Review by Steve Desroches
Come on down! You’re the next contestant on Are You Smarter Than A Drag Queen? Actually, don’t worry if audience participation stresses you out. No one gets pulled up on stage without putting their own name in a bowl to potentially be chosen in this fun, entertaining, and peppy live game show hosted by the leggy, Las Vegas legend, Edie. True to form. Edie gives the show a 1960s glam veneer mixing classic drag cabaret with a trivia night full of high kicks and hijinks. Fans of drag and trivia nights will be in heaven as this show hits no whammies and the survey says—ding, ding, ding… Are You Smarter Than a Drag Queen? is a pure joy and a delight.
Set up like a familiar game show format, several audience members compete with a guest drag queen opponent racing to hit a buzzer as Edie goes through a series of questions ranging from pop culture to science to LGBTQ history and more. Each show features a different special guest drag star, with past cameos being made by Miss Richfield 1981, Nina West, and on this particular night, the kooky Tammie Brown. There are real prizes, an array of challenges, and someone will be crowned smarter than a drag queen or that night’s visiting royalty finds out that she is indeed the smartest person in the room. Mixed in with the high-energy trivia are Edie’s show-stopping numbers, which are hilariously and strangely relevant to the question at hand. The Snatch Game on RuPaul’s Drag Race has nothing on Are You Smarter Than a Drag Queen?
Ever the consummate entertainer, Edie is a familiar and beloved fixture of Provincetown’s storied and crowded drag scene. With Are You Smarter Than a Drag Queen?, Edie presents something different compared with her past drag cabaret shows in that her ability to improv and keep the energy rainbow high from beginning to end is testament to her talent and ability to roll with whatever comes her way in a show designed to be unpredictable. Some of the best moments of the night were those that were unscripted and spontaneous. A trained ballet dancer who danced with the several ballets troupes, Edie also appeared on Broadway with Cyndi Lauper and Alan Cumming in the Tony-nominated revival of The Threepenny Opera at Studio 54, and became one of the top drag performers in New York City before taking on a 13-year run as the Mistress of Sensuality, the emcee of Cirque Du Soleil’s massive hit, Zumanity. It is easy to see why Edie is always the “It” girl in whatever room she walks into. And this show is a kind-hearted and free-wheeling culmination of all her experiences and great abilities.
Edie presents Are You Smarter Than a Drag Queen? now through October 10 at the Art House, 214 Commercial St. Tickets ($35/$45) are available at the box office and online at rainboweg.com where specific dates and times are also listed. For more information call 404.664.1736.
