Time Out New York
“Hands-down more goosebumps per minute than any other show... It’s ‘RENT’ for our generation... The music is Broadway caliber... If it doesn’t go on to a longer run, there is no God.”
NYC Fringe Guide
BEST OF THE FEST: “The first show to earn a ‘MUST SEE’ designation from our staff this year... Rip-roaring hilarity. The cast is superb, the performances tight, the music is bumping and the hips grinding.”
Theatre Is Easy
BEST OF FRINGE: “The show is brilliant: brilliant performances, amazingly classy dancing (as well as bawdy as hell while tasteful enough for a theatre audience), badass vocal performances and all around stellar and crisp acting. Bottom Line: You do NOT want to miss SHINE: A Burlesque Musical"
Stage and Cinema
"John Woods and Cass King have written a show that is thoughtful, sultry, and hilarious... smart and sexy... the songs are witty and catchy... the ensemble shines... Adra Boo Green could rival any femme fatale of stage or screen...The show expertly balances between sincerity and campy send-up... If you enjoy burlesque, or musicals, or sophisticated sex comedy, you should get your tickets right away. This is a Fringe show that deserves to sell out."
Stagebuzz.com
“A genuinely bawdy musical that triumphantly succeeds in hailing free expression of sexuality and embracing of individuality, while dazzling the audience with the talent of its artists.
Cultural Capitol
"A rip-roarin’ good time that takes us back to the dirty, funky, sexy place at the heart of the Nouveau Burlesque movement... the lyrics are witty, and the music is catchy; the dance numbers are fun; the costumes are well made; and the acting is impeccable.”
The Wall Street Journal
“SHINE intrigued us. The show is more entertaining than a lot of burlesque out there. Here, there are real characters. They break into song and dance numbers. And the one-liners are funny. Cass King, who plays theater owner and central performer Shine Mionne, melds all the feminine charms of a burlesque performer with the comedic panache of the (usually male) host.”
Backstage
“Genuinely funny filthy lines... excellent comedy songs... an enthusiastic cast, with Cass King’s Tallulah-like burlesque mistress a standout; and some hilarious costumes."
Curtainup.com
“The song and dance numbers sparkle, and there are enough raunchy jokes to keep an entire convent blushing. Even in the permissive 21st century, this is not one for the kids. So leave them at home and have fun.”
NYTheater.com
“Brash, bawdy and utterly endearing... It’s a raunchy, sexy concept - certainly not for the faint of heart.”
SEATTLE JULY 2010
Seattle City Arts Magazine
Entering the Bad Bold World of Burlesque
"A shameless celebration... whoever you are, SHINE will make you laugh at yourself."
Broadway World
SHINE: A Burlesque Musical at Theater Off Jackson
"A naughty-licious good time... 42nd St. with tits."
Burlesque Seattle Press
A Touch of Crass
"clever, a little bit crass, and yes, catchy... SHINE’s imaginative writers and director Roger Benington make it permissible to see a musical again, even if you’re ‘not a musical type’."
The Georgia Straight
Shine: A Burlesque Musical delivers copious amounts of pleasure
"A stellar example of the new burlesque, Shine is an empowered celebration of individuality."
The Vancouver Courier
Dirty SHINE has the makings of a cult classic
Burlesque isn't mainstream entertainment. And that's part of the point. There's a move afoot to revive burlesque, but to date that revival has been relegated to sleazy bars, Legion halls and old dance halls. So Screaming Chicken Theatrical Society (a burlesque company), The Wet Spots (comedy duo Cass King and John Woods) and writer Sam Dulmage have packaged bump-and-grind with song-and-dance, called it a burlesque musical and moved it into the Waterfront Theatre where it has all the makings of a cult classic.
PLANK Magazine:
“SHINE: A Burlesque Musical is terrifically entertaining. Even if you don’t like the story, the boobies and simulated sex should be enough to get you through to the end of the night. No need to wait until the end of this review: I’m telling you straight up, right now, that you should go. Have a couple of drinks at the bar. Take a friend. Make out at the back of the theatre. It’s that kind of show, people.”
Blogger Hummingbird 604:
"...this amazing production was able to bring the audience to their feet, clapping, singing along and giving a standing ovation for over 10 minutes."
Blogger Vancouver Musicals:
"SHINE is chock full of clever moments and snappy dialogue; it will absolutely and thoroughly entertain you and leave you wanting more."
Blogger Peter Dickinson:
“The best moments of the show are the dance routines themselves, which highlight the superb choreographic talents of Mangler and April O’Peel, and which showcase the outstanding burlesque dance talents of the show’s chorus (Keri Horton as Feral is a particular standout). And it is here, as with traditional burlesque, that the audience most vocally demonstrates its appreciation.”
Blogger: Beyond Robson
And how about those song and dance numbers? Where else would you see a central performance about the transformative power of watching Rocky Horror as an adolescent, watch a dancer use a string of (faux) sausages as a feather boa, or view a striptease that could only be described as something out of the lost pilot to an R-rated HBO Muppets Show?
PREVIEWS: VANCOUVER 2009
The Georgia Straight:
Vamping Out of the Underground
“We wanted a legitimate space for adult entertainment—we could have put the show up in the WISE Hall or the legion, but we chose not to,” says King, whose own Wet Spots have performed in such tony auditoriums as the Sydney Opera House and Massey Hall. “We wanted to see what it looked like in a big space. And we wanted to give Vancouver burlesque the opportunity to grow into a space like that because Vancouver is doing some of the raciest, edgiest, most exciting burlesque anywhere.”
The Province:
Performing as the Wetspots, Cass King and John Woods have honed their "educational burlesque" act into a slick, sexy experience that leaves audiences erupting with cries of appreciation.
The Vancouver Courier:
Wet Spots take a shine to theatre's 'shabby, kind of slutty cousin'
The Vancouver Courier:
The Courier talked to choreographer and performer Lauren Allen, aka April O'Peel, about the show's remount at the Waterfront Theatre Aug. 12-22, burlesque-related injuries and possible stage names for a bald and chubby 37-year-old entertainment writer thinking about switching careers.
MORE:
Plank Magazine podcast
Rachel Anne Scott interviews Cass King and John Woods of the Vancouver-based Wet Spots about their new musical SHINE: A Burlesque Musical which opened at the Waterfront Theatre on August 10, 2009.
NEXT STAGE: Video Listing
Performer Teddy Smooth and Co-Creator Cass King give us several good reasons to see Shine: A Burlesque Musical
