Madonna’s Christmas Celebration
What’s better to get you into the Christmas spirit than a hefty drag queen dressed as the mother of Jesus parodying both Top 40 pop hits by stars like Laddy Gaga and Madonna, and age-old Biblical stories by The Holy Spirit? Seriously, what’s better? Nothing at all.
After seeing Madonna’s Christmas Celebration, created by drag artist Mimi Imfurt and composer Mike Pettry, I’m now ready to set up my Christmas tree, send an e-card to my grandma, and head to the mall to further ruin my credit in order to impress those people I talk to once or twice a year. If a holiday show does not make you want to do that, consider it absolutely worthless.
Fortunately, Mimi Imfurt’s show put me on the Christmas mood. At first I thought it was going to be terrible. Though I had the correct address, I had trouble finding Finn’s Funhouse in San Francisco. I was expecting to see a sign of the place, but the theatre space literally looks like a house. Also, the room were Imfurst performed was cozy but very small. Some performers make small spaces work to their advantage, some do better in front of a bigger audience.
I was starting to get a bad feeling. The whole thing didn’t look professional enough. Then Imfurst came out. She was dressed as the Virgin Mary. The actual costume was spotless and bright, very nice. She started singing. Her voice wasn’t the most polished and neither was the choreography or the music. Half-ass was the first word that came to my head.
And yet, within 5 minutes I was laughing out loud. And within 10 minutes I was totally into the show, paying attention, clapping and singing along. Madonna’s live performance mashup of biblical oral storytelling with a lewd twist, randomly-inserted jokes, and devil-may-care dance moves won me over, hands down.
Not to mention the songs. She sang modified stuff from The Black Eyed Peas, Beyonce, Lady GaGa, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Madonna, to name a few. That unpolished delivery I had disdained at first soon became a virtue: it was intended. The whole show had a post-modern edge I hadn’t expected. Anachronism, irony, self-parody and spoofs abounded.
It’s been a couple of days since I saw it and I still have several of the songs stuck in my head. That’s always a good thing. In terms of the size of the place, Imfurst also worked it to her advantage. The audience was heavily involved towards the end. She made it her own. I felt as if I were in her living room. In fact, a man was invited to go onstage and given a microphone to sing with Imfurst, Madonna, or Lady Mama, as some reportedly call her.
There was a sense of community when the whole audience was singing together: "My God is an awesome God, lah, lah, lah." Delivered ironically or straight, that’s what Christmas is all about!
I certainty recommend the show. But don’t expect a polished performance. This is for those who love camp. Mimi Imfurst has upcoming performances in Maine, Washington D.C. and New York.
Madonna’s Christmas Celebration continues through Dec. 20 at theaters across America. For more information visit the theater’s website
