lip-synch

They-dunit! Indy Drag gets a ‘Clue’

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

“Lip-synch for your life” takes on fresh meaning as Indy Drag Theatre brings us the camp cult classic featuring Tim Curry (no, not that one!) – “Clue” – the whodunit film that cast big Hollywood stars to make up for the fact that it’s based on a board game.

Director Vera Vanderwoude St. Clair* admitted being concerned at first in staging IDT’s first non-musical. But the cast and crew of this production slay! An ingenious set design by Miss Kay-Ottic lets us into all the various rooms from the game board and movie. Makeup design by Ciara Myst gives everyone a unified Agatha-Christie-nightmare look befitting both the drag mystique and gothic atmosphere. The killer costumes are by Anthony Sirk, with wigs by Hair By Blair. Choreography is by April Rosè.

Like all IDT parodies, the source material – mainly the 1985 film by Jonathan Lynn and John Landis – provides the audio and sound effects, with some surprise samples from other media thrown in for fun. The voices may sound familiar, like Martin Mull’s bluster or Madeline Kahn’s famously improvised “flames” monologue, but they take on new life neatly mimed by Indy-area performers.

Joe Wagner makes a brilliant IDT debut as Wadsworth, making the surly and sassy butler his own. The frantic “reenactments” toward the end(s) are hilariously fascinating. Fresh off her successful tour of different parts of Indianapolis, Madison Avenue charms as the maid, Yvette. Natalie Port-Ma’am is saucy as the Cook.

Our guests/suspects are Maria Fruit as Miss Scarlet, Brentlee Bich as Mrs. Peacock, St. Pussifer as Mrs. White, Maurice Mantini as Colonel Mustard, Freddie Fatale as Professor Plum, and Johnee Crash as Mr. Green – allegedly the only homosexual on the stage (go figure!). Finally, Dottie B. Minerva drops in and drops dead as Mr. Boddy.  We also encounter a mysterious motorist (Gayle Thyme), cop (Calyko Magick-Waffle), and singing telegram (Nicole Sherlock). And watch out for the aggressive “dog.”

The show follows the movie (a bizarre mystery set in the 1950s), of course, but there are plenty of over-the-top antics to enhance the lines you might know by heart. And yes, we do get all three solutions.

Performances of “Clue: A Drag Parody” are Thursday through Sunday, Aug. 7-10, at the District Theatre, 627 Massachusetts Ave., Indianapolis. Info and tickets at indydragtheatre.org.

*(Note: Out of respect for the art form and its performers, they are identified by their Drag names as given in the show program.)

Fabulous flora in drag ‘Little Shop’

PWJW_Indy Reviews, Stage , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

By John Lyle Belden

To borrow from an unrelated comedy gang who put male bodies in dresses: Now for something completely different.

Indy Drag Theatre was in full bloom at the District Theatre with its production of “Little Shop of (W)Horrors:  A Drag Parody Musical.” The fairly new local company took on a mostly straight (ha-ha) presentation of the movie-turned-Broadway-turned-movie, but done by drag queens, kings, and other genderfluid royalty. In the true spirit of the Drag art form, emphasizing spectacle and visual parody and satire – in the most *fabulous* manner possible – our performers expertly lip-synch the lines and songs from Broadway and film audio, but what you see on the stage is even more entertaining than most renditions of the classic boy/girl/man-eating-plant story.

With no scenes drastically altered, this serves to inform or remind those unfamiliar with the source work. However, if you know what happens, it becomes awesome on another level. Shoddy-sheik staging and costumes match both the story and the tongue-in-cheek mood. Dance numbers both advance the story and “work it” a la a Ru-Paul revue. In the best melding of the already-goofy musical and this milieu, our star houseplant, Audrey II, transforms from the standard hand-puppet to the toxic fabulousness of Ciara Myst.*

Other principal cast members include Parker Taylor as Seymour Krelborn, the Skid Row orphan who discovers the plant; Pancha La Flor as Audrey, the sweet girl at the flower shop Seymour is sweet on and the sadistic Dentist (Beelzebabe) beats on; Eli Rose as florist Mr. Mushnik; and our hot chorus of backups Ava Morningstar (as Crystal), April Rosè (Chiffon), and Devin Hill (Ronette).

Also on stage are Axel Rosie, Drucilla Demora, Blue Lightning, and understudies Jared Matthew, Zariah, and Kalinda Morningstar.

Taylor, who has been brilliant in recent regular stage productions, puts their talent to excellent use – one who would be great a century ago mouthing and emoting a silent film. La Flor is not the beanpole actress you usually get for Audrey, kind of like if Broadway had tapped a young Jennifer Coolidge, but she makes it all work (in both senses of the word) wonderfully. As for Ms. Myst, the ability to strut the whole stage makes this fierce flytrap more dangerous than in any other medium.

Direction is by Krystie Roberts, with choreography by April Rosè, IDT’s co-founder (with creative director Blair St. Clair).

If you are a teen (with cool parents) or older and hip to any of this at all, it is a must that you support this marvelous meld of “holla”- worthy entertainment (and yes, whooping it up is encouraged, but slip your dollar bills into their Venmo). Remaining performances are Thursday through Sunday, Feb.  22-25, at the District Theatre, 627 Massachusetts Ave., Indianapolis. Get tickets (including VIP) and info at indydistrictthe.org or indydragtheatre.com.

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[*In keeping with the culture and respecting personal boundaries, if the Drag name is all we are given for a performer (which is as unique and individual as what’s on their driver’s license anyway), that’s all we publish.]