Retro celeb-popsters Cherdonna and Lou on stage for 2 nights

"He" is a macho little guy with a pencil-thin mustache and an even-pencil-thinner beard. "She" is a beanstalk of a woman whose height is aided and abetted by leather-fringed high heels and a towering, tawdry hairpiece.

Both performers, Ricki Mason and Jody Kuehner, are actually female — although Kuehner takes her self-dramatizing cues from so many drag queens that she comes off as a champion gender bender.

Onstage, they are Lou Henry Hoover (Mason) and Cherdonna Shinatra (Kuehner). And their "Cherdonna and Lou Show" is a goofy mix of retro dance routines and wide-eyed lip-syncing to even more retro schlock-pop. The duo also mixes it up with a rotating roster of guest artists.

Both Mason and Kuehner come from strong dance backgrounds, but in "The Cherdonna and Lou Show" they're in celebrity-culture-parody mode, as Mason does a wispy Sonny Bono impersonation (with a fluffy Mohawk) and Kuehner trash-compacts an ungodly amalgam of Cher, Madonna and Nancy Sinatra. (Lady Gaga was too late for the cut, I guess.)

Tonight's guest artist is Miss Indigo Blue, famed on our local burlesque circuit, where Mason also makes frequent appearances. Next week, it's lovely singer-accordionist Nova Devonie, of Miles & Karina and Ranch Romance fame.

As for where the idea for "Cherdonna and Lou" came from, maybe it's best just to quote the press kit:

"Cherdonna Shinatra and Lou Henry Hoover met in 1984 in the back of Madonna's tour bus. Lou Henry loves a nice glass of rosé, dances the nightclub two-step, and collects sugar spoons. Cherdonna has a pet panther, likes toast with mustard, and summers in Weehawken."

Take heed.

Michael Upchurch: mupchurch@seattletimes.com