Midnight at the Palace is a new musical telling the outrageous tale of The Cockettes, the San Francisco-based anarchy troupe of performing artists who gained notoriety in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
If you’ve ever seen The Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, then you will know that they are renowned for their precision, the high-quality of their costumes, and their work ethic. The Cockettes were their total opposite.
Formed by an anarchist collective, who were claiming benefits at a time when you could still survive on those in a major US city, the collective consisted of people from a variety of backgrounds. But all of whom found themselves ‘outsiders’ in a time of immense societal change.
You might think you’ve never heard of anyone from the group, but if you recall the Vietnam War-era photograph of a person putting a flower into the barrel of an armed soldier during a protest, then you’re familiar with Hibiscus, one of the group’s founding members.
Divine, the queer icon, also performed with the group on at least one occasion, and ‘You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)’ singer Sylvester was a member for several years.
Labels of gender and sexuality mean little to the group, who just want to vibe, and to avoid having to deal with an ongoing war that is trying to draft several of them into service.
Into this chaotic mess of authentic living arrives Pam. Pam will be our guide through the story, and it is her memoir of her time with The Cockettes that this show is based upon.
Beginning performing in exchange for free admission to shows at the Palace Theatre, the group developed performance styles and ideas that have influenced popular culture ever since. From the lip-syncs of drag shows, to the gender-queer costuming of David Bowie, and Voguing of Madonna, the group’s influence is still felt today.
As this is a musical, we begin with an Opening Number that contains a whole bucket load of energy and enthusiasm. The costumes are aesthetically similar to those that you could see in the current revival of Cabaret in the West End or on Broadway, and are just entirely right for this story.
From the moment Pam (Baylie Carson) opens their mouth to sing, you know that this is going to be an exceptional production. Indeed, the entire cast is excellent, filling the small performance space at the Gilded Balloon with a bountiful energy that perfectly matches the initial tone of the story.
As the show continues, there’s a whole bunch of great songs, and all of the characters get to tell you a little about themselves. But it’s Mid-Westerner Pam who as the initial outsider, is our main point of focus. Known as ‘Sweet Pam’, there’s a surprising amount of queer living hiding behind her demure appearance.
We learn how the group decides to perform that first time, and watch as they become more and more an integral part of the performance scene in San Francisco.
Inevitably, conflicts arise within the group. The subject of money becomes a point of contention, and eventually the lure of an all-expenses paid trip to perform in New York is too delicious to refuse.
At this point, it all goes horribly, catastrophically wrong. The celebrity audience in New York: Liza Minnelli; Angela Lansbury; Truman Capote, all find the unstructured and utterly unrehearsed nature of the show to be too much of a change from the usual professionalism of Broadway. The appalling quality leads Gore Vidal to quip, “Sometimes having no talent is not enough”.
The group returns to San Francisco, to the Palace, and to relative obscurity. The years aren’t kind: drug overdoses; the AIDS epidemic; the policies of Reagan, all take their toll. Pam becomes an accountant.
This show is incredibly well put-together. Even the ongoing tech issues in the Gilded Balloon can’t get the better of the cast, who appear to be having as much fun as their characters are.
The story will make you smile, and also make you think about how people carry on finding the positives, and embracing love, even when the mainstream media commentators dismiss them as lazy layabouts, dragging the country down. Making art in the face of oppression takes bravery, and, sometimes, radical defiance.
Reminiscent of a hippier, trippier Tales of the City, this is a roller-coaster ride through a radical time in American social history. Embrace the spirit of anarchy, and float along to see this show. The cast has all of the talent, and they are more than enough!
Midnight at the Palace continues in the Big Yin at the Gilded Balloon Patter House at 21:30, until August 24 (not 2, 19)
All images including Featured Image courtesy of Chloe Nelkin Consulting
