Edge San Francisco
When you think of drag performance being a true art form, two performers who truly bring that notion home are Joey Arias and Sherry Vine. Traveling all over world performing for thousands upon thousands, Joey (star of Cirque du Soleil’s Zumanity) and Sherry (cabaret, stage and parody superstar) have definitely bridged the gap between the drag world and pop culture and theater.
As truly two of the few live singing dragsters in the world, Arias and Vine take their individual successes and talents and create a dynamo that can’t be stopped as a duo. With the creation of their latest work of art, Cherchez La Femme (which means "look for the woman"), the pair returned to the San Francisco’s Rrazz Room March 4-5 with a fresh show that continuef to solidify their place amongst drag greats.
BeBe: You both as individual performers have made a name for yourselves, but in 1999 you started doing shows together as a duo. How did that come about?
Joey: Well first of all we both have the same pimp. I know I threw off on that one.
Sherry: Joey and Raven O. were at Boudoir in New York City and had invited me to come along and work with them and that’s when I had just started working. Certainly Joey was already established and well known, and I wasn’t. I was brand new. We were doing shows together the three of us, and kind of what happened was Raven took some time off and Joey needed a show partner for these shows in Europe. That’s really how it kind of happened. I was still kind of debating. I mean I certainly didn’t have a name for myself in Europe or anything like that where Joey did. I owe a lot of that to her. And that’s where it kind of started.
Joey: She was chicken of the stage now she’s the other white meat.
BeBe: What was the name of the show you took over there (to Europe)?
Sherry: The first one was StarLust. We literally did all over the world. Then the second one was SINsation. That was commissioned the Sydney Mardi Gras and premiered in Sydney, Australia.
BeBe: And you went to Berlin with SINsation as well, right?
Joey: Right.
Sherry: Then we did one called the Greatest Hits. It was the greatest hits because I was living in Berlin and Joey was getting ready to go Las Vegas (to do Zumanity with Cirque du Soleil), and we kind of wanted to do one last big then together.
BeBe: As noted that you have been all over the world together, what place in the world pops in your head the most when thinking about the most appreciative audience?
Joey: I would say that every city we’ve been to we’ve been very successful, but monetarily wise, I guess you could say Australia was the best. I think people are very fascinated by Sherry and myself, and then the two together. They are getting two for the price of one with two different personalities. We work well together with staging and songs, there is no cat fighting, and if we do it’s all staged and fun.
Sherry: I would say that in Europe it’s fun because they just don’t have live singing Drag. It’s kind of rare anyway outside of New York, but in the United States so many gays have seen it, you kind of have to do something more than just sing, but in Europe there is literally no one. So they are kind of oh my God which makes it kind of fun.
BeBe: Joey, though I had heard of, known of and familiar with your work through YouTube video clips, your show at the Rrazz Room last year was the first time I had actually seen you live. And I must say I was mesmerized. Your jazz phrasing and interpretation of songs are felt by the audience and actually takes us back in time And your Billie Holiday stuff just blows me away!
Joey: That’s my momma! How that all comes about is a long time of singing, a lot of put downs, a lot of ’you can’t do that ’cause you’re gay’, ’can’t do that ’cause you’re drag’, and you keep on fighting to break down those walls.
BeBe: That show meant much to me as an audience person. I mean now I get all the hoopla (laughs). I get all the hype because she’s good.
Sherry: That’s why I call her the Goddess because the funny thing is I am still in awe of Joey. We have literally worked together for 15 years, been all over the world together, we’ve schlepped together on trains, planes and automobiles, and she just did a show this past October in New York with a band and stuff and I was watching the show and I’m like who is that on stage. It as this whole other thing and I was like who is this. Mesmerizing is a perfect word. I was with Raven O. and Formika we were like ’Oh My God!’. She never ceases to amaze me. It’s not like a one trip pony.
BeBe: And with you Sherry, of course you gained much fame with your "I Shit My Pants" Lady GaGa parody of "Bad Romance" you did on-line. Where are you now with on-line views?
Sherry: 8 million.
Joey: To see Sherry in her Theater Couture stuff is amazing. As is seeing Sherry do Broadway or off Broadway. I fell in love with Sherry because I like her parody, her acting, her determination gets past the drag and makes her characters believable. I’m always sitting there blown away.
The last show that she did "Carrie", she was playing a little girl on stage. She’s like 75 years old playing this little girl on stage (all laughing). With her Theater Couture, her YouTube parodies and stuff, Sherry is probably the one of the most hardest working people I know. I’ll call her any day and say what are you doing.....’Oh, I’m running off to rehearsal’...’Oh, I’m shooting another video’,......’Oh, I’m shooting a new television show’, and it’s 3 o’clock in the morning.
BeBe: Sherry, are you still cashing in your Lady Gaga?
Sherry: Well, that one has kind of ran it’s course, so I got to keep put out new ones. Kind of keep it going. But it certainly was worth the $1000 (laughs) to make it.
BeBe: What are you working on now that you can share with us?
Sherry: I recorded the parody to "Born This Way"
BeBe: Joey, are you still working with Zumanity?
Joey: No, not really. I’m still in the loop of it, but I’m not in it. There’s a possibility that I will go there and do a little something one day.
BeBe: You know what I think would be wonderful would be to get the both of you out here to do Teatro Zinzanni under the tent. That would be amazing!
Joey: Sounds good girl. Sign me up!
BeBe: Will you be taking your new show beyond the U.S.?
Sherry: Yes, we are talking to a place in Berlin, so I’m sure we will reincarnate it. We do a show once a year in Montreal, so we’ll see.
BeBe: Joey, do you have a collection of music that you have recorded?
Joey: I do. I have collections. We have re-released them because they sold out of the original issue in their own time and own decade.
BeBe: I think the audience would love to get a hold of some of those.
Joey:Well, maybe I’ll bring some along.
BeBe: So what do you gals like to do with your free time off stage when you come to San Francisco?
Sherry: Prostituting (laughs). Well, it’s changed. I would say 10 years ago it would be let’s go party. And now it’s like let’s go watch a movie. I mean in San Francisco we always have lunch with Heklina, Matthew Martin, Mike Finn, and Ethel Merman and those guys.
Joey Arias is appearing in New York at Town Hall on Apr 21, 2011, 8:00 pm. For more information about Joey Arias, visit his website. For more on Sherry Vine visit her website.
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