Review by Steve Desroches
As Dolly Parton’s character Truvy says in the 1989 film Steel Magnolias, “If you can achieve puberty, you can achieve a past.” And that’s the conceit in Luxx Liaison’s first feature-length show, Whore-O-Scope at the Pilgrim House. A young queen based in Los Angeles making their Provincetown debut this September, Liaison presents an edgy and inventive performance that includes both humor and a striking vulnerability that steams along as part confessional and part phoenix-from-the-ashes narrative in a package that is 100 percent a drag show.
In a town that is packed to the gills with drag performance and is largely driven by longtime headliners who still deliver top-notch work, with a second generation producing equally impressive productions, Provincetown has become a difficult locale for new talent. And with the housing crisis on steroids, it’s also become almost entirely out of reach for young queens trying to get their start here. But each year several fresh-faced drag performers with new viewpoints, vision, and goals make their way here and do the tough work required to create a space for oneself in Provincetown’s storied drag scene. With little to no name recognition it can feel overwhelming to hit the streets to bark for your show. But that is how most everyone got their start in Provincetown and Luxx Liaison is off to a great start with this freshman effort that takes risks, has a smart linear script, and ultimately a fully realized character with a clear and declarative aesthetic and stage presence.
In Whore-O-Scope Luxx Liaison chronicles her life from growing up in Tennessee, which has become an anti-drag ground zero in our current anti-LGBTQ culture wars, and her move to Los Angeles where she finds herself scrambling around in a city known for big breaks and hard luck, finding a bit of both. She goes from love to heartbreak, nightlife to the gay porn industry, and sees how the luster of L.A. and the desert gay hot spot of Palm Springs can wear off, but with a new attitude and a re-investment in self can shine again. The thread woven throughout the show is a series of relationships that have all ended in a dramatic fashion with an astrological commonality. In a compact show there is a steady rhythm of comedy and heartfelt emotion, high-energy dance and somber song interpretation, a pop drag look that can easily slide into gothic glamour. It’s clear that Luxx Liaison has made a commitment to drag and that this line of creative pursuit is front and center in her life. She recognizes fully the value of this much stage time in Provincetown and revels in it. Luxx Liaison is off to a good start and deep fans of drag will love to see a young queen on her ascent.
Luxx Liaison presents Whore-O-Scope Friday, September 15 and Saturday, September 16 at 6 p.m. and Sunday, September 17 at 9 p.m. at the Pilgrim House, 336 Commercial St. Tickets ($25) are available at the box office and online at pilgrimhouseptown.com. For more information call 508.487.6424.
