Drag kings are all the rage as of late and deservedly so. Pushing the boundaries of gender and sexuality, kings don’t feel so directly the pressure to conform to the ‘yaaaas queen’ performance type often seen on a particular reality competition show.
Kings of Clubs: Fears, Phobias and F**k Ups is a condensed version of a monthly night at the legendary Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Hosted by one of the Rebel Dykes, King Frankie Sinatra, the showcase is a platform to celebrate everything king. One hour long and thus VAULT Festival appropriate, this iteration has a narrative thread of the frightening with varying degrees of seriousness.
Sinatra begins the show with a song about kings – his velvety voice immediately captivating. Before bringing on the first act, Sinatra does a long monologue about bees – their biggest fear. This is to set up the audience interaction going forward which involves audience members picking phobias from a glittery paper bag that relate to the next act. A word of warning – the phobias are written on gift tags attached to plastic critters which did give some arachnophobes a fright.
Sinatra is a good compere and their interactions with the audience are natural. It would have been great to see them perform more but understandably time was restricted.
Richard Melanin the Third is the first of three acts and performs a silent act dressed in full sparkly clown garb. It is a sweet performance with some amusing moments such as those with a mini piano but it is relatively low energy and repetitive.
Sweet FA is second and is accurately described as ‘what would happen if Alan Bennett did Sister Act’. They deliver an energetic and varied performance – a clever mash-up of songs interspersed with live performance and lip sync. Exploring the Catholic fear of the LGBTQ+ community, Sweet FA handles the topic with good humour and satire all whilst wearing a fashionable alb.
The show concludes with Prinx Silver, a popular performer and go-go dancer on the London queer scene. Clad all in leather, Silver dances to Macho Man by the Village People as it is cut with old audio of doctors warning against homosexuality. The routine ends with Gloria Gaynor’s I Am What I Am whilst Silver waves the trans flag conveniently pulled from his underpants.
Moving from coulrophobia to homophobia to transphobia, the show takes a serious and sincere turn in its last third. Referencing new self-identification system in Scotland that has been blocked by UK ministers, Sinatra warns the audience of internal division when we should all be fighting the common enemy, the heteronormative patriarchy. To conclude, Sinatra leads all in a singsong of Stand by Our Trans to the tune of Tammy Wynette’s Stand by Your Man.
The set has a simple dressing – a spider-like structure is constructed on the backwall from colourful fabric. Stagehand Callum moves props and the mic stand on and off the stage when necessary and performers make good use of the space regularly stepping off the raised stage to interact directly with the audience. More set dressing would have been nice – even a sign to say Kings of Clubs would have added more visual interest.
Kings of Clubs: Fears, Phobias and F**k Ups is a passionate show with a clear message to tell. The pace however is too slow and needs to be tightened up to pack a punch. More polish and a longer runtime would really provide this show with the platform it needs.
LE GATEAU CHOCOLAT & JONNY WOO: A NIGHT AT THE MUSICALS – 90 YEARS OF DRAG! at the Soho Theatre
★★★★
“Woo transforms Singing in the Rain and Do-Re-Me into absolute filth”
Walking down Shaftsbury Avenue, you have the pick of pretty much any musical you could ever imagine from Les Misérables to Get Up Stand Up, a celebration of Bob Marley’s life and career. However, only a few minutes away at Soho Theatre, you can experience a hilarious medley of the genre’s greatest hits at Le Gateau Chocolat & Jonny Woo: A Night at the Musicals – 90 Years of Drag! A joint birthday extravaganza for ‘The French and Saunders of Drag’, the duo performs some of their favourite showtunes with varying degrees of faithfulness to the original lyrics and increasingly outrageous shenanigans and costumes.
There can be no expectations of how any song will be performed. All that Jazz – the show’s opener – is performed as intended (albeit with large inflatable hands) whilst Memories from Cats is remixed with My Neck, My Back and Eye of the Tiger (two songs about other types of cats). Woo transforms Singing in the Rain and Do-Re-Me into absolute filth whilst Sweet Transvestite has all the pizazz for which The Rocky Horror Picture Show is known. Most songs are sung live though a few are lip synced such as So Long, Farewell from the Sound of Music which is particularly amusing as deep-voiced Chocolat plays young Gretl’s part. Our stars are both given equal chance to shine in solos, but their chemistry is so strong that they are at their best on stage together.
Songs are occasionally introduced with a rambling story which ends with the song’s title which the duo describe as ‘a tenuous link’. Sweet Transvestite is introduced via an emotional tale of an old cross-dresser that Woo once knew whose dresses he has now come to own. Audience participation can be expected too though this is not just limited to singing along – some will be delighted to be part of a brief performance of the Time Warp.
As to be expected, the costumes are fabulous and playful. The audience is treated to seemingly endless costume changes – including a sequined playsuit from Boohoo Luxe – and at the end of one song Woo ends up completely naked.
The set is bare – a banner saying ‘MUSICALS’ hangs at the back and light strips, a disco ball, smoke and fans do the rest. However, our two stars are simply so captivating that it is barely noticeable and the empty stage in fact allows for ample space for them to dance and move around. They do not limit themselves to the stage either, at times changing costumes at the side of the stalls in full view of the audience. Chocolat also performs a delicate rendition of Hopelessly Devoted to You here and is none the less brilliant because of it.
Woo and Chocolat advertise a performance of every single musical hit from the past 90 years, an impossible task. What they do deliver is fantastic, even if there are notable exclusions to the song sheet. Woo and Gateau’s charisma is unmatched, and you will find yourself beaming and wanting to get up on your feet throughout. If you’re a fan of musicals, drag and debauchery, this is the show for you.
