THAT GIRL/THAT BOY

 

 

 When I think of great legendary drag queens and impersonators, Charles Busch is right up there with Jim Bailey, Charles Pierce, Lady Bunny, Danny LaRue and Craig Russell.  If your not familiar with this phenomenal performer, you must simply check him out, though his plays or movies. If your to be in the Philadelphia/New York City area in July his newest show catches up with the legendary star with his show That Girl/That Boy. Charles is the author and star of such plays as The Divine Sister, The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, which ran five years and is one of the longest running plays in Off-Broadway history. His play The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife ran for 777 performances on Broadway and won Charles the Outer Circle Critics John Gassner Award and received a Tony nomination for Best Play. He wrote and starred in the film versions of his plays, Psycho Beach Party and Die Mommie Die, the latter of which won him the Best Performance Award at the Sundance Film Festival.

 

 Charles made his directorial debut with the film A Very Serious Person, which premiered at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival, where it won an honorable mention. He is also the subject of the documentary film The Lady in Question is Charles Busch. Due to his love and knowledge of film and theatre history, he has appeared in numerous documentaries for Turner Classic Movies and has lectured and conducted master classes at many colleges and universities including NYU, Harvard, UCLA and Amherst College.  In 2003, Mr. Busch received a special Drama Desk Award for career achievement as both performer and playwright and was honored with a star on the Playwrights Walk outside the Lucille Lortel Theatre.  

As a cabaret artist, he is a two-time MAC award winner and has performed his cabaret act in many cities including San Francisco, Provincetown, New Orleans, Atlanta, Philadelphia and in New York at the Ballroom, Birdland and 54 Below, where his current show can  be seen,  July 14, 16, 17, 23 at 7pm! That Girl/That Boy combines Charles' hilarious personal reminiscence, character sketches and superb storytelling with one glittering and glamorous evening in cabaret. Click here for tickets!

 

You can also check out his website here.

Drag Queens- The Spice of Life

Just like their are many people, their are many different types of fabulous drag queens. Some are high camp and others look so much like a woman it's sometimes hard to tell if their is a man inside. Some perform and others are club and party personitlies that everyone knows. But without them on the scene I think it would make, in the Mistress's opionion a borning gay canvas. At least less colorful. So, continuing Drag History Month here is the Mistress's list of different categories of queens and some even post from time to time!


The first group is your tyical over the top queens who sing and dance, and are very high camp. They are very well known in their city or possibly in the country. They usually don't run for the titles of pageants. They are there to purely entertain the masses with song, dance, and comedy.

the Queen Bee of drag Lady Bunny


the darling Coco de Mere



Miss Richfield 1981



These are the Pageantry Queens. All these divas are beautiful and hard working. They are the ones who are constantly in drag shows raising funds for the gay organizations and are running for titles like Miss Gay America and Miss Gay USofA, plus their local titles. In there hometown everyone knows them. They work the drag circuit and have a list of titles a Christmas list long, or hold very high seats like Robin Kradles who is one of the beautiful Empress's of the Imperial Court!

Robin Kradles



Michelle Leigh Sterling



Victoria DePaula



This group of queens are Female Illusionist. The divas in this group are like drag queens but aren't campy. They resemble real women with a little more of a edgier look. These are the ones where I think you have to do a double take to see if there is any hint of a man!

Amanda Lepore



Elaine Lancaster



Charles Busch



I like to call this category The Debutante Queens. These drags queens are ones that don't necessary perform except for charity shows. These queens are famous mostly for there signature looks, personalty, and all round fun times gals. There the ones people see everywhere in their local cities and are at all the parties. These are sort of the Paris Hilton of the drag world- famous for no special reason,except for their style and fun personalities.

Miss Dana St.James



Inya Day



And finally, brace yourselfves. It's yours truly.....the Mistress Borghese!


the Mistress Borghese


This picture is from a private party before attending the Red Hot Strawberry Ball,where the Mistress was one of the hosttess. This is a common picture as she has a cock-a-tail in every picture EVER taken! I thought I would finally reveal the drunk,I mean, Mistress to you all!

Grande Dame of the Week.......

Extraordinary Diva Charles Busch!



Imagine Joan Crawford's stately glamour, Susan Haywood's tough-broad shtick and Carol Burnett's flair all rolled into one and you get the multi-talented and extraordinary person and diva that is Charles Busch! Actor, playwright, novelist, drag queen legend and screenwriter are all things Charles Busch has done and is. He authored and starred in The Lady in Question, Red Scare on Sunset, and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, which ran five years and is one of the longest running shows on off Broadway. Charles also starred in the movie versions to the plays he wrote, Psycho Beach Party and Die Mommie Die, the latter of which won him the Best Performance Award at the Sundance Film Festival. In addition Charles has also starred in six musicals, 23 plays and 2 motion pictures all while bing the elegantly coiffed diva!



















And here is a clip of the trailor for the movie Die Mommie Die. In the Mistress opinion he really does nail the old Hollywood movie siren role, don't you think!