Rynie Das Wreckless as Chucky

January is usually a pretty slow time for Halloween stuff. Sure, you’ve got a few horror movies coming out, but not much else. That can make it pretty difficult to kick off a weekly Halloween project, believe you me. In the past, I’ve gone to Las Vegas for Week 1- thanks to year round places like Goretorium (May she rest in peace.) Alas, that wouldn’t be possible this year, so I had to find something local.
Enter WTF-Lesque. It’s a (mostly) bi-monthly burlesque show produced by Brandy Snifter and Tiffy Twister. (Aren’t burlesque names fun?) It happens at the Canby, a bar in Reseda. Often times, their shows have fun themes, and these one was no exception- WTF-Lesque F**ks up Your Childhood. Beautiful people dressed up as childhood icons taking their clothes off… and I knew for a fact that one or two these acts would be horror related.
If you’ve never been to the Canby, it’s this neat little dive bar thats got all the things you’d come to expect of such an establishment. Dark lighting? Check. Pool Table? Check. Cheap drinks? Double Check. A feint hint of desperation and a life gone awry? Sadly missing. This was the second WTF-Lesque show I’ve attended, and as the time before, the crowd was lively and generally happy! The show draws and eclectic crowd, gentlemen in biker cuts mingling with well dressed ladies and a smattering of regulars from the LA burlesque scene.

The show is presented in three acts, with 4 or 5 performers per act and first up was Rynie Das Wreckless, with an intriguing mash up of Child’s Play and Toy Story.  You might think it’d be hard to make a homicidal doll sexy, but you’d be wrong. Emerging from a toy box, Chucky proceeds to mutilate the stars of Toy Story, Woody and Buzz- all while taking her clothes off. Once she’s down to nearly nothing, she caps the act off by murdering Andy.  Murder, toy mutilation, and a beautiful nearly naked girl- hopefully the next 51 weeks are just as much fun.

Now, this wasn’t the only horror related act I’d witness that night. Lola La Minx performed as Betelgeuse, taking off that familiar black and white suit to ‘Jump in the Line’ and VV Trippple appeared as The Count from Sesame Street.

While none of the other acts were horror related,  I really dug Georgia O’Queef and Amber Dextrous ‘Into the Woods’ duet. The ladies appeared as Rupunzal and Cinderella’s princess and sang Agony, both before and after the second intermission. Now I’m not a big fan of Into the Woods, but Agony is the one song I actually like and the whole setup was pretty damn hilarious.

Other highlights included Brandy Snifter as Sheri Lewis with Lambchop singing a rather dirty song, ‘Julie Andrews’ rapping and a sad clown named Cecil taking off his clothes. The show ends, in its usual fashion, with burlesque improv. One of the performers comes back on stage and has to dance to random song with out having a chance to prepare. In this case, Rynie Das Wreckless returned and was stuck, I believe, the Banana Phone song and it was pretty damn funny.

WTF-Lesque’s next show is January 24th, 2016 at 9 pm. I don’t believe there is theme for this particular show, but the show after next is Stephen King themed!  That’ll happen on February 11th. Tickets are $10.00 at the door, cash only. The Canby is located at 19312 Vanowen St, Reseda, California.

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Stay Scary!