Freaks

Sideshow Spectacular

After watching Freaks at O’Sheas you might just be able to say that you’ve seen it all and mean it. The show features a variety of bizarre behaviors including human shish-kabobs, glass eating, knife throwing and sword swallowing. Rather than just demonstrating these outrageous feats as solitary acts, the show has a Broadway-style format with special lighting effects, music and costumes.

Andrew Stanton, SleaZO the Clown (Aaron Zilch), Kelvikta the Blade (Kellie Christopher), Brianna Belladonna, and Firefly make up the cast of sideshow performers. The 70-minute revue is the newest production by Anthony Cools, a hypnotist who has his own self-titled show at Paris Las Vegas.

“This form of entertainment is rich in history and has a long tradition of drawing large, curious audiences,” said Cools. “The intimate showroom at O’Sheas is the ideal setting for onlookers to experience this type of show; they’re right there in the middle of the action.”

The lights dim as the show starts, and a spotlight draws attention to a cute white rabbit hopping up a stack of vintage-style suitcases located on one side of the stage. When he finally gets to the top of the stack and reaches for the microphone, the audience is in for a surprise. He goes over a few ground rules and suggests that people have their barf bags nearby because this show is not for the faint of heart.

From there the show takes guests on a mystifying and sometimes terrifying journey through a series of vignettes. Stanton opens the show with an act where he balances on his stomach on a metal spear before spinning around on it with his arms and legs elevated above the stage. His skeleton-like build and half-shaved head add to the oddity of his performance.

Next, Kelvikta the Blade and Belladonna, two beautiful women with numerous tattoos, piercings and bright red and green hair, roll out on stage wearing skates and each holding an axe and electric grinder. They shower each other in sparks by grinding their axe blades against their electric grinders and on the metal plated bikinis they are wearing.

SleaZo the Clown is the next to appear. He both hosts the show and performs several acts including laying on a bed of nails and knife throwing.

“This is not a magic show,” says SleaZO. He assures the audience that what they are seeing is genuine. There are no illusions in the show, just real people performing really bizarre behaviors.

“This next act is only funny until someone loses an eye, then it’s hysterical,” says SleaZo.

His twisted sense of humor instills the perfect combination of excitement and fear before Stanton reappears on stage. This time he puts hooks in his lower eyelids and lifts a sling holding FireFly, a 27-inch-tall performer. A feeling of suspense overcomes the audience as more acts are performed. The intimate showroom adds to the thrilling experience of watching the performers go beyond the limitations of what most people would consider normal behaviors. You’ll laugh, squirm, gasp, and maybe even try to cover your eyes, but this show is worth every second.