Day 7 - Charlie Quinn Starling

I look for potential tie-ins on these essays any time I can find one, and since this is opening weekend for Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn, it only makes sense to write about talented cosplayer and burlesque performer Charlie Quinn Starling.

I met Charlie at last year's Smoky Mountain Burlesque Festival (after seeing her perform at BHoF) but then caught her in quick succession at BurlyCon and then the Savannah Burlesque Festival, to say nothing of a quick trip to Las Vegas I fit in at the end of last year. To be well-traveled as a burlesque performer is to be in demand, which she clearly is.

What I want to focus on specifically is her role in Absinthe, the #Vegashitshow which has been delighting and offending audiences in front of Caesar's Palace for nearly a decade. As much as I love burlesque, I sometimes worry that shows are produced largely by and for other performers and hardcore fans, and if a few stray normies show up, cool, that's a few extra bucks in the till. Absinthe is performed twice a night, and if that Spiegeltent is packed, that's 1,200 people who get to see a professional, polished and fun burlesque routine by "The Green Fairy" right at the top of the proceedings. That makes The Green Fairy one of the most viewed burlesque acts in the world, witnessed by people who might never buy a ticket to a show otherwise.

Absinthe begins with a delirious chair-stacking act just before The Green Fairy literally descends from the apex of the tent, singing beautifully (the Green Fairy has a VOICE y'all!) and welcoming the crowd to the show while also performing a striptease. Most weeks, if you see the show on Sunday or Monday, your Green Fairy is Charlie Quinn Starling. Big love also to Hazel Honeysuckle, the Tuesday-Saturday Green Fairy, Raquel Reed, the bombshell in the gorilla suit, and Melody Sweets, who originated the Green Fairy role. Absinthe always features a wealth of burlesque talent.

Charlie is also part of a "Cabaret" themed trio with Lily Starr and burlesque legend Lovey Goldmine that brought down the house at both BHoF and the Smoky Mountain Festival (for serious, the applause level was thunderous). She also has formal ballet training (see day 3 of these essays) that clearly helps her either grace up her smuttiness or smut up her gracefulness on stage. She is generous and talented AF, and though I don't know her nearly as well as some other people I'll be writing about, I very much want to see a lot more burlesque from her in the coming years.