It’s a drag! Lady Bunny knows her way around the scene. From her website:
With her glitzy outfits, sky-high wigs and false eyelashes long enough to embarrass Tammy Faye Baker, multi-talented drag artist Lady Bunny would turn heads even if looking glamorous was her only talent. But "she" isn't just another man in a dress: Bunny is a successful comedienne, DJ, actress, singer/songwriter and most famously, the emcee and creator of Wigstock, the outrageous drag festival of drag and music which electrified New Yorkers every Labor Day for over 20 years. Wigstock featured almost every queen whoever worked in NYC, but also attracted more mainstream recording acts who just wanted to join in the fun--including Debbie Harry, Boy George, RuPaul, John Cameron Mitchell as Hedwig, The B-52s' Cindy Wilson, Crystal Waters, CeCe Peniston, Ultra Nate, Kristine W, Barbara Tucker and Vickie Sue (Turn The Beat Around) Robinson. Soon, the festival became known as a hipper version of Gay Pride Day.
I never actually went to Wigstock, but she’s not bragging (much) — it was one of NYC’s biggest gay festivals apart from the traditional parade.
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This is a longish [31:33] interview in which Lady Bunny talks about the different styles of drag, and her history as a drag queen. Definitely NSFW, and very funny.
Anyone who gobbled up the US series Pose in one thirsty gulp will be aware of the drag balls which originated in parts of New York in the 1970s. These events involved owning the runway in the finest drag around in order to wow the judges and go home with a clutch of trophies.
This was where the concept of the drag mother took hold. Seasoned queens would take up-and-coming drag artists under their wing, to show them how to work a stage as well as their look. They often provided a home to youngsters who may be going through a difficult time in their lives, and not just those intending to enter the drag world.
www.bbc.co.uk/...
Curiosity drove me to watch an episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race — but you can’t beat this spoof [4:20]:
Nobody’s in drag, but this classic song is about drag [4:05]:
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A brief history of drag:
It's in the theatre that the term "drag" is believed to have originated. When men played female parts, they would supposedly discuss how their costume dresses would "drag" across the floor.
Drag began to take on more of an individual form of entertainment (as opposed to being utilized as a part of an ensemble performance) when female impersonation was introduced into American culture via the genre known as "vaudeville."
allthatsinteresting.com/...
Lady Bunny mentions Milk as a performer outside the genre/gender-norms of drag. Here’s her story [6:24]:
Bob the Drag Queen is *fabulous* [5:15]:
Oh, those Greeks!
Ancient Greece
Much of theatre history in general traces its roots back to Ancient Greece and drag can certainly do the same. In Greek society, women were considered vastly inferior to men and unfit for the stage, one of the society's most respected art forms. Female roles were played by men. Not even this complete absence of women in theatre offers a complete portrait of the culture of the time, however. Both Plato and Socrates worried about the damaging effects of male actors degrading themselves by representing female emotions and characteristics.
A production number from a London La Cage, starring Graham Norton. [9:30]:
It was during the Victorian era that the term "drag" is believed to have been coined, as the long and heavy skirts of the day (particularly in the exaggerated fashion worn by men in female roles) literally dragged along the stage. This occurred, however, alongside a transition from more presentational styles of performance to the naturalistic world of playwrights like George Bernard Shaw and Oscar Wilde, in which actors generally portrayed characters of their own gender…. Eventually, though, this era of theatre gave birth to arguably the most famous example of cross-gender casting, the title role in Peter Pan, a male part audiences not only accept played by a woman, but expect to be played by a woman.
www.playbill.com/...
Patti LaBelle with another terrific song about drag [3:53]:
Have a great day!