Ever since the pandemic hit I made a promise to myself to attend more live events when things started to open up again, no matter what the show was. On Thursday night, I went to my first live event of the COVID era (it’s still too early to say “post-COVID”) and it was my first drag show. Now as a comedian I’ve performed on and attended plenty of variety shows that feature drag but this was my first fully exclusive drag show.
The Bratpack Tour featuring Gia Metric, Kendall Gender and Synthia Kiss from season 2 of Canada’s Drag Race was at the Capital Ballroom on April 14th and I got to check it out through my connections at work. The show was broken up into two parts, the local drag artists opened the show and the Bratpack was the second part of the show. I arrived during the tail end of local drag artist Eddi Licious’ set which was so energetic and had everyone screaming! I wish I saw it from the beginning but I would have to wait for Honey Dewme on after. However, her act didn’t last long. She came out in a long flowly outfit over what looked like big platform shoes underneath. As she approached the front of the stage I thought she was going to do that move where they fall into the splits but she never came back up. SHE FELL OFF THE STAGE. Holy shit, I was stunned. For the first few seconds I thought it was part of the act but no, she was hurt and the medics had to attend to her. The next day on her Instagram, she said that she broke a rib from the fall. Drag is way more dangerous than I thought it could be and as a sports fan, this is my wheelhouse!
The Bratpack set was phenomenal. Gia, Kendall and Synthia started off doing solo numbers during the first act and then did group numbers after the intermission. Amazing! The choreography and lip-synching was so good. In between numbers they were just having a blast chatting with each other, making jokes and telling stories to the crowd. It’s so refreshing to see an act that enjoys what they’re doing and doesn’t take themselves too seriously.
I’ve come to realize drag is such a great art form because you need to be a triple threat at all times. You have to be a great makeup artist, a great costume designer and then on top of that, you have to have a third talent like dancing, singing or even modelling to round everything out. I know drag wasn’t created for a straight audience like myself but it was so fun to be a guest in a theatre like that. If you’ve never seen a drag show before, make it a goal to see one this year. I know I’ll be back at one.
Johnny Novak 