By Michael Barbieri***Julia Van Cartier is a woman of many talents! She sings, she lip syncs, she‘s a storyteller, she knows how to work an audience and she drinks her vodka from a very special…umm…vessel! To put it more simply, she’s a true entertainer! Julia’s show, I’m Not Myself Tonight at Chelsea Table+Stage was sheer drag heaven!
Though she’s performed all her life, the fabulous creature known as Julia Van Cartier was birthed in 2001 when she combined the names of two of her favorite TV and film characters—Julia Sugarbaker from “Designing Women” and Delores Van Cartier from Sister Act. As a young queen in Iowa, she was involved in community theater; she did some go-go dancing during her college years and she’s worked with Celebrity Cruises and at DisneyWorld. Since donning heels and a wig, she has slain audiences in Chicago, Phoenix, Madrid, Fire Island and of course, New York City. She was the winner of New York’s Next Top Drag Queen at the Metropolitan Room in 2018 and her Christmas extravaganza, We Three Queens, along with Ruby Powers and Strawberry Fields, is legendary This new show was a delightful and engrossing introduction to the glamorous gal.
Making one of the most stunning entrances I’ve ever seen—either in cabaret or drag—she lip synced to a funny, silly “Not Myself Tonight” (J. Jones, G. Curtis, E. Dean, J. Perry), which interpolated lines from Eartha Kitt as Catwoman, Bette Davis in All About Eve and one that made me laugh harder than anyone else in the room: Catherine O’Hara in Beetlejuice! After saying she’s just a “humble country girl,” she launched into “Except For Monday” (R. Nielsen) and Ma
ry Chapin Carpenter’s “Lucky,” two fun, kicky C & W tunes that demonstrated her superb voice. I daresay Van Cartier may be one of the best live-singing drag artists I’ve ever heard.
Relating her experiences working for Disney, including her time sleeping with the man who portrayed Hercules, she gave us “Go the Distance” (A. Menken, D. Zippel) from the animated film. We also got a great rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls” (A. Menken, H. Ashman) from The Little Mermaid. This second song, was sung in a higher register than I’m used to hearing, but to her credit, Van Cartier absolutely nailed it!
We heard how Van Cartier then moved to Arizona, where she met a boy with a drinking problem and a temper! This led into “Bad Guy” (B. Eilish, P. O’Connell) and “Lemonade Song” (T. M. Lauderdale, C. Forbes), a jaunty ditty that showed her resilience and how she made the best of a bad situation. She closed out this portion of the evening with a triumphant “Corner of the Sky” (S. Schwartz), from Pippin, which showcased her Broadway-worthy vocal chops!
Along with her fabulous band—Yasuhiko Fukuoka on keyboards, Marco Panascia on bass, Simon Fishburn on drums and Ramiro Marziani on guitar—Van Cartier had a phenomenal backup singer, Tetiana Maria. While Van Cartier went for a costume change, she turned the stage over to Ms. Maria, who stunned us with a glorious rendition of Sara Bareilles’ “She Used to Be Mine” from Waitress. Not only did Maria deliver the emotional intensity needed, but she showed off her colossal belt voice as well as her excellent mic technique. This young lady definitely deserves a show of her own someday soon.
If there was ever a perfect number for a drag queen, it would have to be “In These Shoes” (P. Glenister, K. MacColl), which had Van Cartier and the band performing with a Latin flair. V
an Cartier, in an awesome and appropriate pair of leopard print high heels, played a guiro—a wooden percussion instrument, adding to the tropical sound. After a brief story of how she finally moved to NYC and met her perfect man, she then gave us power ballad realness on “Someone Like You” (F. Wildhorn, L. Bricusse), from Jekyll & Hyde. Van Cartier’s delivery of this Broadway belter showed off not only her terrific voice, but her emotional connection to the material.
The show closed on a happy note, with Van Cartier telling us she’d finally found a man who’d “treat me like a prince and f**k me like a whore”, my favorite line of the evening! She wrapped up with a funky “It’s Your Thing” (The Isely Brothers) and the perfect closer, “My Way” (C. Francois, J. Revaux, P. Anka). However, rather than the traditional delivery—big, pretentious and bombastic—Van Cartier’s rendition was fun and uptempo. This was her story and this was precisely the right way to end the evening.
Van Cartier has surrounded herself with a crack creative team. Not only was her band one of the best I’ve 
heard in recent years, but she and director Gerry Geddes have shaped a fast paced, entertaining show that absolutely flew by! Even her choice of venue was perfect, as Chelsea Table+Stage was just as glamorous as she!
With sky-high wigs and fabulous ‘lewks’ (that’s looks, for those of you that don’t speak drag), captivating stories and killer vocals, Julia Van Cartier is a supremely well-rounded drag artist. I hope to see more solo outings from her in the future. JVC is FAB!
