Being lucky enough to live on an island where we’ve eradicated Coronavirus and live in relative safety, we can largely go about our normal lives, albeit with quarantines for anyone coming into the island to keep the population safe. We’re lucky our government acted quickly and decisively so we could get back to near normal relatively quickly. This means that our bars and nightclubs are open and we’re actually able to party in our own little bubble of the world and, as no acts can come over to perform, many of the performers on the island have found themselves busier than ever since our lockdown was lifted. Myself included.
Just before Ms Rona hit, I’d been in talks with a local hotel to do a follow up to my sell-out show from last year and I absolutely jumped at the chance. Then, the pandemic hit and everything had to go on hold. When we were coming out of lockdown, I’d been under the impression that people will be that happy to get into our pubs and venues again that they wouldn’t need to have live music to lure them in, but I was wrong. I’ve actually never been busier! In fact, for a few weeks over the last couple of months, I was actually in rehearsals for two different shows at the same time – which got rather confusing! With the first one out of the way, in which I had three solo sets and then a section of theatre with our Burlesque group, I could then step up rehearsals for my solo show, which was creeping up FAST!
This past Saturday, it was show night! The crowd got to enjoy a fabulous two course dinner at their tables, while my amazing dancers and backstage team prepared to execute all the months of what we’d put together, some routines even started by sending videos of choreography to each other and practicing at home, so we’d been at it for a good while! I’d really wanted to top last year’s show and I think we did it and judging by the feedback we’ve had so far, the crowd thought so too! The hotel boss is already talking about going even bigger next year, so I’m pretty excited about that, while also wondering how we’re going to top this one!
So, the moment had come. There had been many changes along the way, even some last minute changes to the running order that very day (mostly to accommodate a difficult change which I moved to immediately after the interval so we didn’t have to worry about time, but also because it flowed from one song to another in a more pleasing way that I only realised on the final run through). We’d spent a couple of hours before doors opened having a repeated run of the opening number, which contained a fabulous outfit reveal which had only worked in about half of our rehearsals. We ran it five times late in the afternoon. It worked once. I was terrified.
When a show has your name on it, you’re always desperate for it to be a success and I’m a little bit of a perfectionist, so I tend to get quite in my head about things. This time was a first though, four days of lovely anxiety related stomach cramps in the run up to the show, which still hadn’t gone completely by showtime, but enough that I could grin and bear it. As the makeup went on, it was time for ‘The Three T’s’ of performing – Teeth, Tongue and Tits!
Once we got the nod that dinner had all been cleared away, my usual ‘five minute warning’ song came on – ‘The Beginning’ by RuPaul is sort of a tradition now. Plus, it seems to get me in the right headspace. The atmosphere backstage was brilliant – light, calm, full of giggles. All the nervousness dissipated, except for a little bit about the opening reveal. We formed our pre show circle, as is tradition and took our deep breaths, posed for a team pre-show picture and the intro instrumental began. This was it!
As the lights came on, the time had come… To Cher’s ‘Dressed To Kill’, I stepped out in a sparkly, black, full length draped coat, which we’d secretly cut up the back and fastened (back and front) with dots of velcro. I had massive, bright red hair on and my face was absolutely beat for the gods! I sang the first verse and just before the chorus, my girls came out, dressed to slay, in black outfits full of leather, lace and sequins and stood beside me, dancing along. As I finished the note at the end of the first verse, they each grabbed a sleeve of my coat and tore it away as I stepped forward and launched into the chorus – newly revealed in a fabulous, short, silver beaded nude illusion bodysuit and silver leaf collar. It worked! And holy shit, did it look spectacular!
For the second number, I went straight into Madonna’s ‘Open Your Heart’ and during the instrumental intro, ended up being possessed by my new dance shoes and going on a little ‘Strictly’ moment around the dancefloor. Not a clue what I was doing, but apparently my little surprise pirouettes worked well! Never done that before – must have been the shoes!
Next up was my opening monologue, which I’ll remember when I get to see the video. I learned a little while ago that scripted monologues don’t work as well. Cher does a fabulous monologue (hers are fifteen minutes sometimes – mine, only a couple) and hers are entirely on the spot, so I decided to do the same – and it works! But only once you’re comfortable. I remember mentioning that it was Cher-Aversary and that a year ago that very night, I was watching Cher live in Manchester and that we’d been inspired by part of her show for the next part of ours. She comes in riding an artificial elephant, but due to budgetary restraints… “I’ll of course be playing the role of the elephant tonight”. My monologue finished with the thought that if I’m getting trained to take over from Cher when she can’t do it anymore (the thought of which is sheer blasphemy) then I’d better get used to saying one thing: “Follow this, you bitches!”
With that, I turned on my heels and made an exit as the lighting changed, ‘Gayatri Mantra’ began and the dancers came out with our centrepiece routine, the Isis Wings. The girls were a riot of colour, one with metallic fuschia wings and a turquoise leotard and the other with metallic turquoise wings and a fuschia leotard and both covered in sparkly gold curls draped from belts, bracelets and garters. It was ever so Cirque Du Soleil. The wings routine was beautifully choreographed and absolutely magical, giving me time to change into my purple beaded dress, huge blonde hair and pearlescent wings filled with rainbow lights. Making my entrance, I joined the routine as planned and we launched into ‘All or Nothing’ and ‘Strong Enough’ – Highly camp!
Then was Fenella’s solo, entitled ‘The Devil Wears Gaga’ involving an art house dance number fusing Lady Gaga with interludes from Meryl Streep’s tyrannical fashion editor from the similarly named film. She was unbelievable! Fur Coat, backbreaking bends, glitter and sequins flying everywhere!
Another outfit change followed for me, along with a fabulous orchestral version of Kylie’s ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ followed by a singalong of Celine’s “My Heart Will Go On’ but not to be taken too seriously. I followed this with Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Heaven Is A Place On Earth’ all in a fabulous rainbow teardrop sequin dress and big blue hair, before outfit change time again and a fabulous routine from the girls to an instrumental of RuPaul’s ‘U Wear It Well’ blending into our version of Madonna’s ‘Vogue’ which I might tell you a funny story about sometime. That rounded out the first part and we were certainly ready for some rehydration in the interval, along with the more difficult outfit change, which involved laced up thigh-high black boots, red dangly sequin micro dress and a nun’s headpiece in black and white sparkles.
As my slutty nun, I opened with Gaga’s Alejandro, with Fenella doing a fabulous gothic flamenco routine while I changed, before I returned in flouncy blue lounge robe, discoball dress and bright pink hair to launch into an Abba triple (along with a hilarious monologue about the funny story from the finale of Part One!). After that, it was some more Kylie in a fabulous showgirl outfit featuring corset, sequins and feathers, then before we knew it, it was finale time! Our full, feature length show had gone by at warp speed and suddenly two hours felt like ten minutes!
We finished with the obligatory Tina Turner classics ‘Proud Mary’ and ‘The Best’ before an encore of the West End version of Whitney Houston’s ‘I Wanna Dance With Somebody’ in my little black iridescent shimmy dress. During this, the dancers threw out specially produced Vida LaFierce condoms into the crowd. See, responsibly promoting safe sex too! Also, more guys can look at my face right before getting down to business. Marketing master stroke or what?
Then, it was time to see how my merch went down, which was pretty successful and each t-shirt sold raises money for our local youth pride fund, so I wanted to sell a few. After a little dancing and mingling, the night drew to a close and it was time for our gang to cut loose and celebrate.
I’m so happy that it so well and so proud to have shared a stage with my fellow divas. It’s been a lot of work, but this is what we love. I’ve got some time off from rehearsals now and, though it’s only been a couple of days, I’m loving having some free time again. On reflection, I’m pretty emotional about it all, but in a good way. I’m so full of love for all those who helped make it happen and can’t wait to do it all again!
So that’s me and my show! I can’t wait til the rest of the world can get back to having this sort of fun again! Over the last few days, I’ve soaked up so much love from the folks around me, so if you need some, I’m sending it out your way! Til next time, keep smiling, stay safe, stay sane ad, as always, stay Vidalicious!
