Back in the days of vaudeville and the burlesque house circuit, there were “;specialty acts”; that stood out as show-stoppers because they were, well, special.

La Femme Rikita earns her star status in the title role of Cherry Blossom Cabaret's current theatrical production, “;VarieTease: Alice in Chinatown,”; but the show benefits from the performances of several other specialty performers as well.

Mabsy (White Rabbit) plays the famed character as an enticing creature with fluffy pink ears, a military-style blue jacket and white ruffled panties who dances en pointe while leading Alice deeper into the wondrous world of Chinatown. She percolates through the show and adds dramatic impact to several scenes.

Cherry Blossom Cabaret leader Miss Catwings (Wonderland Hibiscus) portrays a character Lewis Carroll is unlikely to have envisioned as a denizen of Wonderland. The seductive plant gradually divests itself of its petals and then its leaves; Miss Catwings continues on from there using a pair of leaves for dramatic effect until she finishes the number wearing only a G-string and pasties.

Miss Fortune (Mad Hatter) closes Act I with a bravura performance as the star of “;The Mad Hatter's Mar-TEA-ni Party.”; She actually plays three characters—voicing Dormouse and March Hare sock puppets, one on each hand—while simultaneously divesting herself of most of her Mad Hatter costume, pushing Alice into a chair and pulling her into the choreography.

Morrigan von Sin (Caterpillar), encased in a skin-tight silver bodysuit, looks nothing like Carroll's hookah-smoker but time stands still while she gives a Cirque de Soleil-style gymnast/contortionist/aerial performance that uses the floor and two strips of red cloth hanging from the light grid.

The final specialty act is Tiva Lunga as the tyrannical Queen of Chinatown. To say any more would spoil the impact of Lunga's entrance. La Femme Rikita—tanned, toned and tawny—plays Alice with an innocent sensuality reminiscent of Little Annie Fanny albeit with a bit more clothing. She enters Chinatown wearing a PG-13 version of the outfit Judy Garland wore to Oz, but ingests some bad drugs and ends up temporarily wearing only pasties, shoes and a G-string.

A lengthy, but true-to-life bit about Alice not being on a VIP list adds a bit of club scene realism to her adventures and video projections enhance the audience's sense of Alice's journey to Chinatown locales that—surprise!—support neighborhood businesses advertising in the playbill.

Rikita's performance as the drug-addled Alice shows off her talents as an expressive dancer and actor. She also plays a major part in the final scene.

First-timers should note that “;VarieTease: Alice in Chinatown”; is more about characterization than dance, and much more about theater than PG-13-style almost-nudity.