To see any reviews of Charles Busch, it appears he is definitely more of an East Coast phenomenon since elsewhere there is less of an adoration of formal theater.I would consider the reviewer from Wisconsin more "Eastern". To see an ensemble group producing camp theater which is more serious in presentation than outlandish raucous camp one is used to in, say, LA, where the brassier, the better.For San Franciscans,EVERYTHING is camp and dying a fast death in the Castro but still available in clubs, but definitely not "theater" with, say, an intermission.....just drinks at the bar while feathers fly onstage. As for the rest of San Francisco, it is a more "straight" theater town but has one of the best satirical giant productions in BEACH BLANKET BABYLON which is now a SF institution with humor that outlandish to very "in" and much more relaxed, informative and not a showcase for a drag like Charles Busch who falls into a "diva" category...That would never work on the West Coast and is one of those distinguishing markers which separate the snobbery than has been handed down through the years from taste, fashion, society, and money. With the outbreak of the computer industry,and the billionaires flourishing in CA, art is in a state of limbo because there is also a big divide between what is offered in SF vs. LA. I found the entire Busch idolatry overdone, very "clicky", and his self deprecation indulgent and that heart business was like Laurette Taylor playing "humility". DIE MOMMIE DIE was amusing but just a takeoff on Douglas Sirk films.His ensemble was just so adequate as to make me wonder if their performances were sincere or a put on.
Review of The Lady in Question Is Charles Busch
