Herberger hosting October run of ‘The Empire Strips Back’

A version of the “Star Wars” world has landed in Phoenix, but probably not like you remember it.

The burlesque parody show “The Empire Strips Back” is on the Herberger Theater stage in downtown Phoenix this month .

The show’s creator, Russall S. Beattie, conceived the production as a light break between more serious, artistic burlesque shows, he explained to The Guardian in 2018.

Hoping for modest success initially, the production found audiences all over the world including when it made its U.S. debut in California in 2018, then on Broadway in 2019, and more recently premiered in Las Vegas this past spring – fittingly, on May 4.

There’s a Stormtrooper chorus line, a full-size Jabba the Hutt, and, according to the show, “a scen

See Full Page