who transforms into a rainbow warrior ripping up Gov. Ron’s photograph to “Everyone Is Gay.” That scene alone makes Sizzle the most politically satisfying T&A show I’ve seen in a while; hopefully, it won’t be the last.