Frigid Nightcap to Present STARS & STRIPS At Under St. Marks
The late-night variety show will feature Edgar, Vienna Tango, Pan de Lune, and The Strange Girlzz in a night of drag, burlesque, and political satire.
FRIGID Nightcap, the East Village's weirdest and wildest late-night variety show, returns to Under St. Marks on Friday, April 24 at 10:30pm with a new edition: STARS & STRIPS: Undressing the American Myth.
This month's Nightcap peels back the red, white, and blue fantasy for a glittering, unruly night of spectacle, satire, seduction, and insurgent imagination. Rather than longing for some supposedly better past version of America, STARS & STRIPS asks what happens when the old national story is stripped down and exposed for what it is: costume, performance, mythology, sales pitch. What, then, might be built in its place?
As always, FRIGID Nightcap brings together a wildly eclectic lineup drawn from across New York's downtown performance scene, embracing the true variety-show spirit with comedy, drag, live music, performance art, burlesque, and more.
The April lineup includes:
EDGAR in F*ck the Flag Code, a drag performance that satirizes patriotism and American flag etiquette with irreverence, camp, and a gloriously desecrating sense of theatricality. Beginning with a failed lip sync of "The Star-Spangled Banner" and spiraling outward from there, the act takes direct aim at national ritual and spectacle.
Vienna Tango, who delivers a haunting a cappella rendition of the National Anthem while a chilling video reel confronts the brutal realities of American history, turning one of the country's most familiar ceremonial songs into something eerie, unnerving, and revelatory.
Pan de Lune, a dark comedy drag king whose punk-and-metal-infused performance imagines a Supreme Court ruled by a Supreme Jester. Equal parts political satire, drag transformation, and genderf*cked clown nightmare, Pan's act takes on justice, power, and capitalist imperial absurdity with signature tongue-in-cheek bite.
And, of course, The Strange Girlzz, returning to Nightcap with their own unmistakable brand of downtown weirdness.
With STARS & STRIPS, FRIGID Nightcap once again offers a late-night space where live performance can be sharp, sexy, funny, destabilizing, and defiantly alive all at once. The result is not just a night out, but a cabaret for anyone ready to peel back the fantasy and imagine something better underneath it.
FRIGID Nightcap is hosted and produced by Edward Gibbons-Brown and continues to build its reputation as one of downtown's most unpredictable recurring performance events: a place where glamour, chaos, politics, absurdity, and genuine artistic risk all collide after hours.
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