On Monday, the students in the CAT building were lucky enough to have a visit from four queens. At the start of the show, many chairs were vacant.
Iris Silverado, a drag queen, performed wonderfully as a naughty nurse while warming up the crowd. Unlike my doctor, who refuses to warm up a thermometer, insisting that it is not part of an allergy test despite my protests it should be. Iris was dancing to what sounded like an Evanescence song, and the crowd went wild when she took off her hair band, showing off her gorgeous locks.
Students were able to get “Ooksbucks” to tip the performers. I should have gotten some before sitting down.
Next on the stage was the stunning Karly Klimax in a hot pink outfit, reminding me of something the character Doralee Rhodes would wear in a drag remake of the classic 80’s movie “9 to 5.” I was impressed by Iris’s flexibility, but I was blown away by Karly. She had moves that looked like she had some shumka dance training.
The third queen, Venus, wore a stunning cheetah print dress. Her crowd work skills were terrific. She made sure no one in the back was forgotten. While I didn’t know the names of the songs or who they were by, the songs were filled with energy, only enhancing the enchanting performances.
The fourth queen, Audrina Linn, came out after that. She wore a black dress with strands of faux fur and her stunning thigh-high boots. While not as flexible as Karly, her moves still impressed me. The crowd was full of energy–more than a kid locked in a candy store overnight.
Then the intermission happened. A crowd gathered around the rails on the second floor of the CAT Commons, and the standing crowd at the back tripled in size in 15 minutes. I went to grab dozens of Ookbucks (a street value of three cents.) I immediately lost my second-row aisle seat and was banished to the distant fourth or fifth row.
The three queens, Karly Klimax, Venus, and Audrina Linn did an outfit change while Iris Silverado watched from the crowd. The most impressive act of the nooner was watching Karly Klimax drop to her knees on the cold CAT floor. I felt my knees shudder in pain as I watched her do that multiple times. Each of the queens graciously enjoyed all the money and attention spent on them. One person was such a fan they used Sir Wilfred Laurier (a five-dollar bill for those who don’t know their prime ministers) instead of five Ookbucks.
Overall, the music was fantastic and the dances looked like they were planned by Racheal Bloom or Dr. Franknfurter if he was told to keep it PG-13. This fantastic inclusive event features a drag queen wearing a cheetah print dress that would make Wilma Flintstone jealous, a Rocky Horror Picture show-styled nurse that would make Magenta malicious and a Dolly Parton-inspired outfit that would make her euphonious. You’ll have a drag old time at future shows.
