Reviewer: Daniel Shipman
Upstaged Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Sometimes the obvious jokes are the best ones. So it is with the titular pun of Drag Becomes Her, a drag spoof of the cult 90s film Death Becomes Her.
Replete with in-jokes and references to Drag Race herstory, this show leans just as heavily on a grounding in drag culture as it does on the film it parodies. This comedic variety helps ensure that it doesn’t become one note, although some of the Drag Race references are lazy attempts to get laughs or cheers by merely mentioning something/someone that the audience will recognise.
The show has little to offer people who aren’t already reasonably familiar with Drag Race or Death Becomes Her. This isn’t a criticism; the show is patently not intended as an introduction to drag, and the vast majority of the audience will have been motivated to buy tickets by the two star names of BenDeLaCreme and Jinx Monsoon.
Manchester’s own Donna Trump more than holds her own against the bigger names here. She rightfully receives some of the biggest laughs of the night but also gets handed the biggest misstep in the form of a misguided Anna Nicole Smith impersonation.
The show has more than its fair share of corpsing, ad-libbing and missed cues, but this is all part of the fun. The amount of talent on stage ensures that anything which might have been an awkward moment in lesser hands is exploited for full comic potential.
Despite its flaws, you can tell the performers genuinely enjoy being in this show, and that joy soon becomes infectious. By the end of the show, the audience are on their feet and the affection between those on and off stage is tangible.
-Daniel Shipman
Drag Become Her runs at HOME Manchester until Saturday 11 May.