2024 Critics’ Choice Gay Appreciation Award winner
On behalf of Tony Leggio and myself, I am delighted to announce that the winner of this year’s Critics’ Choice Gay Appreciation Award (GAA) is The NOLA Project‘s production of Dracula, Pete McElligott’s fiercely intelligent adaptation of Bram Stoker’s gothic-horror story. The award was presented as part of the 34th Gay Appreciation Awards at Oz New Orleans on Saturday, August 24.
Performed at the Greenway Station, Dracula had moments of both hilarity and heart-stopping tenderness, and delivered a magnificent tribute to the power of theatrical imagination, delirious tomfoolery, and inspired storytelling. Co-directed by Khiry Mishawn Armstead and Leslie L. Claverie, the show featured Natalie Boyd, Keith Claverie, Wayland Cooper, Benjamin Dougherty, Alexandria Miles, Joe Signorelli, Alex Martinez Wallace, and Megan Whittle in its cast.
Leslie Claverie accepting the Critics’ Choice Gay Appreciation Award on behalf of The NOLA Project‘s production of Dracula with (l.-r.) Tony Leggio, Matthew Thompson, Keith Claverie and Brian Sands beside her
The Gay Appreciation Awards thank those individuals and businesses in the LGBTQ community who are often not recognized for the outstanding services they provide and contributions they make. Over 25 categories are voted on by Ambush Magazine readers. The Critics’ Choice Award, however, is selected by Ambush’s two culture vultures who see the vast majority of theater and performing arts events in the Greater New Orleans area.
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars LIVE at the Mahalia Jackson Theater
Six of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars recently came to town to “bring us favorite moments from the show” and a “Las Vegas style talent show, celebrating all things Drag Race.” They promised us “a kick ass time doing it” and, boy, did they deliver on that promise!
Over two and a half hours, including intermission, the half dozen Queens provided pure entertainment that conjured up Vegas shows of yesteryear featuring such Hi NRG performers as Juliet Prowse or Lola Falana. Drag Queens, Shmag Queens–let’s just call them pros who know how to please a crowd.
Shannel served as mistress of ceremonies and, once we got past the seemingly obligatory “How do pronounce ‘New Orleans’?” segment, kept things going smoothly with a satisfying combination of sassiness, warmth and brio.
In the first half, Jorgeous, the “Butch Bitch”, and Plastique Tiara, with her fire-shooting titties, demonstrated with their flawless, pizzazz-filled routines why they have remained on the tour for a number of years.
And while they weren’t upstaged by the three audience members who participated in a brief “Lipsync for Your Life” contest–not at all!–it’s a measure of how completely drag has permeated our culture that finalists 23-year-old Twinkerbelle (aka Chris) and 10-year-old Luna (aka Layla) thoroughly knew all the moves to make for a difficult-to-choose-a-winner kind of competition. (Of course, New Orleanians are not known for their shyness, making them a natural for things like this.) It was all in good fun and Shannel ensured that a really sweet vibe prevailed as Luna took home the crown.
After intermission, Shannel brought a little class to the proceedings with enactments of Get the Party Started (to the Shirley Bassey version, I believe) and (Hey) Big Spender before doing some juggling; a former circus queen, she’s known for this but it was new to me and very impressive.
Angeria followed with Fever, Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend, and Sheila E.’s The Glamorous Life–all fab–before acknowledging family members who were in the audience, a lovely moment. Alas, I suspect many (most?) of the young’uns in attendance had no idea where “Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up”, which was sampled in her intro, was from. (The classic movie Sunset Boulevard, a once standard gay reference and touchstone, for all those who might be unaware.)
Towards the end, Shannel said “I hate to get political…but I will” and then urged audience members to fight against the ongoing legal threats to drag queens, trans people and the LGBTQ+ community in general. Important, and well put.
Vanessa Vanjie completed the All Star line-up, and there were Lipsyncapaloozas, Runway recreations, and dazzling costumes throughout the evening. Mention must also be made of the four hard-working and very cute dancers. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch their names…or their numbers.
The cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars LIVE (photo by George Carlson)
If RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars LIVE comes to your city, do catch it. It’s an evening of topnotch entertainment, the perfect antidote to the headlines these days.
New in New York
I wasn’t able to catch Oh, Mary! when it was off-Broadway so was pleased when its rapturous reviews allowed it to transfer to Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre enabling me to see it. Was I happy I saw it? Hmmm…
I had heard mixed things about the show from pals who had previously seen it on or off-Broadway. Some loved it and thought it was the funniest thing in ages; others thought it was like an extended Saturday Night Live sketch.
Me? I fell somewhere in the middle.
In Oh, Mary!, playwright Cole Escola plays with history to imagine Mary Todd Lincoln as would-be cabaret singer (“a rather well-known niche cabaret legend” in her words) and complete alcoholic who knows nothing about the Civil War going on. Hubby, and Pres, is gay with a penchant for younger men. Anachronistic language abounds.
The first third amuses as the crazy tale goes into motion, the middle third sags and bores, the final third, with a doozy of a reveal I probably should’ve seen coming but didn’t, delivers grand fun.
That said, overall Oh, Mary! reminded me of when I went to see Charles Busch at the Limbo Lounge doing his wild send-ups of Hollywood epics back in the 1980s. Of course, Oh, Mary! is on Broadway (with accompanying Bway ticket prices) while Busch played at midnight on Saturdays in the East Village after doing his Vampire Lesbians of Sodom earlier in the evening off-Broadway, so one should expect a li’l bit more.
I might have felt differently if Mary had been a wee tad more sympathetic. Unlike Busch’s heroines, like Chicklet in Psycho Beach Party or The Divine Sister’s title character, whom you generally empathize with, this First Lady is a nasty bitch who betrays her friends and sports a supersized ego; it all becomes a one-note joke after a while and not a very appealing one.
Fortunately, Escola also stars as Mary and knows just how far to take his creation for maximum effect. Director Sam Pinkleton gets every ounce of humor out of the script, and if it’s overdone, that’s how it should be.
Bianca Leigh, Tony Macht, and James Scully all do well in various roles, but Conrad Ricamora, terrific in the musical Here Lies Love, as Abe is the only one who goes below his character’s surface to endow him with an organic gravitas which, of course, turns out to be very funny, especially as he finds himself in compromising positions.
Conrad Ricamora and Cole Escola in Oh, Mary! (photo by Emilio Madrid)
So if you’re in the mood for a silly gay ol’ time, you have until November 10 to check it out. Just don’t blame me if afterwards you feel like you didn’t get all your Lincoln cents’ worth. (https://www.ohmaryplay.com/)
You’ll pay more than at your typical museum to enter Mercer Labs, down by the World Trade Center, but you should feel like you got your money’s worth at this new interactive, experiential, single-person museum/art installation.
The person behind Mercer Labs is Roy Nachum, an Israeli artist best known for designing the artwork for Rihanna’s album Anti. Mercer Labs’ website describes the exhibit as “a physical manifestation of the artist’s dream, a journey through his psyche, his childhood memories, and his vision of nature. … Nachum transitions between narrative and abstraction, inviting exploration of the intricate spatial framework of source imagery and technical direction. The exhibition addresses the challenges and possibilities that technology has opened in art, and what it means to live in the digital age. Utilizing digital tools and machine intelligence to challenge human perception. His experimental approach incorporates elements from art history, conceptualism, and interactivity, to defy conventional artistic boundaries and explore complex psych-visual factors like sensory substitution, hypnagogic imagery, internal representations, and mental rotation.” (Apparently, the millions of dollars spent on Mercer Labs did not include a copy editor for its promotional material.)
The reaction you’re likely to have from the 90 minutes or so that you’ll spend at Mercer Labs is “It’s cool” and it certainly is. As you go through its 14 trippy rooms, each presents a completely different atmosphere. There’s a giant room with huge images of ships and water projected on the walls plus floor to ceiling swings that rotate as you sit in them. Another room offers a soundscape of gurgling water along with dreamy music and smoke. Still another provides infinite reflections and a sense of wonder.
Mercer Labs
The Taste Room is outfitted with flowers and videos; you can get $9 beverages there. Even the stairs going from one level to another are kinda fun and offer their own sensory experience.
The Dragon Room at Mercer Labs
A video with a pink waterfall and rainbow bubbles and cherry blossoms is beautiful and surreal. The mechanized performance of a colossal automaton that writes messages in the sand seems like something out of WALL-E…or Mad Max. In the final room, a music box plays and its pins are used to create Braille characters (Braille appears in much of Nachum’s work, a nod to his grandmother who went blind due to a rare debilitating disease). It’s a lovely gentle ending to an often hyperactive experience; just don’t walk into the reflective wall like I did. (https://www.mercerlabs.com/)
And as we head into the election season, a visit to The Museum of the City of New York would be worthwhile to see “Changing the Face of Democracy” (thru July 20, 2025) which explores the life and legacy of Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman elected to Congress and the first to run for President. It’s only a one-room exhibit, as are many at The Museum, but it gives a fascinating look at Chisholm, an absolute trailblazer. If only she were still alive to be part of Kamala Harris’ historic campaign for the White House. (https://www.mcny.org/)
