Singer and comic Lavinia Draper ended her Ice Palace show, for the season, with a gala extravaganza featuring more than two dozen songs and guest artists galore, with invaluable DJ Richard Kennedy responsible for music, sound, and lights.
Lavinia began with a romantic “At Last,” inspiring audience members to dance, and followed it with “All of Me.” Lavinia and Kenny Holcomb, accompanied by a canine friend, collaborated on “The Lady Is a Tramp,” and she and Chocolatina shared autobiographies and aspirations in “(We’re just) Two Little Girls from Little Rock,” from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” Lavinia tauntingly told off a lover, fallen on hard times, with “Don Juan (your money’s gone).” Lavinia’s dancing, complete with splits, and Melissa Driscoll’s singing made for a sultry “All the Jazz,” from “Chicago.” “Gotta Get a Gimmick,” from “Gypsy,” with Lavinia as Miss Mazeppa, Chocolatina as Electra, and Melissa as Tessi Tura, was just the first of the evening’s many production numbers.
Singing “I Know the Truth,” from “Aida,” and “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” from “Evita,” Lavinia served pizza to her fans. Backed by the newly christened Vaginettes dance trio, made up of Cherry’s Sabel Scities, Lauren Ordair, and Chandelier, Lavinia exuberantly probed Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All” and ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.” The mood temporarily turned torchy with Lavinia’s dramatic “Maybe this Time,” from the film version of “Cabaret,” and she invited the audience to sing along with her in Queen’s “(Find me) Somebody to Love.”
Kenny sang “Love was made for you and me” and Lavinia danced, enlisting Joshua Potter and Nick as backups, and she, Joshua, Nick, and guest bartender Patrick followed it with a sexy “Proud Mary.” Seated on the Ice Palace swing, which Todd obligingly lowered into place for her, Lavinia dedicated the Carpenters’ “Love, look at the two of us” to indulgent DJ Richard and partner Mark Nayden, Mr. Fire Island Leather 2012, and remained there for part of Billie Holiday’s “God Bless the Child.” Always working the room, Lavinia danced on the bar, singing “Honky-tonk Woman” and “Edge of Glory,” and was carried from there to the stage by Nicki Cerrato, who helped her make the latter number sizzle. Our diva then sang “Valerie” in memory of Amy Winehouse.
With chairs and tables pushed back from the dance floor, the show morphed into a dance party, as Lavinia sang “Celebrate” and “On the Radio;” “Last Dance,” with Kenny; “Nowadays,” from “Chicago,” with Melissa and Chocolatina; “When a Man Loves a Woman” as, variously and appropriately, “When a Man Loves Another Man” and “When a Woman Loves Another Woman;” and “The World Goes ’Round.” She ended on a quiet note with “The Rose,” dedicated to her mother and illuminated solely by audience members’ cigarette lighters and cell phones.
It was Lavinia’s last show, but not quite her season farewell, as she promises to return on September 22 for the Leather Tea that current Mr. FI Leather Mark and John Doyle are planning.