By Michael Barbieri****Drag is HARD, Hunny! There’s the shaving, the painting, the wigging, the padding, the cinching, the shoeing and the dressing. Now imagine having to do all of that early on a Sunday morning in order to get to a restaurant for a Drag Brunch! Two performances, no less! Now that’s hard!
Well, every Sunday, a group of talented queens do just that for Voss Events’ Drag Brunch at the Iridium near Times Square. Hosted by Shequida, a glamorous, beautiful and fabulously foul-mouthed queen, the show I caught also starred Pattaya Hart, Egypt, and Bootsie Lefaris, three equally stunning and talented girls!
The opening number which featured the entire cast, including two cute, shirtless dancing boys, was a big, New York extravaganza. The boys began by lip syncing to “New York, New York,” from On the Town. Soon after, the girls each entered from different sections of the house, making their way through the audience and onto the stage. They looked stunning – Bootsie in a glittering gold mini, Pattaya in blue (serving fabulous high kicks!), and Egypt in red – and they took turns lip syncing to “Sidewalks of New York,” “Autumn in New York,” and one of my favorites, “NYC,” from Annie! The medley wrapped up as the cast gave us Kander & Ebb’s “New York, New York” (which included a full kick line), and Shequida joining the girls as the Statue of Liberty!
Shequida welcomed us and toyed with the audience, telling them to “touch my pussy,” and ad libbing quips like “I know you’re asking yourselves why is RuPaul onstage?…I am NOT RuPaul, I’m RuPOOR!” and “I speak 17 languages…I even speak Lesbian!”, all of which had the crown in stitches. She then introduced the first solo of the show, Pattaya as Britney Spears!
Serving us old-school Britney, Pattaya looked every bit the schoolgirl as she lip synced to a mash up of Britney songs, including “…Baby One More Time,” and “(You Drive Me) Crazy!” And let me tell you, her choreography was ON POINT!!
Shequida returned in a fabulous nude-illusion, rhinestoned bodysuit, and played with the audience a bit more before presenting Bootsie, who slayed us with a hip-hop medley. Bootsie WE-E-ERKED that stage, as she gave us classic rap and R&B hits like Salt-N-Pepa’s “Shoop,” TLC’s “No Scrubs,” and Alicia Keys’ “New York!”
The final solo of the show did NOT disappoint, believe me! Shequida brought out Egypt, who practically stopped the show with her impersonation of Jennifer Lopez! Lip syncing to Lopez’s “Booty,” the number was energetic as F, with two – count ‘em – TWO shimmering costumes, sparkling ankle boots and enough dancing, spinning and hair flipping to make J-Lo jealous!
Another wonderful touch was the Disco Medley, featuring the full cast lip syncing to some of the best known 70’s dance hits! Classic disco hits like “Last Dance,” “Disco Inferno,” “I’m So Excited,” “We Are Family” and more, had the audience dancing in their seats. And of course the girls were in silver sequined mini-dresses, while Shequida led the number in a red spangled disco jumpsuit! Being that I grew up with all of these hits, this number was one of my personal favorites!
All of the queens had their fabulous moments, and Shequida was a spectacular hostess! Being a master of improvised comedy, she interacted with the crowd charmingly, hilariously, and often filthily and kept the show moving along smoothly! There was only one real break to allow the audience to catch their collective breath—Shequida invited all the birthday boys and girls in the house to join her onstage, allowing each to introduce themselves. She then brought up a very hot, muscular shirtless “Shot Boy” to present each of them with a special birthday shot! As a final gift, the entire cast posed for a group photograph with the Birthday Babies, after which they returned to their seats, allowing the cast to perform a stellar finale!
Voss Events Drag Brunch was a lot of fun. It’s hard not to have a good time when you’ve got a stage full of glamorous, talented drag divas giving you their all! So head over to Iridium and watch these girls strut their stuff! It ain’t no drag, Hunny!
Tickets for Voss Events Drag Brunch are $24.95 for General Admission and $35.95 for VIP Seating (VIP Seats include reserved premium seating and photo-op with the cast). An additional $35 for brunch with unlimited mimosas, bloody marys and sangrias will be charged on site. For more information and complete food and beverage menu, go to www.theiridium.com
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