BWW Reviews: DRAG MACHINE at Garner Galleria Theater, DCPA

The Denver Center's Garner Galleria Theater is home to some very interesting cabaret-type shows. The most colorful, of late, has been Drag Machine, an original work that combines a traditional drag show with a narrative about the history of drag culture.

The show runs with no intermission, and takes the audience back and forth through drag history, narrated by the captain of the drag machine travel team, Shirley Delta Blow. She is assisted by two "flight attendants"(Miss Candy LaRue and Miss Representation), who provide some comic support for the journey. While the show has a promising central idea, and a bevy of enthusiastic designers who have supplied stunning costumes, sets, lights and video effects, the show was a bit of a, well, drag.

Usually a drag show features some very high-energy drag queens lip-synching or even singing popular hits while strutting the stage in glamorous costumes. Well, the costumes were there, but the energy and enthusiasm for the performance was not. The three musical performers lip-synched wonderfully, but their grasp on even simple staging and dance moves was less-than-impressive. Even the bits that were narrated seemed ill-rehearsed and slapdash, and lines were stumbled over as much as the choreography. The "history" provided was told in between musical numbers, and was short enough to be written on a postcard. While I appreciated the effort to educate the audience on drag, it seemed like they glossed over some of the importance of the lifestyle and culture, choosing only to focus on bits that setup a musical number.

However, the show fulfilled its entertainment promise. Bright lights, big costumes, and a cursory history of the drag culture were given. The audience even got to participate in some drag quiz show-type trivia, which was quite fun.

If you expected something moving and meaningful, this show is not for you. But if you'd like to see what a drag show with a large budget can be, this is definitely up your yellow-brick-road.

"Drag Machine" plays the Garner Galleria Theatre from March 12- March 29. For tickets, contact the box office at 800-641-1222 or go to www.denvercenter.org.

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