Review: Dixie's Tube Top Is 'Funner Than Funnel Cake'

Somehow, it seems unfair to call Dixie Longate a "drag queen." Sure, she's an over-the-top personality in a tall wig and high heels, but her act is so much more than glitter and gossip (of which there is plenty). Her new show, NEVER WEAR A TUBE TOP WHILE RIDING A MECHANICAL BULL AND SIXTEEN OTHER THINGS I LEARNED WHILE I WAS DRINKING LAST THURSDAY is the kind of show that makes you laugh, makes you cry, and then makes you laugh until you cry. But how can you describe it?

Dixie is best known for her (real life) award-winning Tupperware sales, which she earned mostly through touring the world with her first show, DIXIE'S TUPPERWARE PARTY. She's a sassy 1950's-style housewife from Mobile, Alabama, who has lamentably birthed three kids with her three (recently deceased) ex-husbands. Although her quick wit and fast-talking ways aren't always family friendly, Dixie is like that friend who is so unapologetically offensive that you forgive her outrageous sense of humor. She's also a sweetheart.

NEVER WEAR A TUBE TOP WHILE RIDING A MECHANICAL BULL is set in a divey honkey tonk bar, where Dixie welcomes the audience to sit back and wait out a threatening storm as she cleans up from her best friend's bachelorette party. With cocktails, games, and life lessons, Dixie spends 90 minutes alone onstage sharing her unique view on the world. (For example, "If a tree falls in the woods...a squirrel loses its home.") Although her show does include a tiny bit of audience participation, Dixie tends to play solely with those brave enough to sit in the front row and on the aisles; her humor is always all-inclusive, never making her guests the butt of her hilarious jokes.

With all the focus on the star of the show, Dixie's alter ego, Kris Andersson, probably doesn't get enough credit for his remarkable writing skills. While a show consisting of an hour and a half one-woman monologue may not sound like an exciting evening in the theatre, Andersson's ability to craft a fully fleshed story out of a handful of offbeat ideas is nothing less than brilliant. And the fact that his script (combined with Dixie's delivery) can take a mixed crowd of men and women of all ages and have them laughing so hard till it hurts is just further proof that he has found his calling.

Tickets for the remaining performances at Bass Hall's McDavid Studio might be hard to find this weekend (click HERE right now to check availability), but this production kicks off her national tour, with dates scheduled in Des Moines, Buffalo, Denver and Charlotte. For more information, visit www.dixiestubetop.com.

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