#rdr8

Earlier last week the Astor Theatre was flooded with an excited and unique crowd. A certain buzz travelled down the line, half way down the street and around the corner with a constant chatter from eager fans. Fantastically dressed patrons made up the queue; enthusiastic teenagers with their guardians, mothers and fathers, loud groups of seniors with friends and more of the like. Everybody is smiling, everybody is talking. The smell of popcorn wafts through the lobby, the merch table busy and crowded. There’s a friendly vibe here, an unsolicited sense of acceptance from all parties attending. 

RuPaul’s has just concluded it’s eighth season on American cable channel Logo. If you aren’t familiar with the show’s premise, please note in this context “drag race” does not mean car racing. It is similar to other reality television competitions, only this show involves drag queen contestants and gives them weekly challenges to be judged by a panel through process of elimination. Though the show primarily focuses on make-up and fashion abilities, the personalities of contestants are explored through mini challenges, games and behind-the-scenes content. This unscripted perspective of the contestants has made the premise of a live tour very popular amongst fans. In season three, singer-DJ Michelle Visage joined the judges panel permanently and today represents as the host of the RuPaul’s Drag Race Battle of the Seasons: 2016 Extravaganza Tour.

After a Disney Princess-esque opening parody from the entire cast (to the theme from The Little Mermaid — Off Of TV), Visage introduces herself and welcomes everybody to the event. She looks spectacular, dressed in a fitted black gown with an open chest and purple trim, her hair up in a high pony-tail. She’s a sassy host and completely in control, never faulting once throughout the entire performance. “We do this for the kids, supporting gays, lesbians and queers around the globe. And you know what? It’s worth it for all the messages of support we get, telling us how we’ve saved lives and made people feel accepted.” Her opening speech earns her praise, even if she isn’t RuPaul himself. “Tonight is glitter night, so watch out people in front row!” Judging to the screams of delight that followed, it appears nobody seemed to mind.

First to the stage to perform their solo number was fan-favourite Adore Delano covering Nancy Sinatra’s Bang Bang. Following her, Sharon Needles with a sentimental Bowie tribute to Space Oddity (and to her cat, Gerrome, mentioned by picture at the end). After that Manila Zuton mimed a very pineapple themed performance to Whitney Houston’s I’m Every Woman, Ivy Winters with I Believe In A Thing Called Love, and this reviewer’s personal favourite from the night, Violet Chachki in a sexy, Soviet-themed strip tease that left her in nothing but red glitter nipple covers, heels and panties. One could only imagine what it might be like to have so much self-confidence and still look good while flaunting it on stage.

After the first string of solo performances, the highly anticipated Snatch Game was bought to the stage. Fans of the show know that this segment is a spin-off of NBC’s Match Game, where performers impersonate celebrities and attempt to match their answers with two fans with VIP tickets. For the most part the impressions were great, featuring the likes of Caitlyn Jenner, Joan Rivers and Liza Minelli, although a couple of the jokes felt a little stretched from some of the queens. It was definitely the most heavily sexual-innuendo segment of the night, with answers from the VIPs including “dicks” and “double fists” for the impersonators to work with (and they did so without question) but it soon got tired. Despite this, there were still plenty of laughs to be heard around the theatre, especially from the balcony who kept being addressed by Jinkx Monsoon as Minelli.

The remaining performances were a mixed bag for quality. Detox treated fans to an 80s tribute miming Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us, Jinkx Monsoon’s hilarious performance of Death Is Just Around The Corner and a combined performance with Visage featuring songs from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Alaska Thunderfuck performed one of her own songs, as did Zuton and Delano, but they weren’t very memorable. The production flow itself was also a bit sloppy with slow cues and deafening, over-the-top loud music for each introductory montage.

But without nit-picking, the show was a highly entertaining one, combining talent, beauty and humour to bring a colourful and flamboyant debut show to the west coast of Australia. This show promotes a great message to people of the LBGTIQ community that encourages respect and acceptance for all, not just in the entertainment industry. That message reflected on the mannerisms and good general behaviour from the crowd over the course of the evening, and by the time Visage was singing her goodbye ballad to a slideshow of human rights activists, it became clear that this was more than just a night of entertainment in drag and more about embracing a loving community that is often scrutinised off-television and in the real world. Like they say, not all heroes wear capes; except for Ivy Winters, she’s got “LOVE” printed in shiny silver letters on the back of her costume cape. Drag Race Live is a worthy production and one that hopefully returns to Australia again in the future.