Review: Castrata Amazes and Amuses In MUSE VOL. II at Red Eye NY

When I was eighteen I went to my first drag show. I was terrified. I was living in a new town, a new state, a new country, even, and I had only ever been within the walls of two gay bars at that point, one in Switzerland, where gay people were afforded some privacy and discretion, and one in Arlington, Texas, where gay people had to keep an eye over one shoulder, in case a shit-kicker was on the scene, lookin' to beat up some queers. Nevertheless, when my college classmates suggested driving into Dallas to go to The Saint, I said yes. It was nerve-wracking, being so young, unsure of my sexuality and hiding from everyone what I thought was the truth, and being inside of a place where everyone else was living in their light. I couldn't stand still. I couldn't get comfortable. Only one thing mollified my upset and took the terror off of my mind, Walking through the enormous venue, I stepped through a threshold and into a room filled with a throng of screaming, cheering, happy people. There was a lady on the stage, statuesque and beautiful, with flowing red tresses and wearing a gown in red and white stripes, with the skirt slit up into many strips that swirled when she twirled, like that famous photo of Ann-Margret in the yellow beaded Bob Mackie. She was clearly mouthing the words to a record because that was, most definitely, the voice of Julie Andrews, though I did not recognize the tune. She was filled with style and flair, confidence and charisma, and she took my breath away, up there on the stage singing about hot jazz. I was hypnotized by her beauty and ferocity and artistry. It was 1982 and I had fallen in love with drag.

It's been forty years since that night at The Saint, and even though I've seen a lot, a Lot, A LOT of drag in those four decades, the thrill that I felt on that first night is the exact same thrill that I felt last night when I saw Castrata at Red Eye NY.

Castrata returned to the nightclub stage last night with MUSE VOL. II, a follow-up to their successful show MUSE, which played last November. For their second solo cabaret outing, Castrata chose Red Eye NY, a venue that was, previously, unknown to this writer, a writer that will, regularly, be checking the Red Eye NY website HERE to see what other shows can be caught in this groovy, edgy, and accessible Midtown Manhattan space (performers, look into this venue, it has everything you want for your show). The premise behind MUSE (Volumes one, two, and, hopefully, three and counting up) is a simple one: Castrata is singing the songs of the divas who have inspired them. Lots of cabaret artists do shows like this, and successfully, but it would be hard to beat Castrata when it comes to sheer force-of-nature star power and vocal ability. We are talking next level, here, when it comes to the singing. The crowd at last night's show behaved like they were at a Beyoncé show, or a Mariah Carey show, or a Céline Dion show, and with good reason. Castrata's look was fierce, their moves were fabulous, and every single note sung was flawless. It was seventy-five minutes of rock concert ferocity, truly unbelievable, which is why the completely standing room only, at-capacity venue was a roaring crowd of pandemonium.

For their self-written and self-directed show, Castrata curated eleven songs and nine musicians (including background vocals), and enlisted the tech team of Red Eye NY to provide rock concert lighting (it was amazing) and smoke (it was atmospheric), and they sang their face off, thrilling everyone with tunes made famous by Shakira ("Objection"), Lady Gaga ("Enigma"), Sarah Bareilles ("King of Anything"), and other Divas who have lit a path for them and for us. And when they weren't singing, Castrata carried on a constant conversation with their audience, as though hanging out at home, effectively melding the evening into an amalgam rock concert cabaret show. Rock shows, by their nature, are too big for intimacy. They are played on enormous stages in enormous venues with enormous audiences that the headliner can't get their arms around. Thanks to the venue's deceptive size (it looks huge but feels intimate), Castrata could get down front and chat with or sing to the first few rows, then they could stand center stage and call out to friends in the last few rows, and they could talk to us, play with us, laugh with us, laugh at us. The show was huge like a rock concert, but the performance was intimate like a cabaret, and that speaks volumes about the evolving nature of the cabaret art form and of drag. Castrata is a drag artist for the age in which we live, with more charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent than any of the contestants on the current dismal and disappointing season of a television show that has, happily, put the art form of drag front and center, but that is, clearly, in need of either CPR or cancellation. Castrata IS the next drag superstar, and clubs and promoters around the country and the globe need to be reaching out to them for bookings, with expediency and immediacy.

It would be difficult to pick a highlight in last night's performance, musically, for every number was a showstopper, though it should be said that Castrata has hired some background singers with whom they did duets that were nothing less than earth-shattering. Joseph Redd joined Castrata for a duet of Mariah Carey's "I'll Be There" that garnered a mid-show standing ovation, thanks to his own unfathomable vocals and the electrifying chemistry between the off-stage couple, and Morgan Smith joined Castrata in the impossible, a recreation of the Barbra Streisand-Donna Summer disco smash "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" and the ladies did the legends proud. Misses Summer and Streisand would, most surely, have been cheering for the duo as loudly and whole-heartedly as last night's crowd was. Speaking personally, this writer is grateful to Castrata for introducing me to the artists Yebba and Sammy Rae, whose songs "My Mind" and "The Feeling" were outstanding contributions to the evening, sending me home to do some YouTube and Spotify searches, although, as my introduction to both compositions, Castrata's versions of the two songs will always remain my favorites.

It would be remiss to not point out that a band of nine might seem excessive but in the case of MUSE Vol II, the right choice was made. Under the musical direction of Lyra Vega (on arrangements and piano, too), the band was extraordinary, especially Matt SanGiovanni, who used his guitar to perform a duet with Castrata, eliciting random shouts from the crowd for particularly impressive moments with the strings. Each member of the band had specific moments when their individual instruments added immeasurably to the mood of the room, and then they would re-join their colleagues to use their joint artistry in support of their headliner. It was proof positive that too much of a good thing is wonderful.

It's a little sad that MUSE Vol. II was a one-night-only production because, given the sold-out house and audience response, Castrata might, well, have sold out a run of shows but a production like this is likely to be exhausting and expensive. This writer encourages everyone to seek out Castrata and see them at subsequent performances because there will come a time when a ticket to a Castrata concert is commensurate with their gargantuan talent. Don't wait until then. See them, now, in these intimate settings of the clubs of Manhattan, where greatness in entertainment thrives, and last night it throve in the person of Castrata, the Drag Chanteuse of New York City.

The MUSE VOL. II band is made up of:

Lyra Vega Musical Directing from the piano; Lyra Vega also did the arrangements.

Joseph Redd on Background vocals.

Morgan Smith on Background vocals.

Evan Hyde on Drums.

Matt SanGiovanni on Guitar.

Skyler Volpe on Bass Guitar.

Adam Von Housen on Violin.

Caty Butler on Cello.

Matt Owens on Trumpet .

Visit the Castrata digital business card HERE.

THIS is the website for Red Eye NY.

Photos by Stephen Mosher; Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

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