Review: LA SOIREE Is Sexy, Comical and Risqué Circus Fun

Fans of muscular, athletic male physiques in action and sexy comical women playing for risqué laughs should have a blast at La Soiree, the burlesque-y, side-showish, gymnastical entertainment that turns the Union Square Theatre into an adult one ring circus of wildly thrilling and bawdy fun.

An assortment of self-contained acts perform on (and around) a small, circular stage surrounded by audience members. Seating in the orchestra section is by general admission with most rows not elevated, so it's suggested to arrive a half hour early to secure an unobstructed view.

You certainly won't want anyone's head blocking your vision when Denis Lock and Hamish McCann, billed as The English Gents, take the stage for a gasp-inducing display of man-on-man balancing maneuvers. Dressed properly in pinstriped suits and bowler hats, McCann manages to keep Lock steady without flinching from his leisurely perusal of The Financial Times of London. The boys provide the cheering crowd with an encore dressed patriotically in their Union Jack skivvies.

Working solo, McCann shows how pole dancing ain't just for the ladies in a sensational display of strength, grace and gratuitous shirtlessness.

Stephen "Bath Boy" Williams wears only a pair of wet jeans as he emerges from an on-stage tub, lifting himself up with hanging straps and dipping himself up and down, splashing patrons like a human fountain as he flies through the air. (Front row viewers are provided with plastic covering.)

Wearing Freddie Mercury leather and a crop-top shirt, the comical juggler Mario, Queen of the Circus sings the praises of his favorite band, Queen, and leads the audience in a "We Are The Champions" sing-along, during which he plunges himself in and surfs the crowd. His unicycle skills include balancing an audience member on his shoulders while riding one wheel.

On the feminine side, hula-hoopist Jess Love displays apple-cheeked cutesiness and incredible muscle isolation as she keeps multiple hoops in orbit; even tumbling about as she keeps one twirling around her ankle.

Quirky clown Mooky Cornish has a hilarious bit when she pulls out an audience member to lip-synch a little West Side Story with her and then play a dramatic scene, cleverly staged so that he can read his lines strategically written all over her costume and body.

Strip-teaser Ursula Martinez incorporates a disappearing hanky trick into her ecclesiastic routine, making red kerchiefs vanish and then removing the articles of clothing where they're found. Once she is fully nude, there's still one more hidden hanky to find. And yes, she goes there.

The fully-clothed portion of her act includes a bolero-flavored number where she teaches the audience to talk dirty in Spanish.

The crazily eccentric Miss Behave grandly abuses her body, sticking a scissor down her mouth, extinguishing a cigarette on herself, piercing her tongue with a sharp object and inflating a rubber glove that's wrapped around her head. After performing the famous tablecloth bit, she maneuvers the table leg deep into her throat.

Special guest stars are scheduled for each performance. The evening I attended was graced with the absurd Euro-trash theatrics of chanteuse Meow Meow, who uses strong audience members as props to pose on and order about as she passionately emotes.

Though the entire show is laced with sexual humor, it's always of the female-friendly variety. In fact, one running gag showed a very healthy attitude toward clitoral stimulation.

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