Bosom Buddies a Paired Down Drag Show That Goes the Sweet Rather Than Sour Route

I don’t have a lot of experience with Drag shows, but the ones I have seen have trended to the risque and/or Diva end of the spectrum. For this performance Timothy Kelly, co-founder and Managing Director of Fringe favorites Melancholics Anonymous and local operatic soprano, Gillian Gauntt make their Drag debuts to promising results. I’m really shockingly uninformed on drag culture so apologies if I misunderstand or mistate anything, please feel free to correct me in the comments as I do endeavor to get these things right and learn. This show contains a bit of a narrative, albeit underwritten about two performers a Drag King and a Drag Queen who are accidently booked to perform at the same time. After a little sass they decide to take turns performing sets. Antagonistic at the outset, by the end they are becoming friends, though their duet “Bosom Buddies” show they still have a little sting in them. Rather than battle it out between songs throughout the evening they pretty much take turns doing a few songs with a little genial interaction at the changeovers. It’s just the two of them and Nick Love doing a fabulous job tickling the ivories, I’m not even sure there was anyone in the tech booth. This is not that supper polished 5 Drag Queens with 17 1/2 costume changes each, disco balls, and glitter & tinsel in dizzying amounts. Kelly has a costume change during intermission, and Gauntt loosens their tie, the lights just sort of stay on at an appropriate level. My feeling, this is a first stab to see if it’s worth developing, and I for one think it is.

Gauntt is dressed as a man with beard stubble applied with makeup. They dress as male but sings songs in the range of a female, what’s a soprano to do? Kelly dresses as female and sings like a female in a somewhat smokey voice that reminded me of Lauren Bacall. If the point is to attempt to plausibly perform as the gender that fits the costume and character name, Kelly triumphs. The wig, the voice, the vocal quality, and indeed the character. I suspect that singing is Gauntt’s specialty and that acting is not their first love. The performance is fine it’s just missing that little something that a born actor like Kelly can’t help but bring to any role. I didn’t allow myself to get to hung up on the rules of gender transformation if there are any, instead I sat back and enjoyed the two performers voices which are both exceptionally good. Their song choices frequently fit into the slight narrative of the show about half or two thirds of them I knew, which I appreciate. I hope they continue to develop these characters and flesh out the show, I’d definitely be in for the next incarnation. It’s a little, not rough, but not polished, but it’s also really kinda sweet where it ends up and there are a couple of really fun songs and some beautiful ones. I’m glad I stopped over to the Phoenix Theater to check it out. Tickets are on a sliding scale from $10 to $40 the show runs this weekend only for more information and to purchase tickets go to https://tix.gobo.show/events/event/kOTpBfuSZmpxTz4yVqcc

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