THE THREEPENNY OPERA

MICHAEL LUCAS AND ALAN CUMMING CELEBRATING BACKSTAGE AFTER A PERFORMANCE OF THE THREEPENNY OPERA



Despite poor reviews, I have a few friends in the show so I went last night with Michael Lucas, who was kind enough to get tickets for us. The bad reviews certainly didn't put a damper on the attendance, which seemed to be sold out on a rainy Thursday night. Of course I was excited to see my drag sisters Edie, Flotilla Debarge and Hattie Hathaway on Broadway, but nothing could have prepared me for the appearance in the audience of one of my favorite all-time divas, ANGELA LANSBURY! (I know the photos crap, but she's in it and I love her!)



I had to gush, "I have your MURDER SHE WROTE cook book!" and she jollily shot back "Don't try any of those recipes!" What a joy to meet her. If you're young and only saw her in MURDER SHE WROTE, rent her in the original THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE, an all-time favorite of mine, even though I hate Sinatra. Angela had presented Alan Cumming with an Olivia award in London years ago, Alan told us in his dressing room later. Alan is a true sweetheart and I don't want to diss the play or his adaption of it. My problem is that I probably would not have appreciated the original. Let me put it this way: I'm a lot more familiar with Breck than Brecht. I'm not a big musical fan, and this one is a little too artsy for my taste. Oddly, the two times a cast member urged the audience to sing along with the chorus, I, like the rest of the crowd couldn't remember either hook. These dissonant Kurt Weill songs are really complex in arrangement.

Of course, with Madonna's ex, Carlos Leon's family jewels (Good Lourdes!) bulging out of grape-colored latex hot-pants, it was a little hard to concentrate!

CARLOS IN HIS DRESSING ROOM--TOO BAD I DIDN'T CATCH HIM CHANGING!



This version basically seeks to update the classic by usng fetish-y club kiddy looks with a hint of ye olde thrown in. In other words, the (Isaac Mizrahi) costumes looked like they'd been grabbed on a tour through Jackie 60's creators Johnny Dynell and Chi Chi Valente's closet! Alan explained that the same things aren't shocking today as when THREEPENNY was originally performed, so Wallace Shawn's new translation threw in many references to pussy, fuck and other curse words. Naughty (if weird) choreography upped the outrageous ante, with a gay kiss and the character of Lucy played by Brian Charles Rooney in drag with a fantasticly fishy operatic belt.

BRIAN CHARLES ROONEY, WHO DRAGS UP FOR THE ROLE OF LUCY BROWN AND SINGS THE HOUSE DOWN



I was pleasantly surprised by the singing voices of Alan, SNL's ANA Gasteyer and of course diva Cyndi Lauper could sell any tune. She does a beautiful job with the haunting SOLOMON SONG. And she's wearing a fab frizzy wig with roots. Ana wears an impressive french twist bouffant as well, and who should I catch in the hallway but wig mistress Stephen Perfidia, who left the famous Patricia Field wig counter for Broadway years ago.

PERFIDIA WITH THREE PENNY'S WIGS: YOU KNOW THAT OLD DRAG QUEEN TRIES THEM ON WHEN NO ONE'S LOOKING!