It’s going to be terrible.
At the “Maim that Tune” burlesque show on Saturday night, strippers will dance to the worst music they can imagine, including commercial jingles, inept ballads, and Toby Keith songs. The nauseating numbers chosen by the nearly-naked performers at the Sideshows by the Seashore theater in Coney Island on Aug. 12, will lead to an evening like no other, said its producer.
“People are screaming and saying ‘No!’ and clutching their heads — and that’s not the typical reaction to a burlesque show,” said host and performer Fancy Feast, who reigned as Miss Coney Island 2016. “It subverts the idea of what is a sexy night out.”
This is Williamsburg performer’s third year producing the night of miserable music — which sold out both of its previous incarnations. There is something cathartic about expressing your feeling about terrible tunes along with a crowd, said Fancy.
“People think they’re alone in their hatred [of certain songs], but here they can get their ya-yas out,” she said. “It appeals to both sadists and masochists, so it’s a little something for everyone.”
In previous years, dancers have stripped to the Mr. Softee jingle, a mash-up of Smashmouth’s “All-Star” and John Lennon’s “Imagine,” and Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Achy Breaky Heart.” But the “objective badness” of a song is less important to Fancy than the pain that each of the 13 performers go through while practicing their routines to music that they hate. Working through their revulsion can lead to a creative breakthrough, said Fancy.
“I’m always amazed to see what happens in a performer’s head when they are stuck with a song that they hate for a long period of time. It creates some pretty twisted striptease,” she said. “There have been several acts that have come out of this have gone into regular rotation in people’s acts.”
Fancy would not reveal any of this year’s line-up, because the anticipation of waiting for the next song is part of the fun.
“People are really waiting for the next track, to see if they really hate it or not,” she said. “There have been some moments of debate.”
But she did reveal that two performers at this year’s show have chosen the same awful tune — which she would normally not allow.
“As a producer, on any other night, I would make them get a new selection,” said Fancy. “But for this show, some things are better heard twice, so people can really meditate on why the songs are so odious.”
“Maim that Tune” at Sideshows by the Seashore [1208 Surf Ave. between W. 12th Street and Stillwell Avenue in Coney Island, (718) 372–5159, www.coney
