Creative Director: David Griego
Musical Director: Alex Turney
If you’re looking for a feel-good, hits-fuelled, laugh-aloud, sing-along party, look no further. The Queenz have bought their campy, disco-laden show for a month-long residency in London.
There’s not really much to this show. It’s five drag queens with a repertoire of diva-performed hits and with an emphasis on having fun. But what makes this show so special is the pop-concert lighting, the on-point girl-group choreography, the innuendo-laden humour, and the hugely talented cast who, unlike much drag, don’t lip-sync but perform live.
This is a musical homage to the LGBTQ+ scene over the past 50+ years but bought bang up to date. We’re treated to reworkings of classics like It’s Raining Men, I’m Every Woman, Born This Way, I Will Survive and many more. The music has been reworked and, in many cases, so have the lyrics, to give a comedic and pride-centric twist to them. There’s even a homage to the West End with a mash-up of 20 songs from West End hits done in seven minutes.
The Queenz are presented as a modern-day Spice Girls, each with their individual look, trait and personality. There’s the gold-festooned Bella Du Ball (Grant Jackson), the edgy Billie Eyelash (Craig Colley); the fashionable Dior Montay (Mark McCredie), the TOWIE-inspired Candy Caned (Joshua Pearson), and the gender-bending moustachioed ZeZe Van Cartier (Jonathon Hands).
As you’d expect, each is dressed to perfection, looking like a million dollars, but they’re also funny and all sing exceptionally well. Their harmonies are spot-on, and their individual performances hit all the right notes between power, accuracy, and emotion. No mean feat considering the extensive choreography that’s involved too.
And it’s funny, too. There’s a decent dose of well-intentioned jibes at the audience, some bawdy jokes and even bawdier lyrics. But beyond the sass, humour and dance anthems, there’s a lot of heartfelt emotional positivity. There’s a lot of messaging around being true to oneself and community, being bold, and having value for yourself and those around you. The ladies know that they and their typical audiences are not always treated well and have taken this platform to help build up people and send them on their way full of pride and self-respect. It’s cliched, but done like this, it’s really very powerful. And, when the group perform Cindi Lauper’s True Colours, in a rare low-key moment of the show, it’s remarkably emotional
This show is an immense amount of fun and has a hell of a lot more heart and soul than one could possibly imagine. You’ll be singing, dancing, laughing, may even shed a tear, and will leave feeling as tall as the queens in their six-inch heels. What better way to spend two hours of your life?
Runs until 18 August 2024
The Reviews Hub Score
Drag-tastically brilliant!
