Seeing a seven-foot-tall man teetering around in heels and wearing an electric blue and silver dress is fast becoming nothing out of the ordinary on the River Campus.
Pride Network’s UR a Drag show is quickly becoming a campus tradition. Six queens from Rochester and Buffalo performed to a standing room crowd in the May Room last Friday.
Ambrosia Salad was the night’s trash-mouthed announcer and her raunchy jokes kept the audience laughing.
Lewd hand gestures and frequent references to oral sex may not sit well with every crowd, but Friday’s audience seemed to enjoy the shock value of her racy humor. From teasing the DJ to making the interpreter sign dirty words, her outgoing personae helped fill the transitions from one act to the next.
The night’s queens ranged from campy to feminine, with almost everything in between. Naiomy Kane started off the show performing a version of Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” that culminated with her licking the interpreter’s bald head.
Naiomy’s second performance of the evening was a medley of hits by Latino pop sensation Selena. Clad in Selena’s identifying one-piece outfit, Naiomy got almost 20 audience members to join her onstage for the end of the number.
Bringing to mind Divine, the drag queen John Waters made famous, Darienne Lake provided the most humorous number for the night when she performed to “Video Killed the Radio Star.”
A rather hefty lady, Darienne appeared in a skirt covered in CDs, and had glowing lights in her curly hair. The literal centerpiece of her outfit were two push lights on her breasts which she hit on and off to the beat.
Darienne demonstrated what drag is really all about ? having fun with your body and the power you have to shape it into whatever you like.
When Ambrosia strides onto the stage, the audience can’t help but notice. Over six feet tall in bare feet, when she’s onstage in six-inch heels and a huge wig, she’s six-foot-nine.
Ambrosia walked onto the stage in a long wizard cape for her performance of a cover of Elton John’s “Rocket Man,” but quickly discarded the cape to reveal a star-spangled jumpsuit and a silvery hoop skirt. The clapping crowd was in for a surprise when she left the stage to engage in a little “heavy petting” with an audience member.
Buffalo queen Aysha Black made her second appearance at UR a Drag this year, performing to Mary J. Blige’s hit “No More Drama” and the Destiny’s Child tune “Bootylicious.”
Her performance of “Bootylicious” was a showstopper, with Aysha coming out in a patriotic thong ensemble that left very little up to the imagination. Audience members who had seen her perform at last year’s show got what they were looking forward to when Aysha made her large booty “clap.”
Lexxus wasn’t alone as she took the stage for her first number, Christina Aguilera’s new hit “Dirrty.”
Two backup dancers in matching blue camouflage aided Lexxus in her performance and helped add to the diversity of the night’s performances. Lexxus later went punk as she did back flips in a wifebeater to the Avril Lavigne tune “Sk8ter Boy.”
Pandora Boxx provided two feisty performances to Pink’s “Like A Pill” and Madonna’s new single “Die Another Day.” She got up close and personal with a boy in her second performance, leading senior Romeo Galang on stage and losing his shirt.
In the question and answer session before intermission Lexxus discussed her background in ballet.
“From a queen to a prince,” she cracked as she announced that she will be performing in an upcoming performance of the Nutcracker.
The crowd enjoyed a tongue-in-cheek moment when Pandora took off her jacket during “Die Another Day” to reveal a shirt that had the word “boy” on it in glitter.
Additional reporting by Shayan Pal.
DeSantis can be reached at kdesantis@campustimes.org.
