Life is a Drag

Sunday night my husband and I went to a drag show in one of the hottest clubs in our city, as it's not called Legends for nothing. We haven’t been to a drag show in ages. It was an evening filled with over the top outfits, fabulous wigs, exciting impersonations, comedy, drama, a broken stiletto and even an injury resulting in blood being drawn. Returning home in the wee hours of Monday morning, admittedly being a little tipsy, I reflected on the show and thought to myself who ever said being a successful drag artist doesn’t take blood, sweat and tears?

Technically my first date with my husband was a drag show much like the one we attended. Ironically 2 of the artist that preformed were also performing the evening of our 1st date. The divine divas Bianca Bovia and Nomi Peron! It’s astonishing that both divas are still performing 11 years later, and still is mesmerizing on stage. Miss Peron, in my opinion, still does the best Tina Turner impersonation I have ever seen and has the greatest legs. For them to be on stage a decade is quite an achievement, many Hollywood stars doesn’t even have that kind of staying power.

However, the show wasn’t all standing ovations. The Cher impersonator scared me! She looked the way I imagine Cher would have looked like now, if she didn’t have all her surgeries, but at least the outfit was perfectly Cher! I’m no Simon Cowall but I also thought the male live performance was slightly narcissistic and over acted and the guy honestly underwhelmed me. At least he has a great voice and was the only live singing performance of the night.

Other performances that caught my attention were the performance of Miss Cleo Houston Brown and her impersonation of Whitney Houston and the solo cabaret performance. With the Whitney performance I could imagine Whitney being alone in her basement studio in her home, high on crack wearing her favorite dress and performing her little heart out to an imaginary audience in her drug induces state thinking this is the best performance of her life. It was the perfect Whitney impersonation! The cabaret solo performance was perfectly acted and the humor perfectly timed. I found the artist engaging and her choice of material very well suited for her old fashioned over the top style of drag performance. The beehive wig impressed me as I imagine with all the mirrors in it, it could have multiple uses – you can use it either to check your make up or use it as a weapon for self defense.

When it comes to Celine Dion’s “My Heart will go on” I must admit if I have to see one more drag artist perform that song I will scream! However, the rendition we saw was very amusing for the most part because the artist was injured during the performance. Imagine a drag queen in a very expensive looking bikini, sitting in a steel tub paddling her way to shore with a tennis racket; her aching heart painfully visible on her face. Suddenly out of no where she gets thrown with ice multiple times and soaked in water. All of this is done for added drama! Unfortunately, the artist’s hand got cut by a piece of ice, but being the professional she is she finished the performance. By the end she and her bikini were covered in blood – a very dramatic ending to a very dramatic performance. However, I wish “My Heart will go on” would have sunk with the Titanic, as it was beautiful once but now due to it having been over played over the years, it pains my ear drums and agitate my nerves.

Sunday’s drag show lifted my spirit for the week. It was light hearted and free entertainment which I highly recommend. Whether straight or gay no one should ever have to die without having been to a drag show. It’s an injustice you’d do to yourself. There are many successful international drag artists like Rupaul, Jackie Beat & Hedda Lettuce, all famous and talented in their own right. But let’s not forget our own drag celebrities in South Africa, the likes of The Tuck Shop Girls (with my favorite aunty Chrystal Chandelier) and Mince, not excluding all the artists I mentioned earlier.

Life is a drag, and we should all enjoy it! Without our drag queens the GLBT community would be a dull bunch. So thank you to all our Queens for making us laugh, making us cry and entertaining us!

Till next time.

Beaver by Jackie Beat (Please be adviced this video clip is for the mature audience and not for the easily offended!)