Not Your Mother’s Art Colony

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N

Posted on June 12, 2008 by Steve Desroches
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That’s right, just like the Go-Go’s and Connie Francis sang about I am going on vacation. Except I’m not really going anywhere….I’m going on a “stay-cation” at home in Provincetown. I won’t be back in the newsroom until Monday, June 30. And while writing a Provincetown entertainment blog is fun, it still counts as work so I won’t be updating this blog until I return. However, while away I will be taking in a lot of the offerings at the fabulous Provincetown International Film Festival as well as plays, shows and art openings in town, which I will report on when I come back. Adios!

The Big Secret

Posted on June 10, 2008 by Steve Desroches
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Even though it is as hot as blazes, it still isn’t quite the summer season in Provincetown. There will be an additional two or three mini-waves of openings before all of the performers are in town until at least Labor Day and another few weeks before the galleries begin some of their best and most interesting shows.

However, the season is off to a promising and interesting start already. Showgirls, the weekly freak-fun-fest each Monday at the Crown and Anchor, has started and appears on track to be more edgy, outrageous and funny than last season’s successful run. The audiences in particular have been increasingly vocal in cheering on those performers that push the proverbial envelope. For instance, last night Showgirl of the Year 2007 Debbie Downer won, by audience applause, the top $500 prize for the evening by performing her rendition of the Icelandic pop singer Bjork’s “It’s Oh So Quiet.” It was close, however, so close that host Ryan Landry made Downer arm wrestle Kitty Porn, who along with Amber Alert, received the first runner-up title both by applause and then again when Kitty lost the arm wrestling competition. Amber and Kitty performed an avant garde dance rountine to “I Need A Hero” utilizing a wheelchair, twirling batons, platform shoes and a turban. Showing a very classy side Downer gave the two $100 for their good showing, to which an unimpressed and ungrateful Amber said “That’s only 50 bucks each.” Maybe next week Amber will be your moment.

The buzz of the week definitely went to Los Angeles comedian and actress Suzanne Whang. She performed to an extended weekend run at the Vixen’s Madeira Room. Whang took to the stage at Showgirls the Monday before and completely killed, which caused such a buzz that people up and down Commercial Street were saying she was a “must see.” The Korean-American actress opens her show with a character performance of her alter ego Sun Hee Park. While almost none of the jokes she tells are original, the character is hilarious, the jokes so over-the-top politically incorrect and her very real acting talent makes the show really fun and fresh.

And then. Thud. After about 15-minutes of hilarity and fun the show collapses. Again, Whang, who hosts “House Hunters” on HGTV, is a very talented actress. And in a industry that makes little room for Asian performers besides stereotypes Whang manages to make herself a distinctive performer and comedian without stepping on the coattails like trailblazer Margaret Cho, too much. But essentially the majority of the show is a boring and at times irritating Oprahesque, self-help, mumbo jumbo lecture mixed in with fairly uninteresting stories about her life and career thus far. The focus is primarily on how that freaky movie “The Secret” is the answer to everything and how she convinced Oprah to watch it. Go to Whang’s website www.suzannewhang.com, if you really want to know the details. Maybe its entertainment in LA, but not her in New England. My advice - stay away from the show until Whang hires a writer and focuses on her strengths and stays away from the Los Angelino New Age fluff. The real “secret” is her show is much more hype than substance, which is too bad as she is incredibly talented. And P.S. it’s no secret that positive thinking is an ingredient towards success in life.

Viva la Dina Martina!

Posted on June 2, 2008 by Steve Desroches
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Open nights are always fraught with excitement in Provincetown. After long quiet winters that seem to last well into April the return of the drag queens, artists with easels along Commercial Street and restaurant opening parties with free tasty appetizers that usually cost and arm and a leg. But perhaps one of the most anticipated opening nights of the season came Friday with the return of Dina Martina, Provincetown’s latest grand dame of the drag scene.

I’ve seen many Dina Martina shows over the past several years and this, by far, is my favorite. A warning though - Dina Martina is not for everyone. This is not your “Barbra, Judy, Cher” drag. Seattle-based performer Grady West created Dina Martina and is bringing drag to a whole new level. But its a delightfully freaky and surrealistic level that leaves some scratching their heads as the audience around them bursts out into laughter.

Dina Martina’s following is cult-like and finding devotees in Provincetown is not hard. I can’t tell you what the show is about, because as she is fond of saying, she’s not big on “themes.” But the show does involve a melange of 1980’s pop songs, a giant ballerina gerbil and a salute to American Presidents.

The Dina Martina gift parade makes a comeback in this show as well. And while I normally don’t sit in the front row of shows as I have a huge fear of audience participation, I’m glad that I did. I made out quite well receiving a key chain shaped like a toilet full of lip gloss, an apple flavored gummy tape worm and an “animated” post card featuring Dina Martina holding a giant inflatable hot dog.

Dina Martina will be performing at the Crown and Anchor cabaret room all summer until mid-September. This is a show not to miss!

Unofficial Town Meeting Starts Monday

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Steve Desroches
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Memorial Day is not the official mark of the start of the summer season in Provincetown. Summer really begins a week earlier when Ryan Landry and the Gold Dust Orphans return to town and the first “Showgirls” of the year takes place.

The weekly freak show is so popular some have begun to call it the unofficial town meeting as it seems like everyone in town is there. Every Monday at 10 p.m. at the Crown and Anchor Landry hosts what perhaps be best described as the Gong Show meets La Cage Aux Folles. Drag queens, jugglers, musicians, etc. all perform and compete for a $500 grand prize, which is determined by the audience. This is not for the faint of heart of for those with a prudish spirit. Nudity, foul language and dirty jokes aren’t just the norm, but rather they are expected and encouraged by the sold out crowds that line up two hours early each week.

To take a peek at what Showgirls is allabout go to www.golddustorphans.com and www.onlyatthecrown.com. Better yet, if you are a Showgirls veteran post a comment about your favorite performance you’ve seen over the years.

The Queen of the Scene

Posted on April 24, 2008 by Steve Desroches
Filed Under Art, Cape Cod, Gold Dust Orphans, Provincetown, drag queens | 1 Comment

I would never be so foolish as to declare who is the Queen of the Provincetown performance scene. I value my life, my family, my possessions and my home far too much to risk losing it all to a disgrungtled drag queen. Ever have a drag queen mad at you? I have. It ain’t fun.

Anyway, over the past decade Provincetown has established itself as one of the best places in the country to see the edgiest stuff that drag queens and performance artists have to offer. And while shows don’t begin until about mid May, there is a buzz already about which performers will be returning, what new ones might appear and who is just drag roadkill and won’t ever be coming back to grace the stages of Commercial Street.

The Art House (www.ptownarthouse.com) is the newest and hippest performance venue in town (and it has a great restaurant, Frappo 66, to boot!) The venue scored quite a coup de drag when it managed to book Varla Jean Merman. She’ll no longer be forced to cram her talents into the cramped performance space at the Post Office Cabaret. The New Orleans based ginger-haired beauty is arguably one of the best drag performers on the circuit. And this year she is celebrating her 10th anniversary of performing in Provincetown with a retrospective show. Merman will also be staging her classic “Shut Up Sweet Charlotte” a send up of, duh, “Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte.” Varla hits the scene on May 24.

The Art House also will host Miss Richfield 1981 for another season. The aging beauty queen opens “Miss R Flies Over the Coo Coo’s Nest” on May 23. Miss R is now a beloved icon of Provincetown’s drag community. And she is a bit of a fashionista with her glammed up version of outfits inspired by those women from the polygamy cult in Texas, just with a little glam thrown in.

The Crown and Anchor (www.onlyatthecrown.com) scored a big boon, too, this season by booking Dina Martina. The Seattle-based drag genius is leaving Vixen and moving over the Cabaret at the Crown, a much more central location for such a star. This twisted queen looks like a cross between a drunk Elizabeth Taylor and noted serial killer John Wayne Gacy.

And then there is of course Ryan Landry and his Gold Dust Orphans (www.golddustoprhans.com). The legendary “Showgirls” opens May 13 and runs every Monday at 10 p.m. until mid-September. As summer comes show up early, I mean wicked early, as it fills up fast. And buy your tickets early, I mean wicked early, as it sells out even faster. The Crown box office opens everyday at 2 p.m.

No word yet on what play the Orphans will be doing this summer. Currently the Orphans are in Boston performing “Whizzin’” a spoof of the “Wizard of Oz” but with a local bent (for example, the Wicked Witch of the South End). Regardless of what they perform, summer has clearly arrived when the Orphans return.

Daffodils and Drag Queens

Posted on April 21, 2008 by Steve Desroches
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There are two sure signs of spring in Provincetown - daffodils and drag queens! The town at the tip has an art scene that is really unrivaled when it comes to shear diversity. There are over 60 art galleries. A host of performance venues from the Provincetown Theater to the Art House to Crown and Anchor to even the basement at the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House. Add into that a robust street performer culture and a long list of unrepresented artists, unpublished writers and struggling actors and Provincetown is a crucible of cutting edge creative energy. This blog will do its best to uncovered the best, and sometimes the worst, that Provincetown has to offer as America’s oldest art colony. And your help and input is both needed and encouraged. See a show or installation that you love, come share and talk about here. Want to warn someone that a show stinks?! Do it hear, but remember be honest, but professional. Whatever the scene if its artistic and happening in Provincetown this is the place to look for the latest in the famoulsy eccentric town’s art scene. It might not be what Charles Hawthorne had in mind, but the Provincetown art colony continues to thrive!