BeBe Sweetbriar’s FAME :: Jingle Bell Show Time
We made past Black Friday which marked the beginning of the Christmas holiday Season. Bring on the spiked eggnog and all the holiday shows. I know I normally like to linger in mistletoe dangling doorways at the local bars and clubs, but there are way too many great stage shows this week to let go by. Check out some of my favorite picks and get in the spirit....gay-style at the theater.
Thank You For Being Our Holiday Girls
With almost three years of spreading holiday cheer to sold out audiences, Golden Girls, the play, has become an expectation amongst the gays, and others, in San Francisco rivaling the annual Nutcracker ritual. When co-producers Heklina (Trannyshack) and Cookie Dough (The Monster Show) got together over four years ago to collaborate on the reenactment of the Golden Girls television comedy, the idea of portraying Dorothy, Blanche, Rose and Sophia in four to six episodes year in and year out was most likely not the plan. But we gays just can’t get enough of this show with Heklina (Dorothy), Mathew Martin (Blanche), Cookie Dough (Sophia) and Pollo Del Mar (Rose) as our favorite four old ladies.
For more on The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes, read this article.
The Golden Girls: The Christmas Episodes, Thursday, December 3 through Saturday, December 26, Mama Calizo’s Voice Factory 1519 Mission Street at 11th Street, 7pm & 9pm Shows, $20-$25, www.trannyshack.com, www.voicefactorysf.org
No AA for Jackie Beat during the holidays
Award-winning drag star Jackie Beat returns to the Rrazz Room in Hotel Nikko with her annual holiday show this weekend. With new material that will make anyone fall off the wagon, Jackie’s annual holiday show will make any dry audience flow like the Mississippi River. Jackie’s parody songs are some of the best in the business, such as, "Holiday Ho", "The Bitch Who Stole Christmas", and "Blew Christmas". I am sure she will have a jolly ol’ time singing them for you along with her annual Biggest Hits of the Year medley. If you caught her with her band Dirty Sanchez at this year’s Folsom Street Fair, you know she has the pipes to blow every Santa at any Santa Training Camp, oh, and she can sing, too! If you don’t get intoxicated from this show, there is always the bar downstairs afterward.
Alcoholidays! , Thursday, December 3 thru Saturday, December 5, Rrazz Room at the Hotel Nikko 222 Mason Street, 10:30pm, $30, www.therrazzroom.com, www.jackiebeatrules.com
A Countess’ Christmas
Back again at the New Conservatory Theater Center (NCTC), Katya Smirnoff Skyy returns to tell stories of holiday cheer and depression, festive parties and debacles, and regal entertainment and royal boozing’ in Katya’s Holiday Spectacular. The Russian Countess Katya definitely has a life that leaves most of the audience with hopes to discover they have a long lost aunt just like her at the next holiday family gathering. Normally seen week end and week out at Martuni’s Piano Bar, Katya has entertained full-house crowds at NCTC over the past couple of years with acclaimed shows. Adding her Russian operatic flare to holiday songs to the flow of storytelling, makes Katya’s Holiday Spectacular a must see this holiday season.
Katya’s Holiday Spectacular, Wednesday, December 9 thru January 2, New Conservatory Theater Center 25 Van Ness Avenue, 8pm, $22, www.nctcsf.org
Always A Stage With Ali Mafi
The uber "famous" gay Iranian comedian Ali Mafi (he would have killed me if I didn’t say famous) is having a birthday. Not just any old birthday party will do for this one. No! The sidekick of the upcoming Aisha Tyler Show, Ali is having a shindig for all of his wanna-be-famous friends at the Lookout this Saturday, December 5. Hosted by the most famous nun in the world Sister Roma and your columnist, Mafi has insisted on a birthday celebration shared with that other wickedly famous person Lady GaGa with a drag show of her work gagaliciously performed by Miss Rahni, Lady TaTa, Mercedez Munro, and Charisma Glitteratti. At press time, invites have been accepted by fame hogs The Plastics, The Trashtics, The Fauxolites, The Haus of Glitteratti, and The Original Mean Gays (OMG). All I can say is the bar will do big business with these groups in tow. You should come out and give Ali a birthday greet and rub shoulders with the local famous. Now, publicity announcements have indicated that a surprise celebrity would be in the house. My bet is on....oops, I almost spilled the beans.
Ali Mafi’s Birthday at Lookout, Saturday, December 5, Lookout 3600 16th Street at Market, 9pm, www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=343722505202&ref=ts
A Wicked benefit with Patty Duke
The Richmond/Ermet Foundation is one of my favorite organizations. They not only do great work, but put on some of the best stage productions to raise funds for the organization through its Help Is On The Way stage production. This holiday season is no exception. On Monday, December 7, J’LaChic Theater 39 houses Help Is On The Way’s One Night Only Holiday Cabaret filled with entertainment from Lucie Arnaz, local star Leanne Borghesi, Top Shelf, Patty Duke, the Cast of Wicked, and more. Included in the Underwriter ticket price is a once in a lifetime dessert social with the cast at Hard Rock Café at Pier 39 immediately following the show. Help Is On The Way is so good at leaving the audience with a warm heart, and hopefully empty pockets.
Help Is On The Way Holiday Cabaret, Monday, December 7, J’LaChic Theater 39 at Pier 39, 7:30pm, $50-$110, www.HelpIsOnTheWay.org, www.richmondermet.org
Past And Future Tidbits
Jimmy Strano’s new Gong Show-like party Do Or Die got off to a good start last Monday; I will be performing at a the launch of STOP AIDS Project’s Our Love program’s Black Men of the Castro Calendar on Sunday, December 6 at Q Bar 2pm-4pm; And catch me at the Hayes Valley Follies’ Holiday Show on Friday, December 4 at Marlena’s Bar 7pm.
