Vampire Lesbians of Sodom
Vampire Lesbians of Sodom
By Charles Busch
Directed by Tim DeBaun
Starring John Reid Adams, Jamie Cline
Theatre Downtown, Orlando FL </strong>
No one wants last week’s meatloaf for lunch, and that’s why the Succubus (John Reid Adams) insists on a pure virgin diet. As she prepares to dine overlooking the beautiful plains of Sodom and Gomorrah, dragged out sacrifice Jamie Cline begs the guards to deflower her, thus putting the touch of Tupperware on her and preserving her for another day. Flash forward to 1920’s Hollywoodland where the Succubus is now La Condesa and works for the studios. She and her immortal rival Madeline Astarte (Cline) bat helpless King Carlisle (Scott Browning) back and forth like cats with a laser pointer. He thinks he’s the king of leading men, but to these two jaded jades he’s just another dick in a tuxedo and even his girlfriend Renee Vain (Jamie Lyn-Hawkins) can see which side his toast is buttered on. The battle drags in to 1980’s Las Vegas, where Astarte and Condesa come to realize all they have is each other, but together they can fill Caesars Palace. Ah, reunion and reconciliation!
That’s an amazing amount of plot for an over the top dress up show, but it doesn’t get in the way of the fun. Director DeBaun takes this campy shindig and pastes on more and more feathers and glitter until you can’t help laughing. Cline is suspiciously sexy in drag, his three wig changes make you focus on the program to make sure it’s still that nice boy you’ve know from much straighter leads. Adams varied incarnations are equally convincing – you know he’s a he, but when playing the flat chested silent era film goddesses doubts may cloud your mind. Eric Branch plays various assistants and butlers, and as an opera singer and a man born to wear a tux, he gets off a surprising number of laughs. Other supporting actors could easily star – Hawkins as the bimbo eye candy, Steven Pugh as the swishy spandex dancer, and Scott Browning as the only straight character in the show. The entire cast straightens their falsies and proudly says “Yes, we believe this is all serious, so let’s not have any cheap red wine coming out your nose.” VLOS runs as a midnight show for another week or two, and then moving to a more work friendly 8 o’clock slot. Either way it flies along so fast you’ll never yawn or check you watch.
For more information on Theatre Downtown, please visit http://www.theatredowntown.net
