'Boobies' Invade Gorilla Tango Theater

I cringe when associating “boobies” – of all things – with downtown Skokie.  I think to myself, “But downtown Skokie is a nice place.  It has a lot of mom and pop shops, restaurants and pancakes (mmmmm, ). It’s not a place for boobies."

Or is it?

Thankfully, it totally is. For $20 at , 7924 Lincoln Ave., you can catch the latest performance of them in: “Holy Bouncing Boobies: A Batman Burlesque."

I've personally never been to a burlesque.  The only idea I had of one, and a vague idea at that, was Dita Von Teese and her mysteriously cute ways.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was happy Gorilla Tango sold beer and so decided to go with it.  Soon after being seated, the girls came out and the lights focused. For the next hour or so, I totally forgot I was in Skokie.

I work in the city, and I honestly felt as though I had stumbled into a first-rate theatre company.  From what I got out of it, I think Jeremy Eden (writer) and Juicy Lucy (producer) wanted to present their audience with a genuine good night out and a hilarious storyline to follow; complete with colorful costumes, awesome props like a handmade Batmobile, human penguins and killer sexy dance moves.

I laughed for most of the show.  And not just out of my own awkwardness.  There were genuinely funny lines being delivered over and over again.  For me, it was Egghead (Bottom-Heavy Betty) who stole the show.  She played a villain hell-bent on associating everything he did with eggs.  I never dreamt that someone could make so many hilarious jokes out of eggs.

And supposedly innocent Robin (played by Crystal Paradise) would throw f-bombs around in the most unsuspecting ways. Others, like Batman, (played by Marie Curieosity) tried to contain 'himself' from getting aroused in multitude of scenarios which paid homage to Batman's indecipherable sexual preferences as seen in the 60's television show.  It was ridiculous in the best way possible.

One audience member, K.C. Shannon, said she had made the trip from Petersburg to meet her sister in Skokie and watch the show. Shannon simply put it best by saying the production was "campy yet tasteful."

Shannon’s sister, Skokie resident Laura Howard, confidently told me that “it was great and I’d do it again."  They seemed to be genuinely enjoying their night out, and were happy to have had some laughs and brews along the way. 

The sisters told me Gorilla Tango’s Skokie Theatre ran a variety of shows. They added that just earlier that morning the theatre put on several shows for children (don’t worry, no burlesque’s).  I got to talk to Shane Abbott who runs the theatre, and he explained to me that GTT is unique because it runs shows on a multitude of genres.

For $20 I got to see something creative in my own backyard. For someone who never really contemplated downtown Skokie's "nightlife," I turned out to be happily surprised. Since I had grabbed dinner at earlier (that's a whole other story), I ended up going to sleep on a full stomach and light heart. "Boobies," I thought to myself. "In downtown Skokie."

'Holy Bouncing Boobies: A Batman Burlesque' is playing at Gorillia Tango Theatre through September. For tickets, click here.

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