Mirror, Mirror On The Wall

Beware Mary Poppins, there is another one of your contemporaries on stage in Chicago, and she is a beeeee-ach! I'm talking of the magnificent Millificent DuVille, the evil landlord to Snow White & The 7 Drag Queens, which is on stage at Hydrate and is not to be missed.

Present by MidTagent Productions, whose previous productions included the award winning ‘Queer Tale', Snow White shows the audience an average day in the life of a house full of drag queens In this version, written and directed by Mid Tangent founder Tony Lewis, the drag queens are facing eviction by DuVille. The economy has hit the girls' purses hard as they have to find another roommate to help pay the rent. Enter unemployed hair and makeup stylist extraordinaire, Snow White, who gives the gals some much needed makeovers, both outwardly, and more importantly, inwardly as a sense of self esteem fills their wary but still glamorous lives.

As Snow White, Emily Rogers is like watching the cartoon come to life. Her uncanny mannerisms, movements and voice are impeccable and truly give this production a heighted sense of authority. As the evil DuVille, Madame X has never looked better and commands the stage in every scene she is in.

What separates Snow White from many shows of its kind is that the majority of the cast sings live, which gives the performers much more an emotional arch for their respective characters to relate to the audience. Musical highlights include reworking of such classics as ‘Come On A My House', ‘My Favorite Things', ‘Spoonful Of Sugar', and of course we have our go to girls, Madonna (Beautiful Dreamer) and Cher (This Kiss) to not let us forget where we are.

What is quite enlightening about Lewis' ‘Snow White' is the sense of community that drag queens embody. How the gals stick together and face adversity as a team is probably more then some may take away from this production, but such a subtext can speak volumes to those who are looking for a since of family in an otherwise misunderstood life.

Snow White & The 7 Drag Queens is the first production to be fully staged at Hydrate and is co-presented with owner Mark Lieberson who should be commended on taking a chance on this venture as both show and venue seem a perfect fit.

Snow White & The 7 Drag Queens runs Friday & Saturday nights at 9pm. Hydrate is located at 3458 N. Halsted, Chicago. For tickets please visit www.hydratechicago.com

Photo by Jay Shaff