Ruby Mimosa’s Sound of Strip Lights Up Burlesque with Live Music

A stage without a performance is an opportunity wasted, and so last Friday the Triple Door lifted its curtains to Downtown Seattle and its second night featuring The Sound of Strip—an improvised phantasm of lights, nostalgia, and seduction presented by Ruby Mimosa.

For the uninitiated, the Triple Door is a longtime dinner-and-a-show venue in Seattle’s downtown that seats some 300, The Sound of Strip is an improv burlesque show set to the music of a live cover of The Cure, and Ruby Mimosa (aka The Effervescent EnterTEASER) is a local star noted as one of the most influential performers in the world by 21st Century Burlesque and the genius mind behind BurlesKaraoke.

“Seeing a live band accompanying burlesque performers is something that I yearn for constantly. Many other cities have it on a regular basis but we just don't get as much of it here in Seattle. I wanted the feel of the golden age of burlesque with a live band and fancy sparkly humans gracing the stage,” said Mimosa, speaking to creative inspirations.

The show is a crisp 90 minutes with minimal emceeing to get in the way of the short numbers carried by Jessabelle Thunder, Moscato Sky, INGA, J. Von Stratton, and Clara Voyance. The Lovecats-Tribute to The Cure provide pitch perfect recreations of classics like “Friday I’m in Love” and “Just Like Heaven”, which keep things moving with their high-energy British post-punk. 

Each set features their own assortment of costumes and props from billowing dresses to seductive feathered fans. Try not to get dizzy when the tassels come out. Transitions are short, with a catchy diddy and interstitial title card providing a quick break before the next set takes the stage.

Ruby Mimosa doing her thing on stage

Courtesy of Ruby Mimosa via Scott Foster

To the non-connoisseur, The Sound of Strip may not seem obviously different from traditional choreographed burlesque, but the unscripted sets have a distinctly unique flow. Mimosa’s take: “Something about improv just hits different. I find that it allows for a little more connection to myself, where my body wants to go, and how it wants to move with the music that is being gifted in that moment.”

Not a single performance lacked for grace, athleticism, or playfulness—sensuality wafted into the audience. By the night’s end, there was no question everyone had a good time.

Burlesque is a time-honored artform and yet somehow it is also so of the moment. At first glance, there’s nothing special per se about a burlesque show happening in a city like Seattle, yet The Sound of Strip makes the old modern, the nostalgic fresh, and the risqué a perfect night on the town.

Mimosa again: “I feel gratitude, love, and joy getting to work at The Triple Door. It has been home to me for so long. It holds a very special place in my heart; it was where I performed my very first burlesque performance with The Atomic Bombshells… The space feels like a blast from the past and has a dreaminess about it that puts you back in time. I love that it's been the home of burlesque and vaudeville since the ‘20s!”

Ruby Mimosa is currently working on bringing The Sound of Strip to Tacoma on August 22 at the Elks Temple Spanish Ballroom, this time to the tunes of the Kareem Kandi Band. You can also catch her monthly at BurlesKaraoke on the fourth Wednesday of the month at Queer Bar in Seattle.