Adelaide Cabaret Festival – Drag!

Here’s what I understand about the art of Drag… the more spandex, feathers, glitter and false eye lashes the better – at least that’s what Priscilla: Queen of the Desert taught me. It seems the cast of Drag! have mastered this well and added a few extras for fun.

A full crowd at the Space Theatre were taken on a tour of the drag scene by multi DIVA Award-winning host Portia Turbo along with drag legends, Chelsea Bun, Amelia Airhead, Dallas Dellaforce, Monique Kelly (a Les Girls legend) and local girls Fifi and Rochelle LaMore.

The frocks were more than fabulous, they were pieces of art. All the divas were covered – Marylin Munroe, Lady Gaga, Kylie (and more Kylie), Beyonce… even Freddie Mercury. The fast-paced and frenetic show, running nearly two hours could easily be mistaken for a stage show at a Sydney night club (and ear plugs at the door might not have been remiss).

Highlights included Kelly’s tipsy rendition of ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ (complete with wine, milk and cigarette butt cocktail… eeeew!) and the frantic ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ by futuristic Swiss Miss girls that could have been mistaken for an advanced aerobics class at your local gym. For this heterosexual, female reviewer though (and probably a number of other women and gay men alike) the back-up dancers were a real treat… three of the best male bodies you can see on stage – in the skimpiest of costumes – athletes in their own right with complex dance routines and a bit of heavy lifting. Yum.

It’s fun, it’s fabulous, it’s bawdy… it’s Drag! and quite appropriate for the Festival where nothing is out of the ordinary.

11 – 12 June

www.adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au