There are some other good performances, from Antoinette Senatore as Theresa, a girl in love with a drag performer, and from one of my favorite directors of musicals, Jeremy Lucas as Phillip, a straight drag performer. But even his drag persona is pretty bad. Jeffrey Wylie is a good actor and even has a career as a drag-psychic, but is hardly convincing as a woman.
Maybe I am jaded because I have seen some brilliant female impersonators and even a drag star who passed as a woman and was featured on the cover of Vogue.
Abby Travis composed the average rock score, and the live rock band performed well. If only the work was more disciplined and funnier. Oh well, there is some fun to be had, it's true, but the funereal seriousness, pardon the pun, drags the piece down.
Little Black Veil plays at The Ruby Theatre at The Complex until July 5.
Article comments
1 - Ruth Gurwitch
It appears the reviewer and I have a very different understanding of drag. I don't believe ANY of the performers in this show were written/developed/meant to be female impersonators. They were meant to be drag queens. Drag queens aren't always beautiful, they aren't always feminine, and they certainly aren't always, well, womanly. Think "The Plush Life." Think "Drag Strip." Think about Harvey Korman and Flip Wilson and, for gosh sakes, Milton Berle. It's sometimes FUNNIER (and more touching) to be FIERCE than to be beautiful. I think the cast does an admirable job of bringing that sensibility to the show.
Also, by the way, "Antoinette Senatore as Theresa, a girl in love with a drag performer" is an incorrect description. Theresa is the MOTHER of the character in love with a drag performer.
2 - Jamie
Go see it again and then write a review...