You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer, but Vixen? If you wanna get a load of Vixen, Twilight Vixen Revue will be hoofin' their holiday packages this Saturday in company with Cheer San Francisco and DJ christopher b at the Gay-la! performance of the 2010 Dance-Along Nutcracker: At Sea!
The San Francisco Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band is floating a new, grown-ups-only format for its Dance-Along Nutcracker gala, subtitled "an evening of naughty nauticals," this year. Set on a cruise ship, the show is like a cross between a sun-drenched gay/lesbian cruise and the sort of flapper jazz, burlesque and classical music Noel Coward might have heard onboard the ocean liners of his day.
So what exactly is a Dance-Along Nutcracker? It's the annual holiday bash of the SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the show combines all the elements of a reality-show talent search, costume pageant, variety show and Russian ballet. As the Freedom Band cranks up Nutcracker faves like "Waltz of the Flowers" and "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy," the audience straps on tutus and storms the dance floor. Imagine a ballerina's mosh-pit with tinsel wands and street shoes, and you've got the right idea.
Only the Suite portion of Tchaikovsky's ballet (the Fantasia -famous fairyland dances from the second act, after the Rat King's been walloped) has been arranged for wind ensemble for the Freedom Band to play. That's around 45 minutes of music, only enough for half a show. So each year, Artistic Director and Ship's Captain Jadine Louie rounds out the program with complementary music on a theme. For this year's At Sea show, it's adventures on the high seas. Guest artists sing and dance between dance-along numbers to give the audience a chance to catch its breath, and to see a little polished spectacle in-between.
The Dance-Along is always about getting the audience into the act and onto the dance floor, and the entertainment at the Gay-la! reception is no exception. The reception theme is Retro Dance Party, a la an Olivia/Atlantis poolside mixer. DJ christopher b is putting together a mix of dance music from a variety of eras. Cheer San Francisco – the ship's cabana boys and girls – will lead the crowd in everything from the electric slide to the Macarena and the Hokey Pokey. They'll also toss around some of their signature stunts, and serve hors d'oeuvres between numbers.
After the reception, the main show begins, and this year it's been spiced up for the adult audience in the evening. Twilight Vixen Revue, an all-queer showgirl burlesque troupe, will bump up the ol' bump-and-grind with a steamy chair-dance. Lia Metz belts out her winning show-capper "Show Off" from The Drowsy Chaperone, which has her tap-dancing in nothing but high heels and a sequined bustier before the number ends.
Cheer SF joins the cast onboard the cruise ship for the main show, and a cadre of cast dancers led by Kelly Collins and Corinne Levy round out the feature numbers, playing sailors, crew members and tourists. Emceeing the whole shebang is Leigh Crow, combining the roles of ship's purser and cruise director. Leigh played Clara McCoy in last year's Dance-Along, Blazing Nutcrackers!, and is probably best known for her drag Elvis persona, Elvis Herselvis. She currently fronts two local bands – the Mighty Slim Pickens and the Whoa Nellies – so you know she knows how to work a mike and the room.
The GAY-la! performance offers the kind of ship's amenities you'd expect on a luxury cruise. Enter the Forum on Saturday night, and you'll be greeted like you've walked up the gangplank. Island and holiday cocktails will be served at cabaret tables by the cabana boys and girls. Then you'll be shown to that staple of any cruise, the "Midnight Buffet," where you can fill your plate again and again and secretly worry about your thighs, as all good cruisers do. You can shop duty-free for tutus, tiaras and fairy wands at the Tutus R Us Boutique.
So would a classical composer like Tchaikovsky be spinning in his grave to see his holiday ballet set on a cruise ship with burlesque dancers, cabana boys and drag kings in sailor drag? "How do you know that Brahms didn't write the Hungarian Dances for some of his drinking buddies and lady friends?" asked Artistic Director Jadine Louie. "I love show and dance music. I love wit and good dancing. That's why I love our guest artists this year."
If you like your Dance-Along family-friendly and burlesque is a wee bit much for your wee one, the daytime shows feature shipside hijinks with most of the crew – Leigh Crow, Twilight Vixen, Lia Metz and the cast dancers – but without the saucy cleavage and boys in short-shorts. When the Dance-Along was first launched, it was a gay fancy-dress party performed once. 25 years later, it's grown into that and a full-on kids and family show, where tots are out there dancing with the adults for three daytime shows.
"[One year] I turned around at the end of the show to face four little girls staring up at me and holding their fairy wands like conducting batons," Louie said. "I guess that what I am most proud of is having had a part in creating an environment where things like that can happen."
This show will be Louie's 13th Dance-Along on the conductor's podium. To what does she attribute the show's longevity?
"'Dance-Along Nutcracker' sounds like a one-liner, so it's hard to imagine how it can be a whole show, much less one that has lasted for 25 years," she said. "You have to experience it to understand why. It's funny, it's topical, it's harmlessly ridiculous, but most of all, it's a place where everyone else's glee - from the middle-aged couple dancing like they're still in love to the bearded daddies wearing tutus with their kids - is infectious. A community where the fun is at no one else's expense is worth keeping, don't you think?"
Heidi Beeler plays trumpet in the SF Lesbian/Gay Freedom Band.
Dance-Along Nutcracker GAY-la!, 7 p.m., Sat., Dec. 11; family-friendly shows, Sat., 2:30 p.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. & 3 p.m.; at YBCA. Info: www.DanceAlongNutcracker.org or (415) 978-2787.