Greasy by Glam Gam : Montreal Fringe Festival Review #1
Greasy. The Derby Dykes. Glam Gam. Montreal St Ambroise Fringe Festival.
Written by Fiona Ross
When you go to a Glam Gam show, you can always expect a high level of nudity, an extreme level of campiness, and a great time that celebrates all kinds of actors and all kinds of bodies on stage. Returning this year after the roaring success of Peter Pansexual, their latest Fringe offering Greasy: A Lesbian Love Story, gives you all of that, and for once, it might even make you cry. As the title suggests, it is a reworking of the classic, but problematic-as-can-be film Grease which, in typical Glam Gam style, not only addresses the issues within Grease itself, but also larger themes of identity, polyamory and internalized homophobia. This parody strikes the perfect balance between giving you all the lines from the original that you want to hear, while putting a truly Glam Gam spin on it.
Greasy. The Fagettes. Glam Gam. Montreal St Ambroise Fringe Festival.
The ensemble cast really come together to create the Greasy world, with great full-cast numbers such as Born to Handjob and Winter Nights. But it is in the solo moments that the performers really get to shine. When Rummy (played by Glam Gam staple Booze Crotch) falls in like with Tarty (Misty Portugal) she wonderfully struggles with her own self-worth under the berating voice of her puppet alter-ego Slutsky, and once again turns to lewd behaviour and drinking in order to cover up her insecurities.
Greasy. The Pink Tacos. Glam Gam. Montreal St Ambroise Fringe Festival.
Another stand out of the show is the Fagettes (played by Les Izmohr and Spoopy Patootie) who function not only as foils to the girls from Sacred Ladies of United Trinity (S.L.U.T.) School for Girls, but also make a brilliant appearance as the Fairy Drag Mothers to Darragh Mondouxxx‘s Frenchie in Beauty School Dropout. Finally, Jizzo (Rusty Jameson) steals the show in her coming-out-as-bi rendition of There Are Worse Things I Could Do, as she finds herself in a lusty relationship with Kink-Nikki (Tessa J. Brown).
This show is definitely not for the squeamish, as Glam Gam is known for their raunchy, over the top writing, and love of nudity.
Greasy runs from now until until June 16th at Café Cleopatre (1230 St Laurent Blvd) . For more information, visit glamgam.com or for tickets visit montrealfringe.ca. The Montreal Fringe Festival takes place until June 17. Tickets for most shows are $10 or less.
