Burlesque is enjoying something of a renaissance in St. Louis, embracing a wide range of acts, including scantily clad dancers, circus performers, oddball cabaret and any number of other diversions. But burlesque is merely the tip of the alt-entertainment iceberg in St. Louis. We offer a few highlights to get started.
The Boom Boom Room
Leave the kids at home and step out with your friends and/or lovers to this burlesque-themed bistro, where a French menu (including duck confit, a poutine burger and maple-bacon beignets) is the backdrop for specialty cocktails and scintillating performances. Experience full burlesque shows on Fridays to dinner-and-a-show seatings on Saturdays, and even roving cirque, aerial, and other surprises during dinner on other evenings. Check the online calendar and choose an adventure.
The Monocle & Emerald Room
Live entertainment, featuring a potpourri of cabaret, comedy and burlesque, plus classic craft cocktails, is served up in The Emerald Room, the performance space within The Monocle, one of the many nightspots populating The Grove neighborhood.
2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center
Down on Cherokee Street, the 2720 Cherokee Performing Arts Center offers a calendar loaded with indie bands, arcade game nights and the occasional burlesque act.
Westport Social
The spacious sports bar in Westport Plaza delivers lots of sports on giant screens and lets patrons get in the act with ping-pong, basketball, shuffleboard, darts, snookball, karaoke and bocce ball (yes, the real thing, not VR). Menu includes appetizers, salads, pizzas, sliders, ribs, tacos and more. Fun, fun, fun.
Howl at the Moon
With drinks like Stoned in the Orchard, Howlin’ Mule and Honey Mango Margarita, you know you’re going to have a howlin’ good time at this dueling-piano club. Lots of sing-along fun at Ballpark Village.
Escape The Room St. Louis
ETRSL puts you in a themed, “locked” room loaded with the clues you need to solve puzzles and earn your freedom … in 60 minutes. Up to a dozen players—friends, families, coworkers or strangers—can try to crack the code in rooms like Western Bank Heist and The Apartment for $28 per person. Good luck.
St. Louis Escape
From the team behind The Darkness haunted house (think Hollywood-caliber set design), St. Louis Escape offers detailed and complex escape rooms—Curse of the Mummy, Cellar and Runaway Subway—complete with smells, digital sound and animations ($28 per person), plus a well-equipped lobby.
Lemp Mansion
The legendarily haunted Lemp Mansion serves dinner with a comedy-mystery (always a murder … always), involving as much or as little participation as you like, every Friday and Saturday night at 7 pm for $52.95 per person. Or you can book a private comedy-mystery dinner any day, any time for $150-$1,500.
The Improv Shop
If you like watching comedians walk that nerve-wracking improvisational tightrope, The Improv Shop is for you. Classes are available for sign up or just watch the pros do their thing in a variety of formats. Tickets just $6.
Start Bar
If arcade games float your entertainment boat, head down to Start Bar, a few blocks from Busch Stadium, where you can mix it up with pinball, Skee-ball, cabinet games and more, or nosh on handmade pizzas, craft beers, boozy milkshakes and hard floats.
