Gardenia: The art of drag
ONSTAGE / Montreal production is poignant meditation on beauty and age
Richard Burnett / National / Friday, May 27, 2011
http://www.xtra.ca/public/National/Gardenia_The_art_of_drag-10224.aspxPlatel is a self-taught choreographer and the co-director (with renowned Belgian scriptwriter Frank Van Laecke) of Gardenia, the critically hailed musical inspired by Yo Say Asi, a Spanish documentary film about the real-life closing of a ->-bleeped-<- cabaret in Barcelona. Gardenia also tells the true-life story of six aging ->-bleeped-<-s, who have spent their double-lives working as civil servants, nurses and office clerks. They dress in drag one last time after a faded transsexual announces the closing of the Gardenia cabaret. So what we witness onstage is essentially a meditation on age and beauty, as real-life gussied-up queens dance to the music of Aznavour, Dalida and Ravel.
