Harlow Gold: Come to the Cabaret

If you haven’t heard of neo-burlesque troupe Harlow Gold yet my guess is that you will very soon. For those already in the know, their gritty, provocative performances the last two Thursdays of the month at Harvelles’s in Santa Monica sell out quickly. So my advice? Come hear the music play…

There’s too many things to love about Harlow Gold, where to begin?

I’ll start with the setting, Harvelle’s, the oldest bar on the West-side, opened it’s doors in 1931 and has an unpretentious vintage atmosphere that can’t be manufactured. Unlike so many LA hot spots (I won’t name names) concocted by some mastermind designer du jour, everything at Harvelle’s is the real deal. From the glowing crimson marquee to the studded leather bar stools, this place wears its 80 years well. Harvelle’s is the type of place Don Draper might take an out-of-town client and make a night of it. Complete with sassy bartenders and patrons drinking respectable drinks like bourbon on the rocks and real martinis, there’s not a single lychee or Cosmo in sight and that’s just fine with me.

Now for the show, The Girls of Harlow Gold (yes they are named after the Kim Carnes song, how awesome is that?) take the stage donning costumes that pay homage to Wiemar Berlin, ’60s Bond girls, Siouxie Sioux, turn of the century vaudevillians and All That Jazzcombined with a tongue in cheek coquettishness that would make Josephine Baker proud.

Their unique brand of subversive seduction is enough to make you fall in love with them but what really sets Harlow Gold apart from other Burlesque performances is their music. From the moment the girls begin ominously goose stepping onto the stage in risque German military regalia to the pounding drums of the White Stripes Icky Thump you know there will be nothing typical about their show.

There’s a raven haired vixen who literally claws her way down the full length of the bar to a wailing Diamanda Galas I Put a Spell On You and a tattered bleach blond rag doll dizzily confronting the crowd to the creepy sexy Missed Me by The Dresden Dolls. Each girl has a powerful presence and a style all her own which makes each number—group performance or solo—totally enthralling. The choreography is complex and masterful. One of my favorite moments of the night had the girls dressed as half man, half woman dramatically tango-ing down the center of the bar, so depending on where you’re seated they were a different couple.

Whether it’s the beautiful girls, the costumes, the music or the venue that peak your interest, go see them perform! You’ll be beckoned back to a simpler time when the ladies revue was all de rigueur only with a heartbeat that’s pure 2010. Harlow Gold is a reminder that “Life is a cabaret ol’ chum, so get to the cabaret!”