The costumes were gorgeous, it’s true. The shoes, the lingerie, the trademark poses…they were all there, but in a way that felt formulaic and bland, not innovative and groundbreaking. Instead of the spontaneity I love in burlesque (and in live theater, period), all of Dita’s numbers – which included classics like the Martini Glass, Cowgirl, and Makeup Compact – felt predictable and uninspired, the energy replaced with crystals and corsets and set pieces. 10 days later, the most memorable parts of Dita’s acts are the costumes, not the performer or the performance.

But more than all that, Dita’s final act left me feeling intensely uncomfortable. For those who haven’t seen the show, Dita closes with her Opium Den routine, where she’s clad in an elaborate “Oriental” costume (a word I’m using deliberately as I think it’s negative connotations are appropriate here) and smoking opium just before a set of gloved hands caress her body to (simulated) climax. After such an enjoyable evening, the Opium Den piece came across as insensitive and regressive, the stereotypical story and costuming an unnecessarily negative finale to an otherwise good show.

~ Read the rest of the article at The Lingerie Addict