Review: QUEEN FOR A DAY at Hell In A Handbag Productions

Hell in a Handbag Productions, Chicago’s champions of campiness, close out their 24/25 season with Tyler Anthony Smith’s QUEEN FOR A DAY, another anarchic world premiere that is as delightfully wild as it is deeply heartfelt. The play runs through August 3 at Andersonville’s Bramble Arts Loft.

The plot of Smith’s play is relatively straightforward even if its conceit is entirely original. In 1984, the internationally renowned fashion designer Roy Halston Frowick (Will Lidke)—known mononymously as Halston—is fighting off a sense of existential dread. In between days spent in his New York studio and nights at Studio 54, he can’t help but feel as though he’s sold out professionally, resorting to collaborations with JCPenney instead of the refined, minimalist looks that defined his 1970s style. But before he can dwell too long on how far his star has fallen, he’s interrupted by the appearance of Queen Elizabeth I (also Smith) who is in desperate need of a gown she would be proud to be buried in. The remainder of the play finds them bickering over fashion preferences and sharing buried secrets, at least when they aren’t being interrupted by the appearance of Halston’s close friend Liza Minnelli (Dakota Hughes) seeking creative feedback on her latest Broadway show.

But like all good comedies, QUEEN FOR A DAY is about so much more than its wackiness lets on. Queen Elizabeth is just an extreme manifestation of the many ways the past comes back to haunt us, as evidenced by Halston’s memories of the queer experiences that made him realize he’s gay. But Smith’s script also has much to say about the necessity of collaboration in the making of art and how our anxieties often get in the way of our own legacy-making, a point made even more poignant when audiences consider Halston’s early death from AIDS-related complications in 1990. While the depths of these topics may not be explored as deeply as they could be, it’s impressive that Smith is able to work in so many reflections on life and art so smoothly in such a short runtime. And the punchlines land in such quick succession that some of the more jarring tonal shifts in the play’s finale can be forgiven.

But it’s Stephanie Shaw’s tight direction and superb casting that helps to make these themes so apparent in the first place. Working in the tight confines of Bramble’s blackbox theater can be a challenge, but Shaw uses the breadth of the space to show off her actors’ talents (assisted by Taylor Dalton’s set, which is every bit as clean and sharp as one of Halston’s own outfits).

I knew very little about Halston and his work before entering the space, but Lidke’s portrayal will leave audiences wanting to know more about this impressive figure. It would be easy to play Halston as a stereotypically catty queen, and the actor certainly does this excellently. But what makes Lidke so captivating is the emotional weight he brings to the role, illustrating how the sarcasm and venom is a defense mechanism papering over much of the artist’s pain and trauma.

As Elizabeth I, Smith commands the space from the moment they sweep into the room in Rachel M. Sypniewski’s elegant and thrifty recreation of a Renaissance gown. Much like Lidke, Smith balances slapstick comedy (have you ever seen a member of the Tudor family dive face-first into a pile of cocaine?) with great depth of character. One of the best things about their portrayal of Elizabeth is that they deliver nearly every line with a cheeky grin. In a play that already blends fact and fiction, there’s something captivating about a character so concerned with keeping her cards close to her chest, never quite giving away what’s true about her life and what is just embellishment.

But it’s Hughes as Liza Minnelli who risks stealing the show every performance, which is no small feat given the caliber of this cast. They not only pull off a hilarious caricature of Minnelli in her prime, they do so with an unwavering sense of energy and flair. There’s one extended monologue so precise in its physical comedy and line delivery that it rightfully elicited a round of applause at its conclusion on opening night.