It's a drag getting old, in 'Gardenia'

[Shana A]

It's a drag getting old, in 'Gardenia'
Published: Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 10:47 AM
By Robert Johnson/The Star-Ledger

http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index.ssf/2012/03/its_a_drag_getting_old_in_gard.html

Cross-dressing is only the start in "Gardenia," a wistful and utterly captivating theater piece directed by Frank Van Laecke and Alain Platel of the Belgian dance ensemble Les Ballets C de la B.

Still bawdy, but considerably more profound than the average drag show, "Gardenia"—which received its local premiere Saturday at Montclair State University—underscores the transformations wrought by time.

A lady of a certain age, transsexual actress Vanessa Van Durme, hosts the evening, which pretends to document the closing night of a notorious ->-bleeped-<- bar. "Gardenia" interweaves Van Durme's comic monologue with a tear-jerking glimpse of life behind-the-scenes. Her scurrilous jokes describe bodily orifices as cavernous as train station