Last month, I saw an advertisement for the Chippendales tour on Facebook and it caught my eye. I thought, "Why not?" I talked to my girlfriends and we took off and ran with the idea. I wasn’t sure what to expect, considering I’d never been to anything like this before. Based on what I paid for the tickets, I definitely got my money's worth. Although we left partially deaf in our left ears, we had great seats, laughed the whole night and had a great time.
Enough time has passed that by now we’ve all probably seen or know the basic synopsis of “Magic Mike.” So, in a way, you kind of already know what Chippendales is. It’s a male revue, like what you saw in “Magic Mike,” but with no tipping. It’s a bit classier, or at least that’s what their reputation is (and that’s what I’d like to think).
The men definitely put on a great show, but I spent some of my time watching the other women. It was a bit surreal. I was definitely taken back to this scene from “Mean Girls” when watching how the women reacted when it came to being danced with, taken on stage or any other kind of interaction with the men when they were on the floor. If it had come to this, I have no doubt that those women would've been up for the challenge.
Watching the chaos ensue when the men would come offstage and into the crowd was probably one of my favorite parts of the show. Women would manage to dart from a seat all the way across the theater to exactly where the dancers were at in about five seconds. Most of the women probably didn’t think about the fact that some of these men are gay. They don’t tell you which ones are, in order to prevent destroying the fantasy. So, I think some of the women were under the impression that they would be spending the night with their man of choice.
There were two women in front of me in line for the bathroom that were desperately trying to find a way to sneak in the backstage door once the show was over. Another woman literally almost took out three people in her row when trying to get a ripped T-shirt that was thrown into the audience. Without a second thought, she took a nose dive right into the theater floor, while my row looked on thinking she was knocked out, but dammit she got that shirt.
Alas, I didn’t get a picture with the whole crew for my article. I just couldn’t bring myself to pay $20 for a picture, but I did leave with an authentic set of the Chippendales cuffs and collar, while my girlfriend left with a very cute tank top.
It was a fantastic show, Chippendales, and we all had a wonderful time. The music, men, showmanship and dancing were all on point, just as I expected. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will probably be back, but Patrick Swayze and Chris Farley will always be my favorite Chippendales dancers.
