George RR Martin approves 'Game of Thrones' burlesque show

Popular fantasy drama TV series "Game of Thrones" will have a parody burlesque show and author George RR Martin has given the event his personal blessing.
The stage show, titled "Burlesque is Coming: A Tribute to the Works of George RR Martin", will be held at Martin's theatre Jean Cocteau Cinema, this week, reported Entertainment Weekly.
Staged by Virginia-based burlesque company Blacklist Burlesque, the show is currently about two-thirds of the way through a nationwide tour and promises to be a "hilarious and sexy parody" of the series based on Martin's bestselling "A Song of Ice and Fire saga".
Martin, 66, wrote about the parody in his blog.

"(Burlesque is) an art form that has thumbed its nose at upper-class cultures and social conventions for hundreds of years. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the umbrella term 'burlesque' covered many varieties of theatrical lampooning or 'travesty'," he said.
"In the 19th century, burlesque producers and performers would take specific arias and oratorios from famous operas, and rewrite the lyrics for comedic effect -- just like 'Weird Al' Yankovic... The middle and lower classes got to knock 'serious' art off of its pedestal from time to time."
As for the strip-tease and feather costumes involved, Martin wrote: "Strip-tease, an important aspect of modern and neo-burlesque, became standard around the 1930s. Think of the bawdy cabaret culture of the 1930s -- and then the pin-up girls of the 1940s and 1950s.