The similarities between art and life are becoming more and more pronounced as SHINE: A Burlesque Musical gets ever closer to hitting the stage of the historic WISE Hall.

For one thing, the musical, which creators Cass King and John Woods have spent the past few years retooling with writer Sam Dulmage, is set in the Aristocrat—an old venue a gang of showbiz misfits is trying to save from closure due to gentrification. It’s not lost on anyone that the WISE Hall, built in 1926, has recently faced tensions and noise complaints from an East Side neighbourhood that changes a little more each time a new outrageously priced condo goes up.

“There are themes in SHINE of how artists’ spaces tend to get pushed out when there’s gentrification,” King tells the Straight over the phone, speaking with Woods while preparing for the show.

“WISE Hall is the centre of burlesque in East Vancouver and it’s facing the pressure of gentrification,” adds Woods, referring to battles with the venue’s new neighbours.

So the spot, with its creaky wood, high ceilings, and faded-glory chandelier, could not be better. But the DIY mentality of the makeshift family at the centre of the musical—whose members include fan dancers and drag queens—also mirrors the story of this critically lauded, giddily lewd show. After opening in 2009 at the Vancouver International Burlesque Festival, the little sex-positive show that could played to sold-out runs at the Waterfront Theatre six months later, followed by trips to Seattle and New York City (where TimeOut pronounced it “Rent for our generation”).

“Burlesque is like adult community theatre. You do it and people help you and you get opportunities to perform it,” composer Woods explains.

It’s an approach he and writer/cabaret singer King have used to get SHINE on-stage—not to mention to take their musical-comedy act, the Wet Spots, around the globe for 15 years.

“So much musical theatre is in limbo because musical theatre is so expensive to produce,” Woods continues. “Whereas the DIY ethic is, ‘Let’s just get this done and get it up rough and ready with cardboard props. Just get it up!’ ”

King adds: “There has been this burlesque DIY ethos that has led us to get this produced—basically, because of volunteers in the community.”

Among the big boosts to the refurbished musical are nine new songs by Woods—from ska to rock—and new characters.

“The guts of the story and the basic plot and dilemma are still here and there’s a really lovely new character who’s a drag queen—Miss Holly Gofuckyourself—who’s an endless source of one-liners, played by Seth Little, with sort of a martini in one hand and a cigarette in the other.”

Other changes include a live band, more triple-threat musical-theatre actors taking part in the production, and a fully notated score with arrangements by Blue Morris. “So there’s a completed script and completed notation,” Woods enthuses.

“It’s faster, funnier, and the show doesn’t stop for a song,” is how King sums it up. “I believe that the theme was always there from the beginning: the idea of a chosen family and when we find our families that’s what allows us to shine.”

So where will SHINE go next, after its gig in the atmospheric WISE? With everything in place, the pair still hold out a dream of a major cult hit—perhaps not such a long shot, with nontraditional musicals (hello, Hamilton) and burlesque (taking all shapes and forms at clubs around town seven nights a week) enjoying more popularity than ever. And audiences may be becoming more open to the kind of all-inclusive sexuality that SHINE revels in.

“One of the things that’s been inspiring to us is how Hedwig [and the Angry Inch] ended up on Broadway and it came there from off-off-Broadway,” Woods says of the hit with the genderqueer, rock-singing star. “The movie musical achieved a cult audience and local live productions started springing up everywhere, so they sort of did an end run around the traditional gatekeepers.”

With any luck, SHINE will achieve its end run this time around, teetering on its platform heels and swinging its pastie tassels the whole way.

SHINE: A Burlesque Musical is at the WISE Hall from Wednesday (July 6) to July 16.