Kudos to Coco!

I’ve always been a fan of “character” drag queens. In the 1970’s in Houston, there was a drag show on Sunday nights at a bar called The Old Plantation. I would attend the shows because of an emcee named Ernestine. Randy (Ernestine’s real name) was savagely funny channeling Lily Tomlin’s Ernestine character. He was quick to ad lib, the perfect host for a revue. Out of drag, Randy was shy and ruggedly handsome.

 
I can’t quite remember all of the names in that revue, but there was a drag queen nicknamed Tiffany Jones,  “The Texas Tornado”, who did a number as a nun on roller skates that was unbelievable; “Jessica Landa” specialized in Shirley Bassey numbers; “Donna Day” often slayed with a gospel performance of “His Eye is on the Sparrow”. Donna, who was large and in charge, performed the number dressed as Aunt Jemima; she had no teeth. I was always astonished when she finished the number with jump splits (No small feat at 300+ lbs). And finally “Hot Chocolate” who channeled Tina Turner. I believe “Hot Chocolate” is still playing Tina in a Las Vegas drag revue. I saw it in the early 80’s while on tour.  I considered this group elite entertainment.

 As in the musical “Gypsy”, the drag queens of that era had to have a gimmick. There was a dark side to some of them though. "Cherise" and two other Houston drag queens went to prison for murder; one of them murdered his girl friend. After the 70’s and the death of disco, I lost interest in drag. I acually became a convert to country music and spent my free time two-steppin’. My theater career took off in the 80’s, too; I was busy performing, not attending drag shows.

 In the late 80’s in Portland, OR, I was introduced at a private dinner party to a legendary drag queen named Darcelle. She had/has a long running, highly celebrated campy drag revue. Her audience is mostly little old ladies from the suburbs and tourists. I saw her show twice. Out of drag, Darcelle looked and sounded like the love child of a lumber jack and a truck driver. I read an article about her a few days ago. She’s still performing at the age of 93. Talk about survivors!

In that same time period, I was on tour in San Francisco and attended performances of legendary female impersonators Jim Bailey and Charles Pierce. Jim embodied Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand; Charles’ specialty was Bette Davis. Jim Bailey took female impersonation to a whole new level for me as he sang live!!! (Is it fair to say the difference between female impersonation and drag is ... in female impersonation the point is to pay tribute to a specific celebrity and with drag ... the point is to create a unique version of yourself?)

Skipping ahead to current times, we, of course, have the phenomenon of “RuPaul’s Drag Race”. I drift in and out of the watching the series. For the most part, It’s not the kind of drag I find appealing. Now, that all of RuPaul’s competitions have moved to a streaming site, Peacock+, I’ve stopped watching. I catch clips on You Tube from time to time. 

A few competitors from Drag Race have become celebrities in recent years.  Ones I might consider seeing live are: Jinx Monsoon, from Seattle, or Lawrence Chaney, the Scot who won a season of Britain’s RuPaul’s Drag Race. Earlier this year, Jon and I saw Season 5 Drag race winner Bianca Del Rio at The Fitzgerald. Bianca was savagely funny as advertised; but for me, something was missing ...

Which brings me to last night ... thespian15 overcame a lot of difficulties last night to make it up to the Twin Cities to attend a performance by drag legend Coco Peru. After seeing Coco’s unique and oft times inspiring show, I considered what was missing from Bianca’s performance ... 1) live vocals!!! I appreciated Bianca, but her clever bitchy wore on me. 2) Heart! I appreciated, but wasn’t entertained.

 
Coco has been performing for 30 years in her drag persona. (She appeared on “Will & Grace” in a reoccuring role.) Mixed between monologues and personal stories (all delightfully funny as told in Coco’s distinct Bronx accent) were about 10 carefully chosen songs which Coco performed in a strong tenor voice. I can’t fully explain how funny, but poignant, timely, but tickling, her rendition of “Tomorrow” from “Annie” was to close the show. AND yes, I belted along as did most of the audience!

 Now, that I’ve written more words about drag than I thought was possible, I will mention the promoter Flip Phone. Flip Phone books venues across the country for concerts featuring “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alumni and legends like Coco Peru. Most often, the concerts are in theaters, but last night’s show was booked in The Muse Center in the North Loop warehouse district of Minneapolis. The seating for the performance was fragile stick-like chairs used for weddings (which is evidently the reason this event center exists). I’ve never been so uncomfortable. I expected my chair to explode at any moment. Patrons were seated shoulder to shoulder; masks were not required (though Jon and I chose to be masked); proof of Covid vaccination was checked as you entered the venue. Flip Phone, you have to up your game! For the ticket price we paid no amount of alcohol was going to make us comfortable! Bottom line - wonderful show/bad venue/ fun entertainment. Thanks, Jon for coming with me!