Before the inescapable sound of “Don’t Cha” was blasted on every radio station around the world throughout 2005, a pre-Nicole formation of Pussycat Dolls was carving its path as a burlesque dance group.
Led by Carmen Electra, the OG Dolls quickly earned a cult following within the LA party scene and by 1999, they had even posed for Playboy – a move which would propel the dancers further into the mainstream via a host of music video features, film features, and TV specials.
In 2002, the group moved to the Roxy Theatre and gained major notoriety. It was presumably around this time that Robin Antim, choreographer and originator, began to see the Pussycat dollar signs, recruiting Hollywood’s A-list locals for one-night-only cameos. On stage, Christina Applegate, Kelly Osbourne, and Dita Von Teese were all transformed into the lingerie-clad shimmying pin-ups of yore, while Christina Aguilera, Gwen Stefani, and Brittany Murphy made headlines as prototypical Nicole Scherzingers.
In a resurfaced archive video, a “Dirrty” era Christina – complete with chunky highlights, nose stud, and pencil thin eyebrows – writhes about to Peggy Lee’s “Fever”. Elsewhere, Gwen Stefani belts out “Big Spender” in a maritime-inspired lingerie set and the late, great, Brittany Murphy stomps the stage in a frou-frou bra while wailing Björk.
via Flickr
Sadly omitted from the ‘greatest hits’ of Roxy cameos, the one-night-only burlesque performances is Scarlett Johansson (though she’s pictured above), although elsewhere appear also featured Charlize Theron and Dita Von Teese with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Gene Simmons wide-eyed in the audience.
"I've always called it rock and roll burlesque because I started it purely as a burlesque-inspired show, but it started to change right in front of my eyes, it became more organically this rock and roll flavour with Gwen and Christina. And that's exactly what I've always wanted to do,” Antim said at the time, cooking up what later became the PCD we know and love.
On a quest to find “really, really hot girls – insanely beautiful girls with beautiful voices”, he discovered Scherzinger (and the others). And the rest, as they say, is history.
