“Midnight at the Palace” is a raucous, psychedelic, sparkling musical about the queer hippy drag troupe, the Cockettes, who performed in San Francisco in the early seventies. They may not be well known (in the UK)  but their wild, gender-bending, counter-cultural anarchy affected many who came later, and their influence can still be felt today.

In their heyday, they were feted by Rolling Stone magazine, pop icon Tina Turner, society writer Truman Capote, beat poet Alan Ginsberg, and underground filmmaker John Waters. His superstar, drag diva Divine, performed several times with the Cockettes, their outrageous humour chiming with her own.

After Truman Capote’s glowing reviews of their productions at The Palace Theatre, they were invited to New York to present a show off Broadway, but either they were not ready for Broadway or Broadway was not ready for them. This is the story of the worst opening – and closing – in history.

Amongst the many scandalised showbiz personalities in attendance that night was queer author Gore Vidal. He was moved to write in his review, “Sometimes having no talent is not enough.”

The Cockettes quickly returned to San Francisco and for several years they continued to perform at The Palace, where they were appreciated by a sympathetic West Coast audience. Then over the years, with the double onslaughts of drug addiction and AIDS, the group disbanded. Only one of its members, disco legend Sylvester, found fame in the mainstream, but the rest disappeared into obscurity.

I want to say that “Midnight at the Palace” is the queer “HAIR!”but this hour long musical with its filthy humour and catchy songs (“A crab in your anus means that you’re loved”) has none of the normal clichés about the hippy movement. It’s better than “HAIR!” It feels more authentic than that.

The set and costumes are hand painted and makeshift. The colours riotous. I am convinced that is what a Cockettes show  would have looked like.

Out of the excellent eight person cast, additional praise must be given to Baylie Carson as Pam, Andrew Horton as Hibiscus, Gregory Haney as Sylvester and Al Cammish as Scrumbly. Baylie Carson and Gregory Haney have voices that will send shivers down your spine.

Is Trump’s America ready for this show? It couldn’t be more timely. Although portraying an anti- establishment group whose claim to fame was their lack of talent, that cannot be said of this professional troupe and “Midnight at the Palace” has the credentials and the balls to become a defiant hit off, or on Broadway.

Premiered in Edinburgh by Sing out Louise Productions/Suzanna Rosenthal Productions, and directed and choreographed by Paul McGill, the show was written by Brandon James Gwinn and Rae Binstock.