Cockette's Tinsel Tarts In A Hot Coma: Theater of the ReDICKulous

Sexploration with Monika

You may wonder what is a "Tinsel Tart in a Hot Coma?” But this musical isn't about making sense, it's about outrageousness! It does ~have~ a plot about a Hollywood star (or a "Tinsel Tart") going back to New York, but this musical trades narrative for being outrageously sparkly, queer, and sexually provocative. If you listened to the "Hot Greeks" Sexploration with Monika episode, you'll remember the Cockettes, who have been described as "mindless libertineage," and "beautiful, funny, liberating, psychedelic messengers from the gods." There's a story within a story here that arcs from SF to NYC and goes all the way back to the late 1960's North Beach. Until June 1st 29th, 2013, the Thrillpeddlers are reviving another Cockette's Theatre of The Ridiculous sextravaganza with 3 of the original Cockettes, Scrumbly Koldewyn, “Sweet Pam” Tent, and Rumi Missabu. This troupe of glittery anti-establishment drag queens took "Tinsel Tarts in A Hot Coma" on the road to the Big Apple in 1971. They got a lot of press, and while not all of it was good, they penetrated the culture, inspiring glam rock, glitter rock, 80's glitter-glam fashion, a host of spin off troupes, bands, documentaries, YouTube make-up tutorials and more. The "Tinsel Tarts" you can see now at the Hypnodrome, is no less glittery but restored, rewritten, and rehearsed... from a 1971 outline to Thrillpeddler's full-length version. The Thrillpeddlers are still clearly having a blast onstage... but the set doesn't really look like cardboard anymore. We'll speak with original Cockettes Sweet Pam Tent and Rumi Missabu in this episode of Sexploration with Monika, and the person who may have coined the term "drag king," Leigh Crow, aka Elvis Herselvis. In the previous Sexploration with Monika episode about the Cockettes, we interviewed the other original Cockette - composer Scrumbly Koldewyn, plus Thrillpeddler's artistic director Russell Blackwood. "Tinsel Tarts in a Hot Coma" has just been extended and will run until June 29th!