Burlesque (play)

Their marriage is tested when Skid lands a job as leading comic in a hit Broadway show and the couple finds that success and fame come with a cost.

[2] The work is remembered for being an important early stage success in the career of actress Barbara Stanwyck who achieved acclaim in the role of Bonnie in the New York production at the age of 20.

The plot follows burlesque show comic Skid Johnson and his wife, the dancer Bonny King as they seek to move their way up in the entertainment world.

Skid lands a job as a leading comic in a big Broadway musical show; taking that gig after being persuaded to pursue it by the chorus girl Sylvia Marco with whom he has been flirting.

The final act takes place at the Star Theatre in Paterson, New Jersey where Bonny is working once again in the same Burlesque show after separating from Skid.

Theatre scholar Felicia Hardison Londré described Burlesque as a backstage comedy drama that was "especially vibrant" in its "depiction of seedy glamour and jazzy lingo.

Indiana University theatre professor Ronald Wainscott stated that the role raised her profile "from chorus girl to stardom which not long after took her to Hollywood".

[10] Burns Mantle described the original production as a "rough drama in the sense that its cross-sections life among the lowly and uncultured performers of the burlesque theatres, revealing them on good authority as they live and as they are.