Eat Cake! Behind-the-Scenes Sneak Peek

Get the behind-the-scenes scoop on Burlesque & Chill’s upcoming show: Eat Cake! (Then, the rich)

Photo of Antoinette Minx, Beckie Belles, La Frida Lokah, Mae Lust, and Miss Lady Legs as peasants and Amaya Absynthe, Mz Juicy Jones, Pansy St Battie, Jade Risque, and Seraphina Wilder as royals. Photo by Meredith Carlson

The Seed: Rococo Secret Garden Party

A year ago (nearly to the day), we put on a Speakeasy version of what has become Eat Cake! (Then, the rich) called Rococo Secret Garden Party. In it, we has many royal and courtesan act with a cast that featured: Ashleeta, Jade Risque, Mz Juicy Jones, Ryan Honeybaby, Seraphina Wilder, and Tricker Tease. Meanwhile, me (as host), kitten Desiree Dimples, and door/dollar daddy Gwen Ruby played peasants.

In the Speakeasy version, we played with a bit of a funny story element of the peasants plotting to take down the monarchy class. I added this flavor to my hosting of the show, and Desiree and Gwen added flavors of disdain toward “the royals” and love for “the people” (whom we considered the audience members to be).

It was a sold-out show and a great hit amongst audience and performers alike. Multiple performers suggested we make this a bigger show, so when we decided to hire dancers for this year’s season, we thought this would make a great, larger-scale show with a bit of a story line and some extra dance elements. An experiment of sorts.

This has made Eat Cake! a truly unique show, both for us as Burlesque & Chill, but also unlike other shows we’ve seen!

Collecting Collaborators

As with many shows, we started by looking at acts the troupe already had or were interested in creating that might fit the theme. We reached out to all our previous guests who performed at our Speakeasy version (unfortunately, Ryan Honeybaby would be out of town during the show date) and started piecing a loose story together.

The loose storyline takes on a Tarantino-style revenge plot. The movie Black Book, was another inspiration, along with deciding to center the show around the class war that was The French Revolution, which began just as the Rococo era turned into Neo-Classical.

Once we nailed down a general storyline, we cast our remaining guests (Coco Lamar, Jacob Taylor, and Marcelina Lancaster) and began diving into song choices, choreography, and fleshing out the concept for our promo photoshoot/concept shoot.

Photoshoot and Concept Art

The original idea for the photoshoot was to create almost a Baroque oil painting look, but in a more domestic setting (a marker of Rococo era art) and capturing peasants and royals in the same “works.” (Something that would never happen at the time.)

Meredith Carlson, of With the Band photos, not only captured our Speakeasy version, but also has a beautiful naturalism and soft-touch to her work that we knew would be perfect for the concept. We were able to find the PERFECT location at a private residence/Peerspace rental called European House.

We thought the photos turned out beautifully and really helped the cast solidify their characters and the tone of the show.

You can see some behind the scenes from the photoshoot on our Instagram here. All the edited photos from this promo shoot will go up on our member site soon.

From Classical to Sisqo: The Music of Eat Cake!

Originally, we had tried to hire a string quartet for this show. Unfortunately, they were trying to breach their contract, so we didn’t feel we could rely on them for this show. Fortunately, our band members were planning to come to the show and enjoy it from the audience and were therefore all available to take on this show!

However, this meant a very abrupt change in our approach to the music.

Rather than choosing from the quartet’s song list, performers could request any song and the band would give it a thumbs up or down. We also needed a strong piano player to play classical songs for some of the story scenes in the show. Max Greenberg, who played in our first-ever live band show way back in 2021, was available to join us and down to take on Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin, along with the pop and rock songs that would make up the rest of the set list.

I also kind of had my heart set on a section of Vivaldi’s Winter that Amaya Absynthe and I agreed would be great for her act. Our bassist/composer Zac Greenberg created a 44-page arrangement of the section to fit our band’s arrangement of drums, guitar, bass, keyboard, and 2 vocalists. Want to hear the “midi-track” (or electronic version) of his original arrangement? Check it out here!

Other than that, our playlist includes all kinds of fun songs from Primadonna by Marina, to Lips are Sealed by The Gogo’s, to Uprising by Muse, and The Thong Song by Sisqo. Want to check out the entire show playlist? You can listen to it here.

If you’re familiar with our band, you know how incredible they are. You also know that we only have one rehearsal before show day. The rehearsal recordings sound so great already, we know the band is going absolutely blow our minds at the show.

You can see a little peek into rehearsal on our Instagram here.

Pre-Production Odds & Ends

On top of a demanding playlist, large cast, more choreography, this show also has more props for our dancers and for some story elements of the show than we’ve ever had. (Including a HUGE prop I’m collaborating with Pansy St Battie on that you’ll have to wait to find out. Hint: what’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the French Revolution? 😏)

Some of these props and costumes include:

Royalty wigs for Jacob Taylor and Marcelina Lancaster who will be performing a ballet pas de deux at the “ball.”

Functional lanterns that will be used by the dancers
Flower garlands that will be used by the dancers
We are ordering a backdrop for the stage
Prop knives were ordered
Many costume pieces ordered
Jade Risqué is decorating wigs and cage skirts for the dancers
That big, surprise prop Pansy St Battie and I are working on…

Sponsors & Vendors

We also have a rad list of sponsors and vendors who are contributing to the overall experience of our show and helping us raise money for SWOP LA!

Our vendors include Jammie Cupcake, Madi-Cat Tatts, and Nadia Sofia. Jammie Cupcake is also sponsoring treats for our VIP guests and Madi-Cat Tatts and Nadia Sofia are donating artwork and a book to our donation-based raffle for SWOP LA!

Also contributing to our raffle are:

Thistle & Poppy contributing a 1 hour photoshoot and a custom water color
Successexxy contributing two bucket hats
Peek-a-Boo Magazine contributing Volume 2 and Volume 3 of their annual publication
Mae Lust contributing a witchy, self-care basket
Plus, we’ll be contributing some prints from our shoot with Meredith Carlson for Eat Cake!

And, finally, Jade Risqué Rhinestones is decorating our “Court Dancers” costumes with flowers and rhinestones so they match the glamorous, luxurious looks of our royals. And, of course, our incredible members help us fill in some gaps.

See It All Come Together in an Awe-Inspiring Ride of a Show

Don’t wait another minute to get your ticket!

Get Tickets for Eat Cake!