The Clocktower Cabaret — Restaurant in Denver

I’ve been a supporter of burlesque for years and initially enjoyed the show. The venue is fantastic and the emcee and dancers were all amazing performers; we also appreciated the reasonable drink prices and the fact that the establishment is family and women-owned and run.

However, things took a turn towards the middle / latter part of the show when they had three dancers come out representing horribly stereotypical, racial tropes. As a group of women of color, we did not appreciate how the “Chinese” and “Japanese” dancers were introduced with references to “Char Siu Mu” (a pork dish) and “Pokémon.” The most problematic part of the show was when a dancer was introduced as “African” and performed on stage with a fake machete - of all the ways you could portray the beauty in Asian and African cultures, why would you choose to portray African culture with a symbol of violence on stage? The audience was mostly Caucasian and I strongly felt that these stereotypes should not be reinforced through what is meant to be a celebration of female empowerment and body positivity. We gently spoke to the producer of the show who was very kind but I wish she had actively listened to our feedback as opposed to insisting upon her Japanese roots. The two women in our group who were of East Asian descent (myself included) found the show to be concerning for a number of reasons and we sincerely hope the management and production team takes our feedback into consideration.

Otherwise we enjoyed the venue, ambiance, and the incredible performance of the dancers - please continue to do these things without horribly reinforcing racial stereotypes. There are many ways in which you can celebrate cultures without paying homage to such obvious tropes.

EDIT: I am adding in an edit to this review in response to the owner's comment below. I spoke to the producer directly about the aforementioned issues and she acknowledged having an "African" dancer perform with a machete was a misstep on her part. Furthermore, why were all of the performers allowed to portray Greek gods and goddesses while your three POC performers played stereotypes? Please note that two of the Asian dancers were fairly white-presenting - and what they presented flat out offended the ethnic East Asians in our group. Just because you identify with a culture does not mean that the things you do and say are not harmful to others from that same culture (think Vivek Ramaswamy). When your customers of color are asking you to take into consideration that what you are portraying is actually harmful and hurtful to us, please listen and do better.

EDIT #2: Am adding in a response to the producer's comments below. I appreciate the dialogue here because I think it's important. You did indeed acknowledge that you had curated the show and performances, and that the machete piece was (verbatim) a "misstep." Can you point to an instance outside of your show in which the goddess Odudua, a representation of earth, is represented holding a machete, a symbol of violence? You also failed to take accountability for how you blatantly played up Chinese and Japanese stereotypes in the same show. Burlesque should be about empowering women, not emphasizing racial tropes (for the amusement of others) that have contributed to the festishization and harm of women of color for centuries. Sorry if my perspective is "too heavy." Knocking down to one star for the continued defensiveness and lack of corrective action on behalf of this...

This is mainly a review for the front desk attendant (Conner) who went out of his way to be nasty, unhelpful and rude to our party.

Here's the story: we were a group of 6 girls; 4 had no problems getting in, however, two of the people in our group booked tickets together and accidentally booked for a date in November. Since the evening was sold out, Conner informed us that we would need to wait until 15 min after the show began to see who hadn't arrived and then if there were still two spots available we could pay $20 to have our tickets "transferred" to the correct date. While we were waiting we witnessed a gentleman come to Conner's desk and purchase a ticket for the night's show. When I asked Conner as to why he allowed the gentleman to purchase the ticket, he first told me it was a long story and to go sit down and come back when there was no one in line. Once the two people in line were gone, I inquired again and he said the receptionist informed the man he was able to purchase a ticket and it was a mistake he was allowed. I then told him it didn't really seem like there were many rules as to the "sold out" aspect of the show and asked if I could purchase 2 tickets instead of waiting :30 for the no-shows. Conner said absolutely not.

When it came close to time to see how many people had not showed up, we asked if he could tell us about how many people still needed to arrive and he told us no, because that would mean he'd have to count ALL the un-highlighted names on the sheet. I quickly counted, there were 8. Counting to 8 doesn't really seem like something that extremely difficult to me... but I guess to Conner it's a hassle. (There was no one in line when I asked this by the way)

Finally our time came to be able to pay $20 to "transfer" our tickets as some people still hadn't shown up - my friend hands Conner a $20 bill and he tells us he cannot accept it and must take a credit card. So she hands him her credit card and instead of running it, he WRITES DOWN HER CREDIT CARD NUMBER!! He then tells us he's unable to run credit cards until Sunday, so he has to hold on to her number until then. After the show we stuck around to ask a manager if that is actually what was happening with the CC # and he said he would put it in the safe and destroy it the next day.

The show was pretty good, some acts were outdated (Monica Lewinsky) and cheap but it was cute for what it was. Wouldn't go back though, mainly due to Conner and his terrible attitude. Everyone else was lovely and...

I am giving this place two stars and they’re solely for the emcee and the performers. They were very talented, and entertaining. However, my whole experienced was tarnished by the owner of this establishment. He gets zero stars. I tried to talk to him at the end of the evening due to an incident we had during the show, and he was insanely rude. He was not wanting to talk to me or listen to my concerns. He was dismissive and just absolutely unprofessional. I cannot in good conscience recommend or return to an establishment that is owned by someone who would treat me or my friends the way he did during our visit. I wish the emcee, the performers, and the rest of the staff the best, and I hope that my experience with the owner doesn’t reflect the way they’re treated. No one deserves that.

Changing my review to a one-star. After seeing the owners’ response to my original review. They clearly missed the point, and are trying to make themselves sound better by hiding behind the whole “I have to protect my establishment” argument. I never once mentioned anything about “over serving”, so that right there is a perfect example of someone not being ready to listen to...