US stars join night of burlesque glamour

Millie Dollar performed for the Martini Lounge; YouTube video of Kitten DeVille kicking off her act

St George’s Hall received a feast for the eyes when the Martini Lounge Burlesque group put on a show starring two dancers from the USA.

The naughty fun kicked off with LA star Kitten DeVille, a stunning Marilyn Monroe lookalike and winner of the coveted Miss Exotic World crown. Making her Liverpool debut, she dazzled onstage in a floor-length diamante dress, and ended her set in matching diamante lingerie. She reappeared in the second act for a Halloween-themed striptease in a witch’s hat, dancing to The Cramps’ 'Big Black Witchcraft Rock'.

Ms DeVille was followed onstage by Desmond O’Connor, the
Bristol-based cabaret musician renowned for his cheeky comedy
songs. Described by the MC, Fred Bear, as “the twin-headed
offspring of George Fornby, Julian Clary and Noel Coward”, he
appeared in glittery mime make-up, strumming a ukulele to
songs such as 'Cheap S**** White Wine” and “Pretty Little Miss
Dysmorphia”.

He entertained the crowd between numbers with his
tongue-in-cheek banter (“How many people like cats? About as
many as are married, I imagine...”) and tales of his own
“pathological” cats at home.

“I’m really struck by the beauty in the crowd tonight,” he purred,
and congratulated the city’s “gorgeous gene pool”.

Liverpool’s own Velma Von Bon Bon, a finalist in the UK Tournament of Tease, began her act in a more unusual way: dressed as an organ-grinder’s monkey, shackled to a cart. She soon hacked through her bindings and began a power-striptease to the theme from Footloose.

She was followed by the 40s-glamorous Millie Dollar – 'Liverpool’s Queen of Burlesque' – who strutted around in a black boa and nude satin gown, before unzipping down to matching corsetry; then Missy Malone, introduced as “the vampiest of the vamps”, swathed in a leopard-print flamenco gown with flowers in her hair, who finished her Spanish dance routine behind two voluminous orange fans.

But the star attraction was Kitten DeVille’s fellow Miss Exotic World winner, New York City’s Dirty Martini. The voluptuous 'Empress of Tease' performed two sets, the first in a pair of gigantic glittering bat wings, behind which she removed her matching dress to reveal a pair of bat tassels, all to the theme of Batman.

Mr Bear wrapped up the pastiche himself by removing his Dracula costume and performing a Flashdance routine, to the delight of the crowd, before a vampire's companion poured a chalice of fake blood over his head.

The evening ended with Kitten DeVille being presented with a birthday cake and the performers bowing before the standing ovation, all disrobed save for Mr O’Connor, who in his encore commanded everyone to visit his MySpace page, chuckling: “Go and tell all your friends how wonderful you think we are!”

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