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First ever drag performance: should I do it and how do I prepare?

Discussion in 'Gender Identity and Expression' started by Mr Medusa, Jan 21, 2018.

  1. Mr Medusa

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    The house I'm in at school is hosting a gala night in 4 days and is open to performances from the students to the parents and other attendees. I've wanted to do drag for a while now and I was wondering if this would be a decent opportunity to perform.

    Problems are: a) I haven't got any thing prepared yet, this would be my first time and I am not really sure where to start, and b) I will be doing this in front of my classmates, my parents, my teachers, and other people's classmates, parents and teachers, and nobody knows about this particular hobby I do.

    I feel like if I commit to this soon I could use what I have in my closet to put together something that looks alright (the theme for the gala night is Queen so I might even go for a Freddie Mercury look), I'm good at memorizing lyrics so at least I wouldn't forget the words to the lip sync, and I'm semi confident with the makeup since I've experimented a few times with not-too-shabby results. But since I've never performed before, I need to decide what to lip sync to, I'm no dancer so I'll have to work out what I'll actually be doing on stage and of course I'll need to find a LOT of time to practice. And of course...I'm scared. I'm used to acting in front of an audience solo, but singing is not my strong suit and I've never danced or lipsynced before so I don't know how it will go down.

    So first off, should I go ahead with this, and if I do, how should I prepare and how do I not die of nerves?
    Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks! :slight_smile:
     
  2. Wesley007

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    What do you feel like doing personally?
    How do you think your parents would react?
    If you really want to do this then give me until later and I will come up with some ideas but tell me what types of clothes you have and props.
    Try to think about these things.
     
  3. Mr Medusa

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    I think I do want to do this. My parents may think it's a bit weird but whatever. I'm used to embarrassing myself - all part of being a performer.
    I've decided to lip sync Killer Queen and my teachers are gonna get a preview tomorrow and decide whether I'm ready (since I signed up super last minute). Good news is I've got the lyrics down, I can lip sync it to hell and back and I have an idea of my choreography for the first two verses and the chorus.

    I was thinking of doing a Freddie Mercury impersonation at first but I don't have enough stuff for that and he sits at the piano during most of the performances of the song, so I guess I'll do a bit of Mercury plus my own thing.

    I was thinking of wearing a white tank top, re appropriating a gold skimpy top thing into a makeshift vest/waistcoat, some tight black pants with bronze trimming (only problem is they're a bit too small and idk how they'll), black shoes and maybe a top hat. Also trying to decide between a black tie and a white fake bow tie. For the face I was thinking of a bushy but neat FreddieMercurystache with a hell of a lot of contouring and highlighting the eyebrows because I do want to look good. I'll obviously be packing and binding and I'll have my hair gelled back as much as humanly possible with a nice slick side part like Mercury.
     
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  4. Wesley007

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    You might want to watch some of the videos of him singing killer queen and go without the waist coat. Where are the trousers too tight? Waist? You could cut tiny slits in the waist possibly and hopefully not joustle around too much so it doesnt rip or you could use shiny tape like duct tape since it comes in different colours and apply a pattern just with tape on a pair of trousers that fit.
     
  5. Mr Medusa

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    I'll see how the pants feel but just wondering: why no gold? I figured it would be kind of flashy especially since I'm just wearing a tank top and pants otherwise.
     
  6. Wesley007

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    Well I was worried about it being too tight would hurt after a while. Nothing against gold.
     
  7. Mr Medusa

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    Update: I kinda screwed up in cutting the top to make a waistcoat because it ended up being too small in the front, but I'm going to wear that along with the rest of the top (as a sash) over a white tank top. I'll start of in this light blue checked shirt and then take it off to reveal the glitter, and maybe even swing the gold sash and jacket around for some fun. The trousers work fine and I also decided to use a top hat and attached my white bow tie to the front

    I've worked out the majority of my routine, except the instrumental in the middle, but I'm still terrified to actually do it. My head of house is checking all the acts just to help relieve nerves and she said that it looks weird when I'm lip syncing (she only saw the first few seconds because we got interrupted). Nobody knows that it's drag yet - I've just referred to is as 'lip syncing and performing a song'.

    The only real issues I had were with binding. Turns out it's bloody hard to hide your figure in a tank top. Two inside out way-too-small sports bras weren't enough and I had to push my boobs as far to the sides as I could, use cling film around my stomach to hide the curves, put a bit of cling film in front of the sports bras to hide the stitching on the cups and put a sock between my pushed-away boobs. I still haven't worked out how to push my breasts away without looking like I have fat armpits though. I'll try finding some tights at home and cutting them to see if they work as a compression top.

    I'm also worried about how my makeup will work. I don't have foundation, I don't know whether it would be weird to ask someone to borrow theirs and I'm worried that it'll take more than an old gluestick to keep my mustache attached and that it will look bad anyway.

    I'll try and send a photo later - it just takes a while for photos to be uploaded and approved on here, so I may not be able to do it.
     
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