Peter T Review of Varsity Theater
I saw the SuicideGirls Blackheart Burlesque show l...
I saw the SuicideGirls Blackheart Burlesque show last night--it was my first time at this venue. The staff was excellent, the atmosphere was excellent, and the crowd was pretty good. I cannot comment much on sound as the show was mostly a visual experience, but the sound didn't seem obviously poor.
Two problems with this venue/act that lessened enjoyment out of many: the stage objectively is too low. I'm 6'1" standing 20 feet from the stage and had a difficult time seeing a good portion of the performance. Part of that was the nature of the show; the performers spent some time writhing around on the ground.
The second problem, exacerbated by the first, was the presence of mobile phones all over my sight line. The SuicideGirls insanely encouraged us to take pictures, with the opportunity to win a membership if we presented the best picture. Obviously with mobile device photographers, the only decent photographs would be taken in the first couple rows, but this didn't prevent much of the audience to hold their phones up all night long. And it irked everyone. I saw two fights almost break out because of this. It created a lot of audience tension (easy to do in Minneapolis, land of the uptight and passive aggressive), which also lessened my positive experience.

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