Troy Frisby - Page 2

"There's nothing formal about this but this dress." Kennedy Davenport's aside, just several minutes into her August 23 performance of THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO KENNEDY DAVENPORT at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, couldn't have been truer. And, to put it in RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE speak, that informality represented both the top and the bottom of the performance--- though, rest assured, nobody was in danger of elimination.

Throughout her career, above all else, P!nk has proven to be something of a power ballad machine. That's why it's no surprise that, with the heightened emotion in the sound and lyrical content of much of her catalog, her music was such a natural fit for the theatrical performances of 54 SINGS P!NK at Feinstein's/54 Below.

It's safe to say that Natalie Douglas is a little obsessed with Cher. Throughout TRIBUTES: CHER, the latest in her award-winning TRIBUTES series, Douglas made her way through the icon's life from her early career up to the present, both in song and in story. But the real focus of the July 16 show at Birdland wasn't necessarily in identifying with the woman, the myth, the legend that is Cher. (After all, how can anyone fully relate to someone for whom a phrase as simple as "Hi again" is a meme-able moment?)

Leona Helmsley shuffled back to this mortal coil for one night only---three, actually---and, as portrayed by Tovah Feldshuh, she's lost none of her bite in those intervening years. From the start, Feldshuh's Leona narrowed her eyes into a hard stare that would put Paddington to shame, never letting up for a moment.

If you know one thing about Alaska, it's that she won RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE ALL-STARS 2. If you know a second thing about her, it's probably that she's obsessed with THE GOLDEN GIRLS. So much so, in fact, that the drag queen and her partner-in-crime, Handsome Jeremy, molded that obsession into a live show, which returns to The Laurie Beechman Theatre for an encore run in August. Before Alaska kicks off the latest string of shows, we spoke with her by phone about what fans can expect from the aptly-titled show, ON GOLDEN GIRLS, which pays tribute to the musical stylings featured on the beloved sitcom.

'You're never going to see yourself onstage unless you write for yourself.' That's what Becca Blackwell was told by their friend, Michelle Matlock, who had written THE MAMMY PROJECT as a solo show for herself. That idea, coupled with encouragement from Blackwell's partner and 'prolific' fellow artist, Erin Markey, led Blackwell to write THEY, THEMSELF AND SCHMERM.

The BROADWAY PRINCESS PARTY is having a homecoming of sorts. The brand, led by Benjamin Rauhala and Laura Osnes (Rodgers and Hammerstein's CINDERELLA), touched down at Feinstein's/54 Below (then simply 54 Below) back in August 2015, returning for four more engagements over the next three years. When the show returns to the space on June 25, it will look a bit different than what New York audiences may have come to expect.

'God, you guys are easy,' Gina Gershon joked at Cafe Carlyle, after garnering applause simply for taking off her jacket.

Welcome to the exciting world of "14th century Italian literature." If that's not exactly a thrilling prospect for you, don't worry: BenDeLaCreme's INFERNO A GO-GO has more than enough sugar the help the medicina go down.

Kathleen Turner is many things, but bashful isn't one of them.

BenDeLaCreme may have been dubbed 'BenDeLaChrist' by Aja on RUPAUL'S DRAG RACE ALL STARS 3, but for her next act, the queen is headed straight to Hell.

In Bond's latest show, BOYS IN THE TREES, the performer seems particularly interested in exploring what happens when one colors outside prescribed lines of gender---masculinity, in particular---primarily performing songs by men who did just that.

Drag artist Varla Jean Merman's new show, WONDER MERMAN, pays tribute to inspirational women throughout history, both real and fictional. The idea that "behind every great man, there's a great woman" feels tone-deaf, at best. But a more arcane expression that may actually hold true is that behind many a great drag queen, there's a great man.

Of the many great parts of the Broadway community and the performing arts community at large, perhaps the greatest is its ability to come together and provide support for one another. BROADWAY BABY MAMAS, held at Feinstein's/54 Below on March 15 little more than a week after the unthinkable tragedy involving Ruthie Ann Miles, was an incredible example of just how deep that support runs.

Already this year, Justin Sayre is working on a new book, a musical album produced by Julian Fleisher, and 'an episodic comedy-horror soap opera' called RAVENSWOOD MANOR, set to be performed like 'a live TV show,' among numerous other projects. But first, the ever-busy performer will return to Joe's Pub with a new series called JUSTIN SAYRE'S GAY-B-C'S: A BRIEF HISTORY OF GAY CULTURE IN 5 PARTS.

Returning to Cafe Carlyle, fashion designer-plus-TV personality-plus-performer Isaac Mizrahi was far too controlled to fall prey to anything remotely resembling a sophomore slump.

'We're gonna keep it up upbeat. Right, kids?' Finding light in the darkness was a dominant, if not the dominant, theme in 2017, so in closing out the year with SANDEMONIUM, it tracks that Sandra Bernhard would work it into her New Year's show---in her own distinctly Sandyland way, as her patented snark is a feature, not a flaw---and the crowd during her December 29 performance at Joe's Pub seemed just fine with that.

In SNOWFALL at Birdland, Christine Ebersole and Billy Stritch offered up a holiday show that was equal parts holly-jolly and melancholy. Through it all, though, there was an undercurrent of warm insularity, each bolstered by the other's presence, even when one would sit a number out and simply watch their friend perform.

The holidays are all about excess, and what's more extra than a drag queen named Alaska Thunderfuck 5000?

Endlessly imaginative and full of bravado, with his new show, HOMME FATALE, Sven Ratzke set out to ensure that femme fatales don't get to have all the fun.