A FAIRY TALE REBORN IN HEELS,
CORSETS, AND CANDLELIGHT

Little Red gets very bad — and very fabulous —
in Company XIV’s Petite Rouge

PhillVonAwesome

In its twentieth anniversary season, Company XIV unveils Petite Rouge (from Charles Perrault’s 1697 Le Petit Chaperon Rouge) and allows the classic fable of Little Red Riding Hood to frolic in the exhilarating air of the Belle Époque. In this burlesque version, a bit fairy tale, a bit Toulouse-Lautrec’s fever dream, our Red is played by dancer Cara Seymour and she is not skipping through the pines holding a lunch basket for her Grandma. She knows the woods are watching and she rather enjoys it. Innocence is merely the opening act and appetite is the headliner.

Shawn Lesniak, Colin Heininger, Cara Seymour, Rosebud, Duana TasteIrenie, Cara Seymour

Like the grand dames of the original Moulin Rouge, Pepper Solana and Lindsay Rose are the true stars of the show. Unlike other productions from the company, in Petite Rouge the two extraordinary singers have duets that go from pop to heartfelt soul and their voices, so commanding and different, had the audience clapping until their hands ached. Solana even wove operatic vibrato into several pieces, displaying astonishing precision and control over every note.

Duana Taste, Colin Heininger, Alexandre Barranco

Julian Evans’ sound design is eclectic and captivating from the moment you step inside to the moment you leave. It makes you want to linger a few hours longer, simply to savor it. The soundtrack as a whole is brilliantly curated, spanning from Prince to the Andrews Sisters and from Elysian Fields to Jacques Brel. Paired with Company XIV’s famed cocktails, it becomes a show in its own right.

Tomislav Nevistic, Colin Heininger, Cara Seymour, Irenie, Duana TasteCara Seymour

Duana Taste, Nicholas Katen, PhillVonAwesome, Shawn Lesniak, Colin Heininger, and Tomislav Nevistic open and close the show as fun cabaret dancers only to transform, with Seymour, into a serious corps de ballet that performs with classical precision duets, pirouettes, jetés, and all sorts of daring ballet moves on heels, sometimes stilettos. At that point, who could possibly be afraid of a wolf?

Nicholas Katen

Aerialists like Alexandre Barranco and Irenie dance with the ensemble and then spiral skyward on half moons, while choreography arcs, coils and strikes with wolfish grace. Every solo is a dare, every movement a seduction; at one point Syrena walks on stage and literally hypnotizes the audience with her belly dancing. Her isolations are so exquisitely precise that you begin to suspect each rib and muscle has rehearsed separately. The many wolves are partners in a dance of temptation; ballet elegance melts into burlesque bravado, whispering that the hunt for pleasure is nothing to fear.

The cast of Petite Rouge (bottom photo by Luis Suarez)

The mastermind pulling all the strings behind the magic, artistic director and choreographer Austin McCormick, once again successfully dissolves the boundary between classical refinement and decadent spectacle, inviting us to abandon caution and wander deeper, because the woods are not a trap but a threshold. His right hand, Zane Pihlström, the clever man behind both costumes and sets, creates the atmosphere turning everything into flirtation: candlelit ambiance, corsets that sculpt and shine, barely-there pasties and thongs, stockings tracing every leg, and headwear that could start its own conversation.

Colin Heininger, PhillVonAwesome, Shawn LesniakAlexandre Barranco, Pepper Solana, Nicholas Katen, PhillVonAwesome

Before and after the performance, between indulgent infusions, chocolate truffles, and the occasional truffle potato chip, you can sit down with Madame Rosebud, a true star of New York burlesque, for a personal consultation. She adds wit and enchantment as the resident tarot reader, an exquisite surprise even if you do not believe in fortune telling.

Shawn Lesniak, Colin Heininger, Tomislav NevisticCara Seymour, Shawn Lesniak

A brilliant show for grown-ups, those who have truly grown up and left behind all sexual hang-ups, fear of the unfamiliar, and judgmental hypocrisy. Perrault’s moral once warned young women to beware the wolves. Petite Rouge suggests that perhaps Red knows exactly what she is doing, and loves the thrill of stepping off the path.

Duana Taste (photo by Luis Suarez)

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photos by Deneka Peniston and Luis Suarez (where noted)

Petite Rouge
Company XIV
Théâtre XIV, 383 Troutman Street in Bushwick, Brooklyn
ages 21 and up only
Thurs-Sun at 8; Sun at 6 — open run
for tickets, visit Company XIV
from $49 for standing room to $598.50 for a plush Champagne Couch for Two People

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Pepper SolanaPhillVonAwesome, Cara Seymour and the cast of Petite Rouge (photos by Luis Suarez)