Arias, wigs, and sequins: drag performance meets solo theatre at this year's Vancouver Fringe Festival
From Drag Me to the Opera to Life’s a Drag, artists are forging new territory, mixing storytelling, song, theatre, and over-the-top fabulousness
Life’s a Drag.
Drag Me to the Opera.
The Vancouver Fringe Festival runs from September 8 to 18. Drag Me to the Opera is at Performance Works September 9 (4:45 pm), 10 (10:30 pm), 12 (8:45 pm), 15 (3 pm), 16 (7 pm), and 17 (4:45 pm). Life’s a Drag is at Performance Works on September 8 (8:45 pm), 10 (7 pm), 12 (10:30 pm), 14 (3:15 om), 16 (8:45 pm), and 18 (1 pm).
TWO SHOWS AT THIS year’s Vancouver Fringe Festival are pulling drag out of the cabaret and moulding it into a new kind of one-person—albeit one larger-than-life person—theatre show.
It’s drag as you haven’t quite seen it before. Yes, there are wigs and sequins and singing, but there are also moments that are raw and personal.
In the case of Dean Misdale’s buzzed-about Life’s a Drag, the artist intermixes musical theatre numbers with laugh-out-loud comedy and candid, heartfelt stories about coming out and becoming a drag celebrity in their hometown of Perth, Australia.
“Anyone who knows me would say I’m almost unapologetically honest—and when I’m in drag, it’s kind of a heightened version of myself,” explains Misdale, whose Life’s a Drag has travelled the Fringe circuit from Perth—where the show won Best Cabaret and Variety Show at Fringe World 2022—to Edinburgh. They’re speaking to Stir from London just after the latter, where Misdale says they’re indulging their “theatre nerd” before heading to Vancouver. “I leave it unscripted and allow those stories to come out organically; it allows for audience interaction. It's a very natural, flowing show, very conversational.”
Amid the stories you’ll hear about is the moment that launched Misdale into Aussie drag stardom, joining Adele onstage in a video that went viral. That episode has led to gigs like becoming the face of the local COVID vaccine campaign in Perth.
“The vax rollout billboards are all over Perth,” they say, adding with a laugh: “My face is all over!”
But there are more personal revelations as well, from their relationship with food to dating horror stories and family relationships—some of them pleasantly unexpected.
“There's one part of the show where I do talk about my relationship with my dad, and I feel good about that relationship I have with him,” Misdale reveals. “I always say, ‘I never had a stage mother—he’s my biggest supporter!’”
Misdale, who also has an impressive career in musical theatre—think We Will Rock You’s Killer Queen and Cats’ Bustopher Jones—describes the show mostly as an “hour of power”, though. It’s one that recently required superhuman endurance during the Edinburgh run.
“There were 24 back-to-back shows,” Misdale says. “It is challenging: there are several big, big songs–like ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls,’ from The Little Mermaid. So I've gotta pace myself!” In other words, even though Misdale describes Life’s a Drag as a “nonstop party”, the artist has to avoid real-life partying on the road.
Calgary artist Steven Morton takes a similar serious approach to Drag Me to the Opera—a one-person show that’s garnered praise at Fringes in Calgary, Hamilton, and Victoria.
The seasoned opera tenor, who’s starred in masterworks from Don Giovanni to Le Nozze di Figaro, in this production plays the gloriously bewigged soprano Aida Cupcake.
“I see her as a diva—more as an old British dame, like Dame Edna, or like pantomime,” Morton explains from Victoria’s fest. “She is that opera dame inviting you into the dressing room to tell you a story about this young tenor.” And that “young tenor” trying to make his way in the opera world is Morton.
Unlike Misdale, Morton had never unleashed his drag alter ego onstage before. But he hatched the idea as a way to sing opera’s grandest soprano and mezzo arias—an octave lower in his own range, of course. You’ll hear more about that story in the show.
“I thought I better learn how to do drag makeup—so every month I would be like, ‘Let’s try a drag look today,’ and I would spend a few hours painting my face,” Morton relates. “And so I started posting those on an Instagram account for Aida Cupcake.”
Let’s just say that a star was born—complete with a rainbow of big, bright-hued wigs, outfits to match, and gallons of dramatic liquid black eyeliner. That led to taking Aida onstage for smaller online appearances during the pandemic; one seven-hour session with StoryBook Theatre gave him a painful crash course in five-inch heels. (Ibuprofen was involved.)
These days, Morton is much more at ease with Aida’s looks: Opera Is a Drag contains no less than seven wig and costume changes, all without the performer ever leaving the stage.
“I remember the Calgary Fringe, where I would rehearse just a costume-change run—like, ‘This is the sequence where I have to change this costume and that costume,’” the singer recalls, adding with a laugh: “The other thing was I had to create this wig stand–I created this wig tree!” (Ever multitalented, Morton crafted the first edition out of two-by-fours, but has since designed a more collapsible version for touring.)
Those challenges have paled in comparison to keeping his voice tuned for top-notch opera singing. In the show, Aida ties little lessons on the history of opera to showstopping arias: she might talk about tradition of villainesses, for instance, then sing The Magic Flute’s famous, vocally acrobatic “Queen of the Night”.
“One of my most favourite arias is ‘Vissi D’Arte’ from Tosca,” Morton says. “I love Puccini and it's an exquisite opera to sing.
“It’s been a struggle with how often you do Fringe shows to get your voice that rest, and you're always talking to people about your show,” he adds.
Throughout the performance, audiences will learn a lot about Morton’s personal journey into opera. And he hopes they’ll gain a little appreciation for that art form.
“I did want to create something that made opera accessible,” he says. “If you're an opera fan you're gonna love it. If you're not, I think I’ve created something you’re still going to enjoy.
"You're going to walk away saying, ‘That was fun—if only all opera was that fun!’” Somewhat ironically, the very opposite of a drag.
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