September 12 would have been the day of the Miss Fire Island Pageant and, although it was cancelled, singer Porsche and friends celebrated the evening at the Ice Palace with special guest chanteuse Bianca Leigh and present and past Miss Fire Island titleholders. Sharing DJ duties were Chuck McTague and RDK (Richard Kennedy).
Among the highlights were, of course, Porsche and Bianca’s duets, beginning with two from “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,” a rousing “Two Little Girls from Little Rock” and, further considering men and money, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” After Bianca’s earthy “There Are Worse Things I Could Do,” our divas stayed with “Grease” for “Summer Nights,” for which they chose their roles, but kept switching them. They saluted sisterhood in “Miss Celie’s Blues,” from the film “The Color Purple,” with which they had won a Miss Fire Island “Best Duo” prize; “It’s Raining/Enough Is Enough” and “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again,” Barbra Streisand’s duets with Donna Summer and Judy Garland.
Porsche remembered Amy Winehouse with “Back to Black;” sang “Sexual Revolution,” in a nod to Macy Gray, with reigning Miss Fire Island Zola Powell lip-synching; a Britney Spears song as Ethel Merman might have done it; “Ghost,” with past Miss Fire Island Brenda Dharling and Androgyny as back-up dancers—past Miss Fire Island Ariel Sinclair put in an appearance as well; and Bert Savoy’s “Ballad of Miss Fire Island,” while Zola strode the runway and, addressing the audience afterwards, urged us to vote on November 3.
Returning to Cherry Grove after gender reassignment surgery, thanks to insurance through Equity, she confided, Bianca sang a swinging “Le Jazz Hot,” from “Victor/Victoria,” in silvery tone; a hot “Blues in the Night,” with some scatting; and, in memory of Frankie Cocktail, Victor Alfieri, and Richard LaFrance, moved us with an a cappella “One for My Baby,” sung as “One for My Frankie,” after which Porsche remarked, “That’s a master class in how it’s supposed to be.”
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