Review: GLORIA SWANSONG & MAXIE FACTOR: A NIGHT OF ESCAPE at Don't Tell Mama

Gloria Swansong and Maxie Factor return from quarantine, bringing their lips and legs back to the stage of Don't Tell Mama to serve us all A Night Of Escape!

Oh, listen to Bobby my dear ones... It was so very difficult to NOT make the above headline all about moi. Our first review back in a real cabaret, especially the jewel in the midtown crown - Don't Tell Mama, means more than all the universe can hold. But enough about your little rainbow boy. Let's talk about drag queens!

Together, Gloria Swansong and Maxie Factor make up nearly 20 years of makeup, wigs, gowns, and pumps pummeling the stages and lip-synching their way across the floors of NYC's uptown, downtown, and midtown night spots. These glorious gals bring to the stage some good old-fashioned lip-sync drag that evokes glamour days past, with fab wigs by Maxie and gowns to positively die for by Gloria. In texture, design, and performance these ladies bring forth specific eras in their individual aesthetics (what? Bobby knows words!), Gloria, giving old-world Hollywood glitz with flowing gowns, trains, and jewels, while Maxie is an elegant high-fashion '60s housewife any husband would rush home to after a hard day's work to have a hard day's night. Maxie most definitely is, as her IG states, "The Polaroid in your grandmother's scrapbook" and Gloria's talent with a needle proves she is, "Costume Designer by day, Old Hollywood Glamazon by night" - to say the least. And that's the show, my dearlings. These drag divas use the music of divas gone by to bring you a feast for the ears as, well as the eyes, as you watch them perform, joke, and give the crowd all the drag they came for... including COSTUME CHANGES! Gloria has a new gown for each number, sparking gasps in the house, and Maxie, who stops at 3 looks, anchors the whole show with the quiet chemistry she shares with her sister.

Gloria handles the microphone like a Mistress, talking, laughing, and joking with her audience with some old-fashioned Nashville southern charm, even getting the house to chime in with her holy roller calls for an "AMEN" ... and then she wow's them all with spot on lip-sync performances from the ladies of yesteryear that all gay men worship (Donna Summer, Judy Garland, and Dolores Gray are names to whet your appetite). This is another area in which both ladies shine by showing their dedication to the art, as professionals. Lip-sync, as Gloria wisely states, "Is not mouthing the words" - it is a skill that takes much practice to master. And speaking of a master, Miss Maxie Factor, aside from looking stunning, is an actress who has clearly made a study of each and every diva she dives into. While watching her perform, one can see the singer she mimics in her face. Whether it's Barbra or Lena, Maxie forms her face to match, from first note to last. Her opening rendition of Ms. Horne's THE LADY IS A TRAMP made us gasp with her facial Lena-isms. Maxie's understated drag style is the perfect complement to Gloria's brassy, more movement-based performances that utilize her self-stitched gowns to show off a set of amazing assets, proving that La Dame Du Drag is really a La Dame Des Gams - legs for days darlings!

In the final analysis, Gloria Swansong & Maxie Factor: A Night Of Escape at Don't Tell Mama's gave the audience everything they ever wanted in a drag show: glitz, glamour, gowns, wigs, and talent galore. If drag is your thing, and even if you "think" it isn't, this show will have you laughing, chair dancing, and marveling at these queens' fabulous gender illusions with allusions to a sparkling past. And so...

Bobby gives Gloria Swansong & Maxie Factor: A Night Of Escape a full 5 out of 5 Rainbows!

Gloria & Maxie are regular performers at the historic Stonewall Inn, as well as other nightspots round the town.

Checkout Stonewall's page: HERE

And Keep an eye out for these ladies' upcoming dates by following their socials...

Maxie Factor Has An IG: HERE

Look up Her YouTubes: HERE

Grab Gloria By Her Twitters: HERE

See Her IG Posts: HERE

And Followe On Ye Olde FaceBooke: HERE

She Has Her YouTubes Too: HERE

See Don't Tell Mama's Show Calendar: HERE

{all photos by Stephen Mosher}

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