Over the weekend, more than 40 performers proved that men can shake their moneymakers just as good as the ladies at the 3rd annual New York Boylesque Festival.
On Friday, April 25, Sir Willy Waterlily, The Mansfield Brothers, Ron Dez Vous, Pussy Noir and other ecysdiasts bared (almost) all at a Teaser Party at Drom in the East Village.
The main event, though, was Saturday night at BB Kings in Times Square, where drag queen Sweetie was mistress of ceremonies and Gilbert de Moccos, Mr. Gorgeous, Toronto’s Boylesque T.O., Mahogany Storm, Jonny Porkpie, El Toro, Lewd Alfred Douglas boylesque legend Tigger! and headliner Jett Adore shook and shimmied for gays, straights, burlesque fans, Jersey housewives and—since it was Times Square—a few startled tourists.
It was a bit of downtown gone uptown, and a whiff of dirty old New York in the heart of Disneyfied Gotham. While the performers kept their goodies obscured (save for a few wardrobe malfunctions), Sweetie served up material that would make a Borscht Belt comic blush.
There’s no denying these boys are hot, but the real beauty of the show was that it reminded us that sex appeal is at least 50% confidence: The boylesquers Daniel Nardicio and Thirsty Girl Productions procured ran the gamut—beefy and rail-thin, gay and straight, cisgender and trans—but they all had the balls to walk out on stage and lay themselves bare.
Kind of makes Speedo season a little less terrifying, doesn’t it?
