Also this issue:

Fringe, Interrupted
A Fringe hoax causes a stir at this year's festival.
-Debra Auspitz

That's a Wrap
A mini-guide to Fringe';s last weekend.

Cats
-Debra Auspitz

Why I Live at the P.O.
-Lori Hill

David Zippel
-Steve Cohen

How They Got In
A surprisingly rosy view of the college admissions process.
-Justin Bauer

Book Quicks
-M.J. Fine

September 12-18, 2002

artpicks

The World Famous Pontani Sisters

Where over-achieving burlesque and sultry cabaret collide, there will you find the Pontani Sisters. These three New York-bred girls, born in a time out of step with their love of flapper girl outfits and fishnets, have been bringing real-time glamour to the dance floorshow ever since they first donned point shoes and hula-hoops and realized they could rock them both at the same time. In recent months, their star has risen, as part of the revival of New York burlesque. Now, in between teaching monthly go-go classes in their hometown and fresh from a trip to the Smoky Mountains to work on a Cherokee-inspired dance piece, Angie, Tara and Helen will hit the road, making it to Philadelphia in time for this Sunday's Burlesque Review, presented at Silk City with help from New Hope's high counter-culture emporium, Tin Man Alley. With a repertoire that incorporates a ballet en pointe wrapped around Celine Dion's ode to doomed love and sinking vessels, "My Heart Will Go On," the troupe's come-hither sequins, boas and Elvis-inspired jumpsuits may belie their forked-tongue humor. Still, call us magpies: when their talent comes dressed with all the glittery gems that twinkle on the hems of their costumes, we're hypnotized.

The World Famous Pontani Sisters, hosted by Cousin Jasper, Sun., Sept. 15, 9 p.m., $7, Silk City, Fifth and Spring Garden sts., 215-592-8838.

—Juliet Fletcher