The heat stages are almost always the most fun part of Drag Idol every year. Intense but so much fun. They are the point in the competition when anyone, regardless of their level of talent or genre of cabaret, gets to tear up the stage for ten minutes. Halfway’s heats were held over four weeks and were a mixed bag, ranging from the surreal to the sublime.
Last Tuesday the four heat winners, plus a wild card act, gathered for the Heat Final, to determine who would represent last year’s winning venue in this year’s semi-finals. Hosted by the barmy (it’s quite de rigueur you know) yet beautiful Bette Rinse, with Martha D’Arthur, Mary Mac, Dave Cross and Halfway’s guv’nor Angel all joining me on the judging panel. And of course Mrs Moore on the musical knobs.
After a number from Bette and Martha it was the job of first act Barbara Blows to get the competition underway proper. Deadpan humour that sadly fell on deaf ears with the audience. I rather like her character, although the delivery and content of some of the material needs some serious tweaking.
An interesting act, and one I think has legs, given the right guidance. Next up was drag king LoUis CYfer, who was rocking the cowboy chic. He really looked and sounded the part, with a high-energy set, and plenty of audience interaction. An act that is opening up a genre of cabaret, gay pub audiences don’t tend to see. It’s not all sparkly frocks and cock gags kids.
One to watch is our LoUis. Carmen Dioxide then gave us some Kylie. And then some more Kylie. Finishing on… Kylie. Very competent technically and great control of the crowd, but, for me, I was screaming internally NO MORE FUCKING KYLIE (in the style of Priscilla Queen of the Desert). Dusty Springs, on the other hand, bombarded us with variety.
A strong definable character, several clever parodies, a sackful of props and slick costume changes. I still giggle at the dressing gown song whenever I think of it. Nutter that I am!
Finally, it was the wild card, Dorset tart with a heart, Stephanie von Clitz. A queen that I think has progressed hugely in the last year, and it’s been a pleasure to see that development. What’s great about Stephanie is you can see she’s really enjoying herself. A young queen keeping old school well and truly alive, with a West Country twist, in the ever-changing world of drag. I just love the camp country medley too!
The eventual winner, after some serious toing and froing in the deliberation ‘suite’, was Dusty Springs – who reached last year’s Grand Final representing a different venue. Speaking to me afterwards, she said: “The reason I entered again is because I didn’t quite manage to clean up last year and I thought it was time to dust off the cobwebs and try again”.
Good luck in the Semi-Final, Dusty and Halfway!
