There is a very quaint British theatrical tradition that was started in 1912 for King George V to help raise funds for Variety Artistes’ Benevolent Fund and is still going strong today. Originally called The Royal Command Show implying that all the Acts had been asked to perform by the King himself, it later morphed into The Royal Variety Show.
Like it or not (and judging by her face at times, it is more the latter) the Queen is expected to attend this annual overly long televised Show in which a whole host of (very) old stars and way too many ‘C’ list new ones, perform on stage in front of Her Majesty and a theater full of old moneyed audience decked out in their finery. Even though the Show is well past it’s sell by date, as the rapidly diminishing television viewing figures bare out, it is still surviving.
Now, thanks to Jonny Woo, one of the biggest stars of East London’s alternative drag scene, there is a real substitute that is about to eclipse it all with his Un-Royal Variety Show at the Hackney Empire next Friday. The full list of Woo’s anarchic queer star turns that will be joining him on stage, keeps being added too daily.
so far it includes operatic drag icon Le Gateau Chocolat
queerguru’s favorite award-winning musical weirdos Bourgeois & Maurice
Plus the first (and possibly the ONLY ) performance of Brexit The Musical that Wo has written with Jerry Springer The Opera composer Richard Thomas. In it a cast of East London performers re-live Britain’s confusing political summer in this ten minute musical extravaganza with a full rock backing band.
Woo is also promising another ‘first’ with an appearance from The Kate Middleton Choir, which although it will not actually feature The Duchess of Cambridge herself per se, every single member of the ensemble will be dressed exactly like her.
The only appearance that the Organizers are unable to confirm is that of Her Majesty herself, but with all the seats in the stalls already sold out, there is bound to be a lot of queens in the audience.
Tickets and information from https://hackneyempire.co.uk/
