Beloved drag superstar Sasha Velour (“We’re Here” “RuPaul’s Drag Race”) is a multi-talented performer who clearly has a lot to say and her own daring, colorful way of saying it. Based on her book “The Big Reveal,” Velour: A Drag Spectacular is an (almost) one-person show that navigates a number of stories revolving around Sasha Velour’s personal experiences and that of a historical drag performer.
Swinging through the air as she begins her show, Velour immediately sets the tone for the vibrant, fun, entertaining production. Dressed in a sequined jumpsuit and a long blonde ponytail, Velour is every the graceful icon.
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But once her initial lip-sync performance is over, Velour takes us back. Not only back to her youth as a boy who loved to play dress up with his grandmother’s guidance, but back to the history of drag.
Velour alternates between that historical figure and her own personal journey from early childhood as a dramatic child to adulthood as the legend she now is. By doing so, Velour takes the audience on a drag journey, explaining how the desire to do drag comes to be and touching on different aspects of drag itself.
All of this is fun and fascinating and works well as an education for an audience that might not really understand drag—even if they enjoy it. The audience in La Jolla, CA, was filled with many older folks, so I’m sure it was eye-opening for many of them but also perhaps confusing.
There’s one sequence where Velour lip-syncs to movie monologue sound bites. Velour picks up various phones one by one, lip-synching the dialogue. For the uninitiated, they might not understand why she is doing this and why drag (and the gays) get off on these campy moments. Maybe some more explanation as to what these aspects of drag mean might help understand drag as a whole. Not only will it help those in the audience unfamiliar with the art form, but it will help de-mystify something the more conservative crowd finds frightening.
As entertaining as Velour’s “Drag Spectacular” is, the production doesn’t always find its focus. What feels like an autobiographical show of Velour’s life sort of stops mid-way, just as the show seems like it’s going to culminate into something more profound.
Instead, it veers off into performances from other drag performers that undermine the power of Velour’s story. It gets almost esoteric in its storytelling and suddenly feels like a different sort of show. And as talented as other drag entertainers might be, the performances were simple rather than spectacular.
Velour has a compelling show here, but it needs to aim for something more moving and profound. While Australian comedian Hannah Gadsby might do stand-up instead of drag, their one-woman show “Nanette” showed off their comedic chops while also bringing it all home to a powerful and emotional climax.
Velour has the chance to do this. As the show stands, it stumbles just when it should be rising up. She touches on the state of the nation where drag is considered enemy number one, but it’s not given enough weight. Drag itself needs to be the thing that we walk away from understanding. And performers like Velour need to be the very talented conduit for that.
The set is pretty elaborate and eye-popping, and Velour and director Moises Kaufman use the space well. It’s colorful yet spare, allowing Velour the space to breathe and move without being overwhelmed by the intensity that drag can sometimes offer.
With a streamlined final act that keeps itself centered on Velour herself, “Velour: A Drag Spectacular” could be something monumental. However, in these turbulent times, it seems almost necessary, and she feels like the right person to do it.
“Velour: A Drag Spectacular” has extended through Sept. 15th at the La Jolla Playhouse.
For more information and tickets, visit https://lajollaplayhouse.org/.
