Very late post today. Too much on my plate. Anyway, I don't think this is Tamino. You couldn't tell the difference if it were Papageno or Papagena and the following pictures make clear that Masonry isn't involved. It's just The Lou's favorite drag queen, Desire' Declyne, who always steals the show at Act Your Pants Off. (She has an, um, outgoing personality.)
Time to move on. The next topic is the St. Lou Fringe's annual comedy fundraiser, Act Your Pants Off.
In the first half, professional actors and comedians are given a piece of dramatic text and 20-30 minutes to memorize it. As they begin to recite, the judges will throw out a direction like "okay, I want you do this like Liza Minnelli." The speech starts to come unglued. Each time a performer makes a mistake they have to remove an article of clothing. The audience throws Fringe contributions into plastic buckets, voting for their favorite actor.
In the second round the players pick their own speech, which could be anything from Sophocles to the Marx Brothers. The judges continue to interfere. By the end of the show the performers have removed a lot of fabric, but not to the point of interesting the authorities. Whoever pulls in the most contributions for the Fringe is the winner.
Above, the show kicks off with Fringe executive director Matthew Kerns and STL's own queen of the night, Desire' Declyne.
The other MC, judge and general disruptor at Act Your Pants Off was Desire' Declyne. I once heard her give a full-blown performance of the finale of Hello Dolly at one of these shows and it was a mind blower. Here, she takes an audience member into her ample busom in what seems to be some kind of blessing. (Wait, now - are she and her the right pronouns?) She strikes a pose and has a good laugh with Lola van Ella. It is impossible to say which of the two has the greater stage presence.
The top photo features the Fringe's executive director, Matthew Kerns, and our mistresses of ceremonies, The Lou's favorite ecdysiast, Lola van Ella, and our premier drag queen, Desire' Declyne. Below, Lola belts out a very hot version of Love For Sale. (Reminds me a bit of Evita Peron singing Don't Cry For Me Argentina. The pose, not the song.) She wasn't wearing this much later in the evening. It was a great time. Plenty more to come.
