ambush paparazzi Zoo Revue’s own Opal Vanderhurst AZ-IF live at Sanctuary in Metairie at Big Daddy’s Entertainer of the Year Donnie Jay Class & Trash Revue’s Tami Tarmac headlines at at Cowpokes Golden Lantern’s Divas “R” Us Fab 5’s Vivica Devereaux Wednesdays at Oz Co-emcee Tittie Toulouse hits the Rikki Redd dazzles at stage for the Class & Trash Revue Adam & Brian partying at Starlight Golden Lantern’s Divas “R” Us at Cowpokes ...photos: Starr Daniels, Miss Dee, Rip Naquin-Delain Appletini Revue’s own Sandy Phillips & SDGM XXXIII Regina Adams at Sanctuary in Metairie Drag Survivor host Kabrina Watson Golden Lantern’s Divas “R” Us brings Tuesdays at Oz Klorocks Bleachman to the stage Joey & Brendan slingin' cocktails at Good Friends Starr Daniels, one of the Appletini girls at Sanctuary in Metairie Madam Adam emcees & stars Eva "The Diva" Las Vegas welcomed in the Starlight Revue home by Stephanie Lee at Starlight Brad cocktailin' at Good Friends Shows, Entertainment, Cocktails ~ New Orleans, Metairie Ava Sinclair stars in The Zoo Revue Dakota Spring from the Starlight Revue at Big Daddy’s Karen & Olive celebratin' at Friendly Bar Tim & Bessianne enjoying cocktails MAIN~26 of 56 • AmbushMag.COM • Nov. 21-Dec. 4, 2006 • The One & Only Official Gay Mardi Gras Guide • GayMardiGras.COM Specializing in Historic Properties Full-time Licensed Realtor for 12 years French Quarter Property Owner To Buy, Sell, or Lease, call Mary Lind! Phone 504.948.3011 or 504.581.2020 GayNewOrleans.COM • SouthernDecadence.COM • GayAmerica.COM • GayEasterParade.COM • Nov. 21-Dec. 4, 2006 • AmbushMag.COM • MAIN~27 of 56 if they intend to continue trodding the boards. Patrick’s appropriately amateurish set, Don McDonald’s moody lighting and Donnie Jay’s costumes, especially his luscious Victorian gowns, all added to the proceedings. Whatever the shortcomings of Now She Dances, both the play and its production were much more polished than Wilson’s Street Theater, seen last year. To Do Productions is to be commended for its ongoing commitment to this seminal gay playwright. The Underpants at Tulane’s Lab Theatre ith his production of Steve Martin’s adapta- tion of Carl Sternheim’s The Underpants, W Paul Schierhorn proved he is just as inca- pable at directing 20th century comedy as he was at Shakespearean tragedy (2004’s Cymbeline). Involving a man and his wife whose panties fell down at a royal parade and the comically amoural complications that ensue, Underpants is not the greatest play and I’m not quite sure what pulled Martin to it. Sternheim may have been subversive in 1910; the Nazis banned his works. By now, his humor has paled. Martin spices it up with lotsa weiner and sausage jokes ( “You deserve something in you at night besides sauerkraut.”) and wan epigrams (“A man will not put off till tomorrow what he can sleep with today.”), but Underpants loses what momentum it has about halfway through. Except for Nancy Upton as an upstairs neighbor who lives for vicarious thrills, Tulane’s cast members are not natural farceurs. There’s lotsa furrowed brows, eye popping trodding the boards ...from M-25 and finger wagging, which is not entirely inappropriate, but such broad playing Ebenezer’s eventual redemptive transfor- mitigates the comic potency that could mation brought a palpable lump to the be had using a more naturalistic ap- throat. proach. Crookbacked and jutting his chin out Schierhorn’s staging had little to give the appearance of having no neck, oomph, a requisite for successful farce. junior Dan Schap made the ideal Scrooge. He seemed unable to guide his young Encountering the various Ghosts, Schap actors to full-fledged characterizations; made Ebenezer’s fear tangible, and beau- as such, the entire enterprise exuded a tifully illustrated his learning process that superficial air when a more biting, de- culminated in a joyously reborn soul. By tailed interpretation was called for. the end, Schap’s lanky frame so glowed And would someone please from within that he challenged you to be- spread the word that the coin of the lieve he was the scroogey Scrooge of the realm is pronounced “tahler,” not “taylor.” start. Scissor Sisters at House of Blues Other notable performances in the The Scissor Sisters roared into large cast included Joshua Eichorn as New Orleans last month just in time for Scrooge’s nephew Fred, Shane Palmer’s lead singer Jake Shears to catch the Mrs. Cratchit and Foxxy Payne (great headline “Man kills girlfriend then cooks name!) as the Ghost of Christmas Present. her.” He told the packed crowd at the If Lewis Baker failed to wholly convey House of Blues he loved it. And we loved Cratchit’s downtrodden yet enduring hu- him back. manity, hey, he’s just a freshman; if in three Unlike many in the audience who years he can take away as much from knew the Sisters’ songs’ words so well Loyola’s program as Schap has, he’ll be Paul Atreides, Bridget Erin, Jennifer Growden, David Fuller, Playwright Doric Wilson, they could sing along, I’m more of a fine. Carrie Rosenberger, Michael Martin & Chris Schlunbrecht, Now She Dances newcomer to the Sisters’ appeal even if Some of Dickens’ words got lost could have been seen off-Broadway (or off-off-B’way) in 1966. Yet I had the pleasure of being part of a posse that accompanied amidst the accents and chorus of voices, what might have once been cutting edge, now winds up as a period Jake on a bar run when he was here last May. He turned out slightly frustrating but certainly not com- piece of gay theater. to be as charismatic on stage as he was nice and down-to- promising one’s overall enjoyment. Add- Inspired by Oscar Wilde’s life and particularly his Salome, Now earth off. Sweet. ing to that enjoyment were Kellie Grengs’ She Dances first gives us backstage intrigue and in-jokes as a ragtag As this glam-rock-meets-pop-funk band delivered vir- period costumes; Joseph Harris’ flexible theater group seems to be readying a production of the biblically tually non-stop music for an hour and 45 minutes, they scenery; James Moore’s atmospheric inspired tale. With a nod to Genet, some sort of anarchy or chaos mixed mostly up tempo numbers that echoed bands rang- lighting; and Adam Alonso’s New Orleans- seems to rage in the outer world with, gasp!, homosexuals at the root ing from Blondie to Midnight Oil with a few ballads. inspired ghosts of past, present and fu- of it. Life and art then turn back upon one another with Escherian Shears, outfitted in a loose lime green top and a sparkly ture. twists. Unfortunately, what starts out as absurdist fun becomes a mite cutaway vest and pants ensemble, stayed in near constant For giving us this holiday treat, one too preachy in this post-Will & Grace era. motion, swirling around fellow vocalist Miss Ana Matronic can only say “Gawd bless you Loyolians, Wilson gets off some droll one (or two) liners (“You’re male, who hails from Monroe and wore a pinky/peachy chiffony everyone!” you’re mechanically inclined.”; “Unskilled labor fascinates me.”) but dress. never achieves the dizzying linguistic wit that reached its apotheosis The largely but not exclusively gay crowd responded to Now She Dances with the sublime Joe Orton, Wilde’s literary heir. Ultimately, such the band’s hits, Take Your Mama, and the encores I Don’t verbal shenanigans become tiresome, though there is one really Feel Like Dancin’ and Filthy/Gorgeous, as well as all the at the Marigny Theatre funny line at the expense of Edward Albee, another playwright who got other numbers in between. Though I’m not yet sure if lthough first produced some his start off-Broadway in the ‘60s. Scissor Sisters has staying power, if they keep cranking out 40 years ago, Doric Wilson’s Fortunately, director Steven Patrick steered a company of pros the hits as they’ve done so far, it wouldn’t surprise me if we’re ANow She Dances only now, in (Bridget Erin, Jennifer Growden, Carrie Rosenberger, Paul Atreides still dancing to them 30 year from now. its final revised form, recently received its and, chief among them, Michael Martin) to give suitably broad perfor- Till then, may they continue to spread their brand of fizzy official American premiere. Having begun mances that managed to make the most of this piffle without falling happiness and come back to N’awlins often. Let’s hope the life at off-Broadway’s famed Café Cino, it into camp. Only Chris Schulumbrecht and, in a smaller role, David headlines that greet their next visit, though, are a bit more certainly has the feel of something that Fuller were unconvincing and should consider taking acting lessons benign. MAIN~28 of 56 • AmbushMag.COM • Nov. 21-Dec. 4, 2006 • The One & Only Official Gay Mardi Gras Guide • GayMardiGras.COM GayNewOrleans.COM • SouthernDecadence.COM • GayAmerica.COM • GayEasterParade.COM • Nov. 21-Dec. 4, 2006 • AmbushMag.COM • MAIN~29 of 56 King Satyricon I Ted & Queen Satyricon IV Joe welcome Chuck’s ready for Thanksgiving Felina Colby Shane gets butch guests to Satyricon’s 5th Toga Party at 4 Seasons at Le Roundup Bar baron's Jim & Godfrey welcome guests to Divas “R” Us at Golden Lantern ...photos: Rip Naquin-Delain John welcomes patrons to the Phoenix Double Play bartender Trevor & 4 Seasons bartender Matt, Bill, Lester & Ernst take in Divas “R” Us snap a perfect match! at Golden Lantern Princesse Stephaney & paparazzi Sam pop in for Satyricon’s Toga Party Josh, Aletha & Jason slingin’ cocktails at Cavaliers’ 4th Anniversary blowout, Lafitte’s Balcony Bar Sam, James & Keith cocktailin’ Bentley, Paul & Jack at Ninth Circle at Congo Square at Satyricon’s 5th Toga Party The Oreo Brigade: Bartender Ashlee, Eric & Lester hailing from Starlight Hailing from Kentucky, Postal Pete joins Cutter’s bartender JR Petunias’ Hoyle & Satyricon Capt.