20 August 2025
When I first moved from the north to work and live London in the early 1980s I soon discovered Bloolips, a radical gay theatre company led by Bette Bourne and featuring the likes of Lavinia Co-op, Diva Dan, Sweet Pea, Precious Pearl, and Dotty Spot. Formed by drag queen friends who lived in squat flats, they performed regular seasons at the long-lost, much loved Drill Hall Theatre among other fringe venues, their frankly bonkers shows featuring bizarre makeup and tacky-glitter costumes; satirical political comedy, musical mayhem and some adorably awful sketches satirizing old and new, with such titles as Lust in Space, Living Leg-ends, Sticky Buns, Get-Hur, The Island of Lost Shoes and Teenage Trash.
It’s hard not to think that they were inspired by the existence of the infamous Cockettes of San Francisco, whose LSD-fuelled drag antics are celebrated in this glitter-strewn, sparkly new musical that hails from the USA.
As the psychedelic San Francisco of the ’60’s began evolving into the gay San Francisco of the ’70’s, The Cockettes, a flamboyant ensemble of hippies made up of both women and gay men decked themselves out in gender-bending drag and tons of glitter for a series of legendary midnight musicals at the Palace Theatre in North Beach. With titles like Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma and Pearls over Shanghai, these all singing, all dancing extravaganzas featured elaborate costumes, rebellious sexuality, and exuberant chaos.
We certainly get a feel for that in Midnight at the Palace, where a riotous ensemble of multi-coloured preening peacocks greet us on arrival, capturing the countercultural spirit of the 1970s from the off.
The Cockettes were led by the actor and performance artist Hibiscus (here played by George Andrew Horton, fabulous in glitter-caked beard, who gets a truly stand out song, A Crab on Uranus) and the group also features future disco star Sylvester (Gregory Haney – another of the strongest performers). Nobody under 60 will be aware of Sylvester’s existence or that he was one of the biggest disco era stars (his hits “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Dance (Disco Heat)”, were both huge hits in the US and Europe) and became one of the earliest high profile victims of AIDS, and this version of the show doesn’t really make that any clearer. Aussie Baylie Carson, who I last saw as Anne Boleyn in the West End cast of SIX, is another standout as Sweet Pam.
The psychedelia, disco and show tunes inspired score by Brandon James Gwinn is definitely a winner, while Rae Binstock’s book allows the story to unfold almost as if it were one of their ramshackle musicals whose titles are paraded in a potted history of the group – sadly over in a blink of the eye – across the music hall-inspired set on giant cards; Paste on Paste, Gone with the Showboat to Oklahoma, and Tropical Heatwave/Hot Voodoo. Seeing these made me laugh and ache for more material/scenes from them.
Truman Capote attended a San Francisco performance of Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma, and proclaimed “The Cockettes are where it’s at!”. The Cockettes became national media darlings and were invited to perform what would turn out to be a tumultuous three week run in New York, bringing dissension in the group, which gradually fades away after a disastrous opening night.
Midnight at the Palace is clearly very much a work in progress and I can’t wait to see the next version. So why does it deserve 4 stars? Because I laughed a lot, was thoroughly entertained throughout and floated out into the chilly Edinburgh night with a grin from ear to ear. Just the sort of kooky discovery the Fringe is all about!
