Darcey Leonard openly confesses to a doll fetish. She favors imported gothic and Lolita figurines from Japan. And when she assumes her burlesque persona, Missy Conundrum, the Burlesque Enigma, she relishes painting herself up like one, donning button pasties and a dress (if only to have something to peel off) for her signature Doll-in-a-Music-Box routine. The act has been quite a hit in her home town of Los Angeles, where a burlesque revival is underway. And this Friday she’ll bring it to the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline as part of a " Burlesque and Batons " showcase featuring Brooklyn’s Oh de Twirlettes, who put a sassy spin on the majorette image, along with Leonard’s crony Dominica K., another baton to be reckoned with, and Through the Peephole, Boston’s own resident burlesque rejuvenators (formerly the Burlesque Revival Association).

Leonard has always considered herself a " bedroom performer. " " I like dance, sexiness, costumes, hot music, " she says over the phone from LA. " I can put those things together in burlesque acts. I don’t think of it as stripping. It’s more of a performance. " At the age of 19, she stumbled across a magazine article in New Orleans about a woman re-creating vaudeville-era burlesque acts. That prompted her to research the vintage va-va-vavoom striptease, an interest that has evolved into a freewheeling livelihood. Before moving to LA in 2001 to pursue bawdier, naughtier opportunities, she was a familiar figure in Boston’s behind-the-music scene, booking acts for Jamaica Plain’s Milky Way Lounge and Lanes. Her entrée from backstage to on stage came when she and a friend, the gothic cartoonist Dame Darcy, developed a play, Meatcake (based on Dame’s indie ’zine of the same name), that got the pair invited to perform burlesque acts at Ladyfest, the feminist fiesta in Washington. Now she regularly exposes her talents alongside neo-sideshow marvels and old-school burlesque legends.

" One great thing about burlesque is that it’s really sisters doing it for themselves. It’s really feminist, in my mind. I know [some] feminists think it’s demoralizing. They should give it a try. I find it empowering. I’m not getting liposuction or surgery. I have a belly and hips and a butt, and I love it. It’s a celebration of girls in all shapes and sizes. "

If so, it’s a celebration that’s beginning to catch on nationwide. A burlesque renaissance has been quietly taking root in hip metropolitan enclaves — Los Angeles, Boston, New York City — and now the phenomenon has finally produced its first national tour: Burlesquefest 2003, which will make its way to the Paradise next Sunday. If some quarters of the new burlesque favor a DIY, girl-powered subtext, others have just as intense an affinity for big showgirl-like productions and oversized, uh, props. Burlesquefest’s MC, Kitten on the Keys, plays ringmaster to acts including Oracle Dance, who specialize in disrobing while swinging from ropes over the audience, Cirque du Soleil–style. And the circus atmosphere goes well with the performers’ affinity for such vaudeville emblems as fan dances, glittery garters, and giant birdcages.

Catherine D’Lish, for one, is bringing the four-foot champagne glass that has topped off her acts since 1990. She uses the contraption, of course, for bubble baths — " good clean fun, " she jokes over the phone from San Diego. Her tenure makes her one of the godmothers of the new burlesque; before such opportunities presented themselves, she supported herself as a new-fangled breast barer. In the late ’80s, D’Lish thought it would be " a hoot " to answer a classified ad for a stripper; eventually she was crowned Showgirl of the Year and Miss Exotic America. But having crossed over into the throwback culture, she’s a major champion of its revival. " A striptease is sexier [than stripping]. It’s much more exciting to see a suggestion of something than to come out as an anatomical display. Where’s the fun in that? "

" Burlesque and Batons " takes place this Friday, May 30, at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street in Brookline. Tickets are $10 to $20; call (617) 734-2500. " Burlesquefest 2003 " takes place next Sunday, June 10, at the Paradise, 969 Commonwealth Avenue. Tickets are $16; call (617) 562-8800.