Coney Island’s “Astroland” amusement park, which has recently altered into “Luna Park” is one of the greatest attractions to visit when in New York City. People travel from all over the world to visit such a place and those who live close, are able to appreciate the fun sorts it offers whenever the nice weather kicks in.
Those who have never heard of or spent time in Coney Island have no idea what they are missing out on. Between the delicious presence of Nathan’s hotdogs, a roller coaster that has become an official landmark, unlimited arcade games and a soothing boardwalk next to the beach, what more can a crowd ask for?
Believe it or not, for the past 27 years, Coney Island has also incorporated a circus sideshow, popularly known as a “freak show,” to their list of events to take part in. Originally founded by Dick D. Zigun, he created a way for hundreds of different performers to present their strange talents and/or uncommon abilities to curious audiences.
This freakish business includes magic, fire eating, snake charming, human blockheads, sword swallowers, bearded ladies and plenty of other unimaginable situations.
This summer, Coney Island’s “Circus Sideshow” presents the most experienced and updated freaks of our time.
With the variety of live acts and attractions that are displayed, Coney Island figured that creating a “Coney Island Girlie Freakshow” would add some spice to what they already have.
The “Coney Island Girlie Freakshow” is hosted by three young ladies, all who have given themselves stage names to be called by. Their stage names are Angelica, Serpentina and Remy Vicious.
With $7.50 for an adult ticket, and $5.00 for children, anybody who is willing to pay will highly enjoy the wonders and human curiosities that these professionals are able to shock all ages with.
Once the audiences’ tickets are purchased and checked, they should except to walk into a dungeon-like room that is miraculously decorated with colorful cartoon posters that represent old and new sideshow cast members. Bleachers are appropriately used as seats, in order to keep the old-fashion look alive.
As the show begins, the lights go dim and music begins to play as Angelica walks onto the prop-covered stage. She is covered from head-to-toe in tattoos and wears a belly-dancing outfit. By introducing herself and explaining what the people are about to witness, she sets the scene and captures the audience’s attention extremely well.
Serpentina’s act is first. While wearing a tight and long leather dress, she starts off by walking barefoot across a pile of glass. As this is being done, she nonchalantly speaks into a microphone, cracking a few jokes here and there. It was amazing to observe the result, as she lifts her undamaged feet into the air.
Allowing the demonstration to be consistently interesting, Angelica, Serpentina and Remy Vicious are constantly switching back and forth between acts, rather than performing their own talents one at a time.
Angelica reappears in front of the spotlight, rearranging props in order to set herself up for what the audience is about to view next. Behind her stands a ladder that is constructed of swords. She proves the sharpness of the swords by gliding fruit across the blades. Just like Serpentina, she walks up and down the ladder with her bare feet, without a single look of discomfort or pain.
So far, their entire presentation remains intriguing.
After the trip up and down an uncommon ladder, Angelica whips out a fairly long metal screw. With ease, she is able to stick this object far into her nose without puncturing its insides. She calls this “The Human Blockhead.” Even though it doesn’t seem too difficult to do, she is still able to send chills down spines.
Regardless of the act and how much the viewers are enjoying it, Serpentina and Angelica have phenomenal stage presence. They naturally speak and glide across the stage, allowing viewers to realize the passion that have toward their job.
Remy Vicious is up next.
She strolls up on stage with her fragile thin figure, wearing a plain, low-cut, red dress. Compared to Angelica and Serpentina, she presents herself quite differently. She barely speaks when performing and constantly has a chipper expression on her face.
Angelica and Remy Vicious cooperatively work as a team to complete the following attraction.
Remy Vicious calmly climbs and lays in a large closed box that stands about four feet off of the stage’s floor. Afterwards, Angelica sticks 15 blades into the box’s randomly placed slots. Usually, this would slice a person into pieces, but not in this case.
An interesting factor about this act is that Angelica gives the audience the opportunity to walk up on stage and view Remy Vicious from above, in order to understand how she is positioned in the box. The girls charge a dollar fee for whoever is curious.
Stupidly enough, a majority of the crowd pays the dollar, just to see Remy Vicious’s paper-thin body in feeble position.
This was somewhat disappointing, but it didn’t change the fact that they created an illusion for those that didn’t bother checking the explanation.
The most captivating representation was saved for the finale.
Angelica stands alone on stage as she prepares torches and gasoline props around her. Positioned in the center of the floor, she erotically dances to the heavy background music. Depending on her moves, she eats and spits fire. One of the most astonishing parts was that the heat could be felt by the entire audience, regardless if they were sitting in the first or last row.
Overall, the “Coney Island Girlie Freakshow” or any of Coney Island’s sideshows at that, are definitely something to experience at least once. Certain acts may cause suspense, while others are predictable, but still interesting to watch.
For almost three decades, Coney Island has been able to entertain curious crowds with these freakish acts and hopefully, there will be plenty more where that came from.
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