Miss Coco Peru is Present

From the second Miss Coco makes her grand entry, the audience is pulled into her show-girl magic; fixated on her every move and captivated by her every word.

She tells simple, moving and cheeky stories punctuated with delightful (adapted to her own word) covers that she sings – Dancing in the Streets, Nobody Does it Better and Dolly Parton’s – Here You Come Again, just to mention a few.

And there’s no lip synching or old drag-queen bitchery here – Coco is all class with a naughty edge and an exquisite singing voice put together perfectly in a glamorously polished package.

“I feel so f***ing beautiful”, she says – and as a performer she is, in every possible way; her sixties glam look no less than striking and a divine visual accompaniment to her act.

What is so special is the warmth that Peru tells her stories with – beautiful writing delivered with so much ease, compassion, humanity and class, that we hang off of her every word.

[pull_left]This is as good as a drag act gets, and better[/pull_left]

There is no lack of hilarity in this one hour gig either. Tripping over a black dildo on the New York street, ordering pizza at Pappa John’s and shimmy-ing with the little girl across the road have the packed house in stitches. But her tales also have a sensitive, important and universal message. Accept, love, and respect your fellow human beings… regardless of people’s differences.

Based in Los Angeles Miss Coco is not short of famous friends and show biz moments, and we are privy to some lovely times that she has shared with her friend, the late magnificent actress, Bea Arthur from The Golden Girls. Miss Coco’s last number of the non-stop show is a moving song given to her from Arthur’s own one person show, and sang by Peru at Arthur’s funeral – a tribute to Bea and confirmation of the respect that Miss Coco has so rightly earned from her performer peers.

Miss Coco Peru is all pro. This is as good as a drag act gets, and better. She’s a total star, and I’d say, the star of the 16^th Feast Festival too.

Bravo Miss Coco Peru… you certainly are present for every second of your brilliant performance.

And big congratulations to Feast too… for treating Adelaide to one of America’s most celebrated drag queens and proving that – yes, this Adelaide Queer Cultural Festival – has most certainly come of age.