By Michael Barbieri****What did I just witness??!! When I went to the Laurie Beechman Theatre to catch Dragflix, I had no idea what was in store! Let me tell you, Hunny—I was not READY for the whirlwind, the force of nature, the drag-nado, if you will, that is Sutton Lee Seymour!!
Sutton Lee Seymour, the drag alter ego of Prescott Seymour, is a NYC Glam Award winner known as the “Robin Williams of Drag!” She’s been called New York City’s campiest live singing queen and has toured her sellout shows in Europe, Brazil, Mexico and the U.S. She was the Season 4 winner of NYC’s So You Think You Can Drag? competition and she sails the seven seas entertaining with Atlantis Events!
I’d heard nothing but good things about Ms. Seymour from colleagues, friends and other drag performers, so I was eager to see her perform. In all honesty, she did NOT disappoint! With Dragflix, Sutton skewered some of our best-loved films, TV shows and Broadway musicals—from “The Handmaid’s Tale” to The Drowsy Chaperone to Titanic and Chicago, there wasn’t much that went unscathed!
The show began with a perfect touch: the iconic 20th Century Fox fanfare followed by a video parody of the “Twilight Zone” opening. Soon after, Sutton took the stage like a woman possessed. Belting out her take on “Tear Me Down,” from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, she seemed a combination of Snow White’s Evil Queen and Ursula the Sea Witch from The Little Mermaid, with a touch of Rocky Horror’s Frank N Furter thrown in for excellent measure! Aside from her spectacular voice, my favorite part of this number was her hilarious non-choreography, which consisted of shouting “DEATH DROP!” and “SPLITS,” none of which she actually did!
Telling us she wanted a pianist “because drag is fucking LONELY!”, the multi talented Ms. Seymour was accompanied on certain songs by her wonderful Musical Director and pianist, Mark Hartman. A clever rewrite of The Drowsy Chaperone’s “I Am Aldolpho” became “I Am Sutt
on Lee,” wherein she introduced herself to any newbies in the house. She also explained how her performances in Mexico had prompted her to seek out a Spanish language song, and then delivered a crowd pleasing “Como Te Gusta Mi Pinga?” by Karen Benjamin and Alan Chapman.
Pop culture parodies can be a bit tricky, but Sutton’s first major spoof of the evening hit all the right notes with a very funny medley based on “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the popular dramatic TV series. No drama here, though—just pure camp! The medley included bits of “It’s a Sunshine Day,” from “The Brady Bunch,” “The Lonely Goatherd,” from The Sound of Music, and other cheery songs, interrupted occasionally by the sound of gunfire! And although Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is actually a play, Sutton gave it a wonderfully unhinged musical twist by donning a black satin cape, flipping off her wig and invoking Broadway’s Hairspray with an uproarious “Good Morning Voldemort!”
After a story about how her Daenerys Targaryen wig was confiscated by a covetous customs agent, Sutton threw on her replacement wig—a cheap blonde hairpiece from a Halloween costume of Elsa, from Disney’s Frozen, whereupon she sang the entire plot of “Game of Thrones.” Set to Gilbert & Sullivan’s “Major General’s Song,” the routine was cute, yet not as consistently clever as some of her other parodies. And although I’m a fan of HBO’s show, I found the number to be a little muddled.
A true standout, however, was Sutton’s glittering variation on Disney’s The Lion King. I call it glittering because she literally threw glitter everywhere, including on the audience! The medley incorporated, among other bits, a sing-along on “The Circle of Life” (…blue pajamas, penguins on the bottom), a safer sex version of “Hakuna Matata,” sung as “Have You Got Truvada?” and an interpolation of “Memory,” from Cats, which became a lesson on how to tuck! And if you have to ask what tucking is, you’re at the wrong show!
And then there was Chicago! Sutton Lee Seymour is known far and wide for her “Chicago in 5 Minutes” routine. In it, she plays Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renée Zellweger at the same time. Her version of Jones is cool and sharp, but her take on Zellweger is hilariously evil—inaudible and wickedly off-key in all of her vocals! Additionally, Sutton’s solo interpretation of the “Hot Honey Rag” dance is worth the price of admission, even with the non-cartwheel cartwheel!
Dragflix is a remarkable show. It’s frenetic, loud, crazy and a little bit messy—witness the semi-destruction of the stage during the Titanic parody. But above all, it’s super smart and consistently laugh-out-loud funny! Practically a master class in the art of drag performance, up and coming young queens should see this show and take note! Still, whether you’re a lover of drag, Broadway, TV, film or cabaret in general, Sutton Lee Seymour will give and give and give and still leave you wanting more! And THAT, my friends, is good drag!
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