By Michael Barbieri**** In an African patterned maxi dress and leonine wig, the fabulous Monét X Change made her way through the audience, hilariously shouting—yes, SHOUTING the opening chant to “The Circle of Life” at stunned audience members. Her show, Call Me By Monét, at The Laurie Beechman Theatre, was a high-energy mix of live singing, stand-up 
comedy, video clips and lip syncing, all of which made for a raucous, often hysterically vulgar evening that was a ton of fun!
Monét X Change is the creation of Kevin Berton, a comedic actor, singer and drag queen, best known for competing on Season 10 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” and for winning “Drag Race All Stars: Season 4,” along with Trinity (The Tuck) Taylor. The gorgeous Ms. Monét calls herself “unapologetically Black.” She’s known for her show-stopping performances, lip-syncing skills, comedic chops, and as she says, her mostly pitch-perfect live vocals. At the Beechman, she proved why she’s an All Star and just kept giving us more and more and more, until she knew everyone in the room had been thoroughly SLAIN.
After “The Circle of Life,” which featured an African flute solo, which was actually Monét blowing into a beer bottle, she immediately asked the staff for a shot of tequila! The liquor loosened her up and the shade came out, Honey! She dished some of her fellow Drag Race contestants: “Monique’s voice is just as annoying in person as on the show!” and “Gia Gunn IS a c-nt!” She told us that she was going to try her hardest to stay on track, because she has ADD and her focus tends to stray. She really wanted to give us a great show, she told us, 
because she knows how tough it is to please New York audiences. If she were to set herself on fire, a New York crowd would be, like, “Oh. You’re on fire. SEEN IT!”
Throughout the evening, Monét did lip sync performances of songs, including “All American Girl,” “Strong Black Woman” and a wonderful medley of The Little Mermaid’s “Part of Your World” with Monét bathed in green lighting and looking fabulous in a large, tousled red wig and diaphanous white dress. This transitioned into Katy Perry’s “Firework” and “I Am Changing,” from Broadway’s Dreamgirls. On the final modulation of the latter song, Monét twirled and twirled, the white dress fell away to reveal a gorgeous blue-green pailletted gown and the crowd went crazy!
We also got some unconventional lip syncs to spoken word pieces, such as Representative Maxine Waters’ incredible “I’m reclaiming my time” speech, which served as the intro to “Strong Black Woman.” Dixie Carter’s brilliant rant about religion and patriotism from TV’s “Designing Women” got a huge response. Lastly, we got one of the most hysterical bits of lip syncing I’ve ever witnessed: the infamous sound byte of Miss Teen South Carolina’s insane response to the question of why many Americans can’t find the U.S. on a 
world map: “I personally believe that U.S. Americans are unable to do so, because, uh, some people out there in our nation, uh, don’t have maps, and, uh, I believe that our education, like such as in South Africa, and, uh the Iraq, uh, everywhere and like such as…” Screamingly funny!
A highlight of the evening was a sneak peek of Monét’s Pepsi commercial with Cardi B, after which she threw some good-natured shade at Cardi, while she was at it! Speaking of shade, she even threw a bit at RuPaul himself, commenting on the “tacky lookin’ suits” he wears on the show! I also loved the video compilation of Monét’s many audition tapes for “Drag Race.” Watching it, one could see the evolution from fledgling drag queen to a more seasoned, confident professional. It was a lovely, humorous window into her past, and fascinating to see!
One of the most awkwardly funny aspects of the night was that there were two young girls in the audience—one 8 years old, the other 12. Seeing Monét falling over herself trying to tone down her language for them was priceless! At various points, she discussed all the amazing foreskin she encountered in the U.K., she talked about her “pussy,” then backtracked and said “Oh, excuse me…vagina,” which wasn’t much better, and she described a Grindr trick that involved “accidental fisting!” Looking at her young fans, she exclaimed “I can imagine them at school tomorrow! They’ll be like ‘Yeah, we heard about PUSSY!’ ”
Monét closed out the show with another live number; this time singing “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going,” from Dreamgirls. And while she had a few off-pitch moments, her vocal was still impressive, with fabulous wailing high notes at the climax. My only negative criticism has nothing to do with Monét herself, but with her DJ/hype man, who cued up the tracks for her lip syncs. After every number, he got on the booth mic and shouted “LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!! MISS MO-NET X CHANGE!!!” This seemed to me like a technique best used in a gay bar or club where the audience’s attention might lag, but in a cabaret room, it was too much – earsplitting and unnecessary.
After a brief encore, Monét told us her show was a Monét X Change big thank you to New York audiences, who helped her become a drag queen who can hold a stage for an hour. And just when it seemed the show was over, she launched into a wild lip sync mash-up of songs requested by the audience. We heard Shania Twain’s “Man, I Feel Like a Woman,” Missy Elliot’s “Get Ur Freak On,” Whitney Houston’s “Run To You,” a bit of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Celine Dion’s hit, “My Heart Will Go On.” During that Titanic hit, 
Monét stretched out, face down on a stool, and “swam”, reaching out to grab a glass of water off one of the front tables, and splash it in her own face!
As a show, Call Me By Monét was all over the place, as Monét warned us it would be. And even though it felt like an act that should play in a bar, the entire performance was so completely manic and off the wall that it still worked. So, the next time you want an evening of laughs, call her by Monét, call her whatever you like, but be sure to call on Monét X Change!
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