Star Light, Stars Bright :: New Downtown Burlesque Show at Sir Francis Drake

On the last Thursday night of each month, 21 floors above Union Square, grassroots meet the Gilded Age.

A new series of cabaret-style variety shows at the Starlight Room of the Sir Francis Drake Hotel is celebrating esoteric contemporary performers in a traditional San Franciscan setting. The next show is September 28 at 8:45 p.m.

Fan dancers, sword swallowers, smooth crooners and ribald comics are amongst the gritty-origined acts making like George and Weezy Jefferson and moving on up to a deluxe venue in the sky.

While the Sir Francis Drake, which opened in 1928, was once a local roosting place for visitors from Hollywood - including Paul Lynde (whose consort plummeted to his death from an eight floor window in 1965), Barbara Stanwyck, Dolores del Rio, and the kiddie cast of "The Little Rascals" - the rascally performers in the new cabaret series come from the streets, and saloons, of San Francisco.

One evening late last year, Linh Thanh Pham and his wife - recently relocated to San Francisco from Chicago - were enjoying cocktails at 16th Street's Skylark Bar when burlesque broke out.

They'd stumbled upon the No Cover Cabaret, a homespun performance art variety show presented at the bar each Friday, under the auspices of impresaria Hunny Bunny, a run-of-the-mill San Francisco contortionist/ballerina/ecdysiast.

Among the performers that evening were Bunny's friend and sometime collaborator, Vixi Vale, a pixiesque dancer with a wry sense of humor and a penchant for flapper fashion that dovetails beautifully with the Starlight Room's glamorous early 20th-century decor.

"When we first moved here, we spent every spare moment exploring different neighborhoods," says Pham, who had been hired as the Director of Food and Beverage at the Sir Francis Drake (His wife, Brenda, works in human resources at the Four Seasons). "We came across Bunny and Vixi's show totally inadvertently. I've seen burlesque in the past, but this was obviously done with a lot of love and passion."

"My wife is really my litmus test when I start new projects. I saw her looking at Vixi, taking in her style and her costume and before I knew it, Brenda had struck up a conversation and was introducing me.

"Before I got into the hospitality business," Pham explains, "I was involved in theatrical production. In Chicago, I worked with Steppenwolf and other companies. More recently, I've worked at hotels that had nightclubs with DJs and live music, but I was itching to get back into something more theatrical.

"The old-time aspects of Bunny and Vixi's style of burlesque, which is as much about variety acts as classy striptease felt like an ideal match for this classic hotel. I like the idea of connecting the building with its history, and connecting the hotel with the local arts community."

While the Starlight Room has played host to the weekly Sunday's A Drag brunch for over a decade, Pham says mounting a new mid-week event series represented "a big risk," especially taking place only once a month.

But from the first show, in June, sizable audiences have turned out for The Starlight Cabaret, including repeat attendees, who look forward to the surprising specialty acts that Bunny and Vixi curate.

"We've been performing in burlesque, circus, and immersive theater for years," explains Bunny, "and we have a large network of talent, nationally and internationally."

The pair are sticklers for detail and quality. They leave handwritten notes and sparkly little gifts for patrons on the cocktail tables and employ a trio of Roaring Twenties' costumed showgirls - Drake's Gems - to act as hostesses when not backing the featured performers on the room's small platform stage.

"Its very special to be able to work in the Starlight Room," says Vixi. "We want to blend the classic and the cutting edge to create a sort of timelessness. It should feel like a treasure trove for people to dig into once a month."

The Starlight Room at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel, 450 Powell Street. www.starlightroomsf.com