Janice and I went to a drag revue at the library last Friday night. The library advertised it as family friendly, and there were only four performers, so it may well not have been a representative sample of drag revues. It was interesting.
The librarian on hand to introduce the event issued attendees with rainbow money as they arrived. Rainbow money, he explained, had no monetary value. It was for tipping the performers. He said that at drag shows other than this one, people would tip with dollar bills. He made clear that the only money changing hands at this performance would be rainbow money. But, he explained further, it would provide us with a way to show our appreciation for the performers, who really enjoyed it.
Thus, Janice and I accepted two rainbow bills each. Someone or more than one someone had put a lot of effort into them. They looked to be hand-colored in rainbow hues, and they were certainly hand-lettered. They came in various denominations, and I got a oner and a fiver. Janice got a tenner and a kazillioner. We may not have known how much a kazillion is, but we knew it must be a lot. People went through the audience between acts, passing out more rainbow money. Janice got another kazillioner later.
The first performer was a drag king. Neither Janice nor I had heard that term before. We figured it must be a woman pretending to be a man. Turns out, according to the explanation given, that either a woman or a man may be a drag king. Both the kings in this show were men. Performing as men.
The sound system wasn’t entirely up to the job, so we didn’t catch every word or phrase of the explanation, but we did catch “gender expression” and “hyper-masculine.” If anything either of the drag kings did Friday night was hyper-masculine, we didn’t see it. In the case of the first king, what we mostly saw was a young man who seemed ill at ease being in the spotlight. The second king seemed happy enough to be on stage performing and had drawn on a stylized beard.
Both fellas had okay costumes, and it’s entirely possible that those costumes evoke celebrity singers. But I flunk popular culture so, if they did, the effect was lost on me. Also, all the performers, including the men performing as men, lip-synched their music. Even though the performers were in front of us, the sound issued from a speaker off to one side.
Figuring I was operating from a baseline of ignorance, I read up some about drag kings on line when I got home. In the end, though, given that reading and a sample size of two, I still don’t get it.
The drag queens, on the other hand, were a lot of fun. They clearly put a lot of effort into their costumes, makeup, and choreography. They inhabited their characters. They strutted onto the stage, and their every aspect said, “Look at me! I’m gorgeous!” And they were.
There was a sense of bigness to both the queens. These were not your usual-sized women, nor were they equally graceful. One had a signature move, the lead-up to which looked like the approach to a forward flip. Except she ended up on her head, not her hands, prior to crashing loudly to earth on her knees. It looked painful. Like something she would greatly regret having done in her later years. Janice hoped the performer had padding hidden in her over-the-knee boots, but it didn’t look like that was the case.
The performer did this move repeatedly and with zest. It made me wince every time. It also gave rise to puzzlement. Granted, it was a startling thing to do with that much human being, but it didn’t seem womanly.
There were no such complaints about the final performer, Hershae Chocolatae. Everything she did was womanly, in a really tall way: over six feet and towering heels. She was a delight to watch and sometimes mesmerizing. She was more than a female impersonator. She was a fine woman performer. Janice and I were delighted we got to see her.
Our next-favorite part of the show had to be the little squirts in the audience. They were in awe of all the performers and loved making them gifts of rainbow money. The performers were equally enchanted with the tots and their respectful generosity.
All in all, it was an interesting evening that’s given rise to a number of interesting conversations since. Yesterday’s included both staff and customers at the Thrift Shop.
19 June 2026