BURLESQUE
Seventeen years inside one of New York City's most vivid creative communities. Where jazz meets spectacle, and serious music finds its strangest, most joyful home.
A History Nearly 300 Years Old
Burlesque and music have coexisted for nearly three centuries. The word itself was originally a musical term — from the Italian burlesco — meaning to blend serious and comic aspects of music. A burlesque composition didn't strip anything down. It elevated the irreverent to the level of art. That original spirit is what Matt Parker has been playing inside since 2008.
Since 2008, Matt has been a fixture in the New York burlesque and variety world — performing nightly at Duane Park and the Slipper Room, and sharing stages with some of the most singular artists working in any genre. These are a few of the highlights.
The hardest-working man in show business. A towering presence in NYC variety and a genuine original. Matt's longtime collaborator on stage and off.
Polite Society Burlesque TANSYOne of the most inventive and visually dazzling performers in contemporary burlesque. Polite Society is anything but — and that's exactly the point.
Two rooms defined this era. Both are downtown New York City institutions. Both have histories that extend far beyond any single performer. Matt has spent hundreds of nights in each of them.
A weekly residency that lasted over a decade. Musical Director Jesse Elder anchored nightly performances at one of NYC's most intimate supper clubs. Live at Duane Park (2016) documents what those evenings sounded like: loose, joyful, and entirely in the moment.
Live at Duane Park on Spotify →One of the most storied variety and burlesque rooms in New York City. The Slipper Room is where the avant-garde and the populist meet — where circus, burlesque, jazz, and comedy collide under one roof, night after night. Matt has spent many nights here creating the kind of theater that only happens live, unrepeatable, and at midnight.
slipperroom.com →From New York City to Las Vegas to Coney Island, Matt has performed at the marquee events of the burlesque world. These are the stages where the community gathers — and where the music has to be as extraordinary as the performance around it.