By Lynda Sturner****It’s August already Cabaret lovers, but before La La pulls out her flannel shirts and buys a cord of wood, there are still shows to see, oysters to eat and full moons to watch on warm beaches with hot lovers.
August does not mean summer is over, not by a long shot. There’s more, much much more. Commercial Street still feels like the center of the universe to me. The buskers wait their turn outside of Town Hall and music spills out of every bar in town. You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced Drag Karaoke at the Governor Bradford. You buy a beer, choose a song and the next thing you know, you’re on stage with a surprise pink spotlight making you look like a rock star.
And don’t forget Commercial Street after Tea Dance at the Boatslip where performers are handing out postcards and barking their shows. So many choices and the night is just beginning. There’s Miss Ridgefield circling around on her pink scooter and drag queens walking around like goddesses on 6-inch heels. It’s playtime in Ptown and everyone gets a turn.
The most awaited event and the linchpin of the summer is Carnival. This years’ theme is “Mardi Gras by the Sea.” Now in it’s 40th year, Carnival celebrates everything LGBT and I do mean everything. From Saturday to Saturday, August 11-17, the town that knows how to party, throws the biggest, bestest one of all.
The official opening of the week begins Saturday at 10am, with a moment of awe. We gather together to watch the Pride Flag Raising to the top of the Pilgrim Monument. To see that rainbow flag waving in the wind is to know, this is the home you spent your whole life searching for and no one, no matter who or what, can ever take that away from you.
Between the cruises and cruising, there is something to do every minute of the day and night, log on to wwwptown.org for a full schedule of events.
The main event is the Carnival parade, which begins at the Harbor Inn at 3pm and continues down Commercial Street to the Coast Guard Station. Large floats, marching bands and scantily costumed hotties dripping in glitter, wave and throw beads to the over 90 thousand people who stream into town lining the streets and hanging out the windows. There’s a prize for best float and you better believe some amazing designers are doing their thing here.
When you’re not at the annual Leather/Underwear Dance Party or the Masquerade Ball or Drag Brunch, there’s lots of Cabaret to keep the party going.
YouTube star, Randy Rainbow, appears at the Crown and Anchor on August 6 and 7 and than again on August 13 and 14. No one questions Sarah Huckabee Sanders or puts Trump on the spot quite like Randy. Check out his latest video on the Ptown NiteLife home page.
Provincetown legend Varla Jean Merman is at The Art House with her new show Under A Big Top. From Chicago on Broadway to a recurring role on “All My Children” to “Project Runway” to singing the title role in the Opera The Medium to winning both best actress and best actor award, there’s almost nothing that Varla hasn’t done.
She’s also appearing at The Art House in a wacky parody of Steven King’s The Shining called The Whining. It’s about what happens when two queens spend the winter in Provincetown. Writing with and also starring in the show, is Peaches Christ along with Mark Meehan and Darlene Van Alstyne.
Darlene Van Alstyne can also be heard Tuesday nights singing at the Porch Bar with Monica Falcone on guitar and making guest appearances on “Scream Along with Billy” at the Grotto Bar.
Be sure to go to “Scream Along with Billy” on Friday night of Carnival Week. As amazing as it always is, on Carnival week it’s insane!
Other not to be missed events:
Paula Poundstone – August 11 @ Town Hall, Presented by The Crown and Anchor
Telly Leung – August 5 @ the Paramount Room @ The Crown and Anchor
Will Swenson – July 28 & 29 @ the Art House
Sierra Boggess – August 4&5 @ the Art House
One can’t talk about Ptown NiteLife and not mention theatre. Good things are happening this year. Remember when Ptown was called the birthplace of modern American theatre? It’s all coming back. Writer, director, actor and all over fabulous person, David Drake, has taken over the Provincetown Theater and Love! Valor! Compassion! is running all summer.
The Peregrine Theatre Ensemble, under the direction of Producers Adam and Ben Barry, are doing Hair and it’s as relevant today as it was 50 years ago, when it first opened. To watch it is to remember a time when young people rose up and said “No!”
It’s not just nostalgia that makes this production so important. The producers cast musical theatre students from conservatories and theatre schools all over the Eastern seaboard. God only knows what debts these extraordinarily talented young people will incur to follow their dreams. We need our dreamers today more than ever now to show us how to hope and believe again.
La La says welcome to this glorious new generation of theatre artists.
