Josephine depicts the incred­i­ble life of African-Amer­i­can Josephine Bak­er, who found fame and for­tune as a cabaret singer and bur­lesque dancer in Paris dur­ing the 1920s and 30s. This show is bril­liant. Per­former Tymisha Har­ris gives a sexy and play­ful per­for­mance as the title char­ac­ter. She even man­ages to include some sexy audi­ence par­tic­i­pa­tion that seemed to make one par­tic­i­pant a lit­tle uncomfortable.

How­ev­er, for me, the real treat of the show was how sub­tly this show dis­cussed racism at sev­er­al points, includ­ing how a young Bak­er could­n’t tell the dif­fer­ence between a hang­ing plat­form and a stage. Every­thing about this show was per­fect, except the end­ing. The show should have end­ed with her return­ing as a cul­tur­al icon dur­ing the March on Wash­ing­ton and singing The Times They Are A Chang­ing. Then fade to black and play the news report of her death. Instead of end­ing on an emo­tion­al peak, the show limped along with a sil­ly dance and an unnec­ces­sary final song. Still, this is a ter­rif­ic show.

Josephine, a bur­lesque cabaret dream play
Venue 16 — PTE Main­stage
Musi­cal
75 Min­utes
Mature Audi­ence
Warn­ing: Nudity