‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ goes burlesque

On March 12,old-time American bar and restaurant Franky Bradley’s will transform into Paddy’s Pub. If you don’t yet watch “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” now might be the time to start. Its characters — Mac, Charlie, Dennis, Dee and Frank — are infamous for the ridiculously hilarious situations they find themselves in. The performance “The Gang Does A Burlesque Show” won’t fall short of anything but the usual.

We talk with Tiel Guarino, one of the show’s producers about the inspiration behind the concept, show’s conception and originality.

Where did this idea come from?
My co-producer Paul Harlan, whose performer name is Paul Severe, and I were watching “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” randomly six ago, and I was like, “Why has nobody done this yet? Do you want to do this?” and he was like, “Yeah, let’s do this.” And we were like, “Okay, let’s do this.” And then we made a baby.

I don’t know how much you can give away, but are you playing any of the main characters?
I don’t want to give any spoilers. I want to keep people guessing as far as who my cast is. What Paul and I have done that’s different than a lot of burlesque you’re seeing in the community right now is fuse the theatre world and the burlesque world, so there is actually a script.

“Always Sunny” is known to be ridiculously hilarious and absurd. How are you integrating that with a burlesque performance?
Paul is the writer/theatre kid of the two of us, who kind of transitioned into the burlesque world, and I come from a classic dance background and have been an aerialist — a circus person and a person in the burlesque world — for about 12 years. Paul’s a very talented writer. He wrote a storyline that aligned itself with the show; even just the language in the writing is so spot-on. We have integrated a thing that we think would happen to the Paddy Pub kids and turned it into a burlesque thing. It’s a little sneaky.

On her all-star cast, which includes Philly’s premiere drag queen Iris Spectre, burlesquer Büm Büm Kapau, “Agitated” star Pilar Salt, and many more, Tiel says she and Paul casted the show not only to reach different facets of the community, but also to connect with people they thought best conjure the characters. According to Tiel, burlesque is not just the art of tease. She says, “It’s really about telling a story.”

If you go:

“The Gang Does a Burlesque Show”
Sunday, March 12
6 p.m. & 9 p.m.
$10-$12
Franky Bradley’s
1320 Chancellor St.
frankybradleys.com