Peppermint Pasties

Baptists and burlesque don't often mix. The same goes for religious holidays and burlesque. But ballet and burlesque isn't too far of a leap, and in a fitting turn for the bawdy, peep-show style theater that has slowly infiltrated everything from our fashions to our fitness programs, it now has its own adults-only version of The Nutcracker. The Bur-less-Q Nutcracker tells the heartwarming, comical story of the Beulaville Baptist Book Club and the Velvet Kittens Burlesque Dancers, who are forced to unite when the book club's planned performance gets waylaid by a bad case of food poisoning. The fictional Beaulaville is possibly the only place on earth not familiar with burlesque, and high comedy ensues when the characters (and the audience) get exposed to it. Although the music is classic Tchaikovsky, ballet gives way to bump-and-grind, and the sugar plums might be mostly undone. But don't expect too much of a hootchie-cootchie holiday. Burlesque performers keep things clean with a "look but don't touch" policy. In other words, save your dollar bills for the charity bucket--it's not that kind of striptease. Bur-less-Q Nutcracker plays 8 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays through December 21 at the Stone Cottage Theatre, 15650 Addison Road, Addison, with 2:30 p.m. matinees December 6 and 21. Tickets are $18 to $21. Call 214-477-4942 or visit BurlesqueNutcracker.com.
Wednesdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sat., Dec. 6, 2:30 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 21, 2:30 p.m. Starts: Dec. 3. Continues through Dec. 21, 2008