Forbidden Kiss Live

Believing in Burlesque

I’m weird about sex.  I don’t know.  Probably the Catholic School.  And the Nineties.  Purity culture was big back then.  There was no actual sex education at St. Mary Ignatius, but as fifth graders we were given a thin paperback called “Family Life” to begrudgingly provide Vatican-approved thoughts on human sexuality.  Each chapter drilled the same three points repeatedly:  heterosexual intercourse is all there is, don’t touch yourself, and Don’t Touch Yourself.  What can I say?   Patriarchal control.  Hetero-normative brain washing.  It started early for Generation X.  Fast forward to middle age and I can’t even sit through “Magic Mike”.  Too much floor humping.  So am I the right person to write about “Forbidden Kiss Live” – a once-a-month erotic variety show at The California in downtown Santa Rosa featuring pro-sex comedy sketches, live music and original songs about everything from self-love to vaginas being awesome, and burlesque, and boylesque, and neo-burlesque, all the -lesques?  Yes.  I am.  Burlesque is supposed to be for people like me.  And probably therapy, but that’s a whole other ball of wax shaped into a butt plug.  I attended a recent presentation of “Forbidden Kiss Live” and it was a total blast.  Did the golden shower jokes make me clench a little bit?  Sure.  But that’s what the cocktails were for.  A couple of those well-crafted bad mama-jamas had me in the perfect head space for all things liberating, all things sensual and all things Natasha Nightmare -- whose thoughtful, weird, and whimsical bump-and-grinds were the standout moments of the night.  As an arts and entertainment venue, The California is a great spot for a sultry cabaret.  Or for anything, really.  There’s a bar.  There’s food.  The service is awesome.  Parking garage right across the street.  It practically gets you off your couch for you.    Created and emceed by ex-New Yorker and “Matriarch of Off-Off Broadway Solo Theater” Cheryl King, “Forbidden Kiss Live” is a sexy vaudeville gem and an easygoing good time.  Folks, theater is imploding before our very eyes, just ask the New York Times, so let’s all plan an evening of free-spirited sex-positive fun for the ones we love – and for ourselves.

(Loosely related side note:  In yet another episode of “It’s a Small World for Theater Dorks” -- I have been to Cheryl King’s acting studio in Manhattan.  2009 maybe.  The salad days.  Even then I was impressed with King.  And she’s here now!  Sonoma County, this is good.)

“Forbidden Kiss Live” will be tickling you in your funny bone and all sorts of other places on Sept 13, Oct 18, November 8 and December 13 2023.  Get your tickets at https://www.caltheatre.com/