BY MICHAEL MUSTO | I have to admit that I didn’t know much about Melissa Etheridge except that she’s a lesbian, she’s battled cancer, and she can sing the house down. So, I approached her autobiographical show (My Window–A Journey Through Life at New World Stages through Oct. 29) like someone coming to her window with a sort […]
BY MICHAEL MUSTO Largely thanks to social networks, words and phrases become clichés faster than they used to because everyone spots them, jumps on them, and thinks they‘re being oh so clever by parroting them on a daily basis. And they’re killing the language! Oh, and by “killing†it, I don’t mean in the clichéd […]
BY SCOTT STIFFLER | Superachiever Judy Garland isn’t wasting one second of precious, pumpkin spice-infused time when the final day of September gives way to a month-long celebration of ghosts, ghouls, goblins, and things that go bump in the night. And in honor of that, the woman who once singlehandedly killed a wicked witch by […]
BY SCOTT STIFFLER | While much of the world spent the pandemic sheltering in place and binging on Netflix in an attempt to stave off madness, innovative (and already insane) Jackie Beat found herself pounding a different drum. The veteran drag queen known for belting out hilariously filthy song parodies while hurling cruel insults at […]
BY CHARLES BATTERSBY | A mere eight months ago, Chelsea Community News covered 2021’s Makeup Show, assuming that COVID masks as a fashion accessory were a thing of the past, and that a new year of full-faced, germ-free glamour was upon us. While many things have stayed the same, the world of professional makeup artistry […]
BY MICHAEL MUSTO | “Everything used to be better†is the rallying cry of the old-fogeys. But this hag is here to tell you that’s as big a lie as saying that Gone With The Wind is an accurate portrayal of the Civil War. I should know. I’ve been around so long that my social […]
BY SELAH ILUNGA-REED | Deeply rooted in over five decades’ worth of delivering LGBTQ+ visibility, the annual NYC Pride March expands its legacy every time a youthful member of the queer community or passionate straight ally experiences their first time marching down Fifth Avenue or vocalizing their support from the side. On the last Sunday […]
BY CHARLES BATTERSBY | There is not a trace of irony in the premise of the show Seven Sins, the current offering from Company XIV, the innovative troupe whose exhilarating productions fuse circus, opera, and burlesque. Or rather, the irony is so deep that the audience is utterly immersed to the point that the irony cannot […]
BY MICHAEL MUSTO | Happy Pride! There are plenty of queer establishments in NYC at which you can celebrate, but let me step in between your cocktails and remind you of some past places that were absolute gay heaven. We can briefly remember their glory, then go right back to putting the mo’ back in […]
BY MARTY BARRETT | What is the collective term for drag queens: A Sashay? A Tuck? A Flotilla? However the OED defines it, a blindingly brilliant (and occasionally bedazzled) constellation of drag queens descended upon our sprawling city, as RuPaul’s DragCon LA 2022—the event’s 10th in-person iteration—brought sparkle back, May 13-15. Hundreds of drag queens—whether […]