Drag Performances on Broadway

#1

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 1:48pm

Hey guys, for my Gay & Lesbian Studies class, I'm doing a paper on Drag/Transvestism and Broadway. Can anyone help me with some examples:

The list I've compiled thus far is:
- George Hearn/Gary Beach/Douglas Hodge - LA CAGE
- Harvey Fierstein - HAIRPSRAY
- The cast of PRISCILLA QUEEN OF THE DESERT
- Billy Porter - Kinky Boots
- Bertie Carvel - Matilda

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#2

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 1:56pm

The Mary Sunshines in Chicago.

Also, off-Broadway Tommy Tune's The Club - the cast was women playing men.

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"...ah, gays and their wit. Hell must be a laugh a minute!" -Evie Harris

Updated On: 5/2/13 at 01:56 PM

#3

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 1:59pm

Brian Bedford in the recent revival of The Importance of Being Earnest

Lea DeLaria in the revival of Rocky Horror

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"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg." -- Thomas Jefferson

#4

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:02pm

Any woman who's played Peter Pan.
Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria.

Are you distinguishing between roles that within the context of the play are NOT drag personas (such as Peter Pan or Edna Turnblad) and those that are (La Cage)?

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When I see the phrase "the ____ estate", I imagine a vast mansion in the country full of monocled men and high-collared women receiving letters about productions across the country and doing spit-takes at whatever they contain. -Kad

#5

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:21pm

Yes, I am.

Any performance that involves an actor playing the opposite gender, whether part of the show's context or not, I would like to know about.

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#6

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:24pm

Drood in "The Mystery of . . . "

#7

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:24pm

Ray Bolger in WHERE'S CHARLEY?

#8

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:25pm

Hm...perhaps Angel in RENT, though you also see him as a man as well.
Also, obviously Les Cagelles.

Updated On: 5/2/13 at 02:25 PM

#9

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:29pm

Are you only focusing on broadway? Because if not, you'd have to include Charles Busch.

#10

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:30pm

Victor/Victoria?

#11

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:33pm

Michael in BILLY ELLIOT.

#12

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:37pm

Peter and the Starcatcher

#13

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 2:52pm

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Sugar

#14

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 3:03pm

LaCienega in Bring it On

#15

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 3:07pm

The Nance (part where Lane plays Hortense)
The Beauty Part (one of Bert Lahr's characters was a woman)
The Drag (Mae West play from the 20's)
M Butterfly
Hairspray
The Producers
Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Cabaret
Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

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BroadwayEd

Updated On: 5/2/13 at 03:07 PM

#16

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 3:10pm

Any production of Two Gentlemen of Verona, Twelfth Night, As You Like It, Charley's Aunt (Where's Charley?).

Pacific Overtures.
M. Butterfly
I Am My Own Wife

Updated On: 5/2/13 at 03:10 PM

#17

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 3:28pm

I think this thread is pure Freud and I won't be a part of it.

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"Pardon my prior Mcfee slip. I know how to spell her name. I just don't know how to type it." -Talulah

#18

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 3:28pm

Ed_Mottershead, I disagree with THE PRODUCERS. Roger DeBris is merely a man who enjoys dressing in gowns. I do not think he is a Drag Queen, because he does not pretend to be a woman or try to convince people that he is a woman. He just wears woman clothes.

#19

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 3:29pm

Torch Song Trilogy is an obvious omission.

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#20

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 3:36pm

If you want to really do your homework, look up Julian Eltinge, not only did he do Drag on Broadway, he had hs own Broadway Theatre. Now that's a story.

#21

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 6:07pm

A Patriot for Me
The Seven Descents of Myrtle (Kingdom of Earth)

#22

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 6:15pm

Bert Lahr as Queen Victoria in TWO ON THE AISLE: "What Helen Hayes and Irene Dunne, I have also did!"

#23

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 7:19pm

Patti LuPone has been playing women's roles for close to 70 years.

#24

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 7:22pm

Oh you.

#25

Drag Performances on Broadway

Posted: 5/2/13 at 7:24pm

The Dentist track in LITTLE SHOP plays a female reporter during "The Meek Shall Inherit," if I recall correctly. Part of his "...and everyone else" duties.

The two Alabama Ladies in SCOTTSBORO BOYS are drag roles played by two of the Boys.

PETER & THE STARCATCHER had a drag role, too. Molly's attendant, I think it was? I'm not clear on my memory of the ensemble roles in that show, I forget. Surely someone else here knows.

Gary Coleman in AVENUE Q.

A number of parts, principally Sir Galahad's mother, in SPAMALOT, following Monty Python's traditional use of drag.

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Words don't deserve that kind of malarkey. They're innocent, neutral, precise, standing for this, describing that, meaning the other, so if you look after them you can build bridges across incomprehension and chaos. But when they get their corners knocked off, they're no good anymore…I don't think writers are sacred, but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones in the right order, you can nudge the world a little.