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Post by LaLuPone on Dec 5, 2020 22:06:12 GMT
I'm surprised no one's made a thread for this at all considering the amount of Drag Race fans we seem to have on the board!
Started previews at the Garrick yesterday starring Courtney Act and Monet X Change plus Vinegar Strokes and an ensemble of UK drag talent. I'm off to the matinee tomorrow after scoring a reasonably priced ticket from the theatre cafe ticket agent.
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Post by partytentdown on Dec 6, 2020 10:16:06 GMT
I was thinking about going but I saw a video of the curtain call online and the theatre looked PACKED. Maybe it was just the angle but there seemed to be hardly any empty seats (a good sign for live theatre I suppose) and although I'm very much a 'let's get on with it' person, it made me nervous to attend just before Christmas when I want to see family.
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Post by LaLuPone on Dec 6, 2020 20:59:19 GMT
Well that was... that was something.
As always it’s incredibly commendable trying to put something on during these times, I’ll leave it at that!
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Post by Rory on Dec 6, 2020 21:38:43 GMT
Well that was... that was something. As always it’s incredibly commendable trying to put something on during these times, I’ll leave it at that! It was no City of Angels then? |
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Post by oxfordsimon on Dec 7, 2020 0:09:55 GMT
What are the costumes like?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2020 10:08:46 GMT
A commendable effort, but it ain't pretty I'm afraid. Missed the mark a little!
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Post by cherokee on Dec 13, 2020 15:36:21 GMT
Now I'm as big a Drag Race fan as there can be, and as much as I applaud the ambition and chutzpah that the producers have shown by getting a new show open in the West End given the circumstances of 2020, I have to say this was appalling.
The weakest challenges of Drag Race are usually the scripted skits: the writing is rarely great, and it exposes the fact that the majority of drag queens simply can't act. And 'Death Drop' is just like one of those challenges - only instead of five minutes, it lasts two and a half hours including interval.
The idea of Agatha Christie parody was promising if not hugely original, but the script is as limp as limp can be, the jokes non-existent, and the performances plain embarrassing. Hard to pick out the worst offender, but opening the show with Vinegar Strokes is not a good idea. Drag king Kemah Bob is particularly dreadful and has no right appearing on a professional stage.
Bizarrely, a large chunk of the audience lapped this up, but if this is what theatre is going to be like after its enforced hiatus, I think I'd prefer it if they remained closed.
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Post by drmaplewood on Dec 15, 2020 9:14:23 GMT
I had tickets for this tomorrow night but sounds like I'm dodging a bullet.
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Post by mrbarnaby on Dec 15, 2020 20:13:17 GMT
I had tickets for this tomorrow night but sounds like I'm dodging a bullet. 🤣🤣🤣 |
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Post by TallPaul on Mar 11, 2021 12:09:15 GMT
Returning to the Garrick from 19 May to 11 July, so no longer any need to dodge any bullets! 🙂
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Post by stuart on Mar 25, 2021 15:50:23 GMT
Willam and Latrice Royale are heading up the new cast with Myra DuBois as The Lady.
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Post by musicalmarge on Jun 18, 2021 8:08:43 GMT
Well that was... that was something. As always it’s incredibly commendable trying to put something on during these times, I’ll leave it at that! I left at the interval last night. IT WAS DREADFUL |
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Post by sph on Jun 18, 2021 22:48:14 GMT
Well that was... that was something. As always it’s incredibly commendable trying to put something on during these times, I’ll leave it at that! I left at the interval last night. IT WAS DREADFUL |
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Post by craig on Jun 19, 2021 12:07:44 GMT
To offer a different perspective, I thought it was a lot of fun.
Think… West End transfer of an Above The Stag panto… and you won’t go in expecting something it isn’t.
Myra Dubois and Holly Stars (who also wrote it) were laugh out loud funny for me. I can’t imagine Vinegar Strokes doing much as The Lady at all, but Myra was excellent. Old skool drag perfection. Holly also had a lot of fun with her three parts.
Willam and Latrice… Welll… Willam gave probably the worst performance I’ve seen on a West End stage. Latrice was… there. The other queens and kings were varying degrees of fun.
It’s essentially a souped up drag cabaret, but it’s a good one. Lots of fun if that’s you’re sort of thing.
As a long term drag fan, it’s pretty nice seeing it represented on a West End stage, even if its home will always be south of the river in The Two Brewers for me! 😜
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Post by cherokee on Jun 19, 2021 13:29:11 GMT
I actually think your review does a massive disservice to the Above the Stag pantos - which are always witty, clever and heart-felt, (as well as being filthy). The writing of 'Death Drop' just doesn't compare - and to be fair, neither do the performances.
Admittedly I saw the 'original cast', and it's true that Vinegar Strokes was terrible. I can imagine Myra Dubois being a big improvement. I love drag too, but this was like watching a Drag Race acting challenge (which is usually terrible but bearable when it only lasts five or ten minutes) dragged - pun intended - out into a full-length production. And it only goes to prove that the number of drag queens with actual acting ability is very, very small!
Loads of people around me were in hysterics when I saw it, but I also left at the interval.
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Post by craig on Jun 19, 2021 15:43:47 GMT
I’ve seen plenty of ATS shows and I really don’t think they’re any better than this, as fun as they are.
Like I said, I really can’t imagine Vinegar being very good in the role, so perhaps the casting this time elevated it to where it needed to be. I thought it was very funny.
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Post by Mark on Jun 29, 2021 22:03:29 GMT
Cancelled this week.
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Post by LaLuPone on Aug 27, 2021 15:41:13 GMT
Touring in the autumn with Willam, Vinegar Strokes and Holly Stars (who wrote the show) back in their roles and Ra’Jah O’Hara playing the Monét X Change/Latrice Royale role. Despite not liking the show, it’s always nice to see a show full of queer artists and to have something giving the drag race girls some work after the last 18 months.
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Post by craig on Aug 30, 2021 10:50:58 GMT
Delighted for Ra'Jah who has really emerged as a top tier Drag Race queen in this years All Stars. I'll give it a miss with Vinegar back as The Lady though!
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Post by WireHangers on Aug 30, 2021 12:03:50 GMT
Would the show be improved if it was cast with UK Queens who have experience in theatre who understand the British sense of humour a bit better?
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Post by LaLuPone on Aug 30, 2021 13:18:49 GMT
Would the show be improved if it was cast with UK Queens who have experience in theatre who understand the British sense of humour a bit better? Not really in my opinion, when I saw it with Courtney and Monét last winter they were the best bit about it and I felt sorry for them being in something so poor! I agree with craig that Vinegar really wasn’t up to much as the Lady, and the supporting cast were all a bit embarrassing too to be honest. |
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Post by cherokee on Aug 31, 2021 8:22:00 GMT
Yes, the material is so weak, the best actors in the country could do nothing with this. And as the acting challenges on Drag Race (US, UK or wherever) always prove, drag queens are rarely even half-decent actors.
The show starts with ten minutes of Vinegar Strokes, who is so awful, nothing could recover from that!
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Post by craig on Aug 31, 2021 14:04:41 GMT
Yes, the material is so weak, the best actors in the country could do nothing with this. And as the acting challenges on Drag Race (US, UK or wherever) always prove, drag queens are rarely even half-decent actors. The show starts with ten minutes of Vinegar Strokes, who is so awful, nothing could recover from that!  Myra DuBois was great fun for that 10 minutes but I can imagine exactly what it would be like with Vinegar. |
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Post by idinafanzel on Jan 27, 2022 8:33:39 GMT
Coming back to the Criterion from 3 March 2022 - 24 April 2022 with Jujubee & Kitty
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Post by partytentdown on Jan 27, 2022 8:43:59 GMT
Hmm. I get this is... Fun... But who is actually buying tickets for this? The one time I went the audience was pretty sparse. It would have been nice to see something new in that theatre. I could list about 5 Southwark Playhouse shows from the last few years worthy of a transfer!
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