Some parts were better than others, which is the nature of an anthology show. I prefer the performances that had more of a meaningful or plotty vision, though nothing was bad by any means. There’s a reason why House of Hush is mentioned every time you talk about burlesque in Edmonton.

The theme was a bit too unfocused for me this year. One one hand, I liked the story of the emcee, and her character development was a lot of fun. On the other hand, I felt like the performances were then only lightly related to her life story. This is kind of all small potatoes though when you have performers this talented. And the costumes are, of course, stunning.

My other small gripe is that one of the songs was strangely low fidelity. It’s a shame because it was one of my favourite of the performances.