Review: IDOL WORSHIP at Catalina Jazz Club

When drag queen Peaches Christ reached out to cult cinema icon Mink Stole over 20 years ago about appearing in her upcoming celebration of the John Waters film Desperate Living, she never could have anticipated the friendship and collaborations that would ensue. Likewise, when Stole herself agreed to appear in Roman Candles, an experimental film by Waters filmed in the summer of 1966, she never could have guessed she would be celebrating the legacy of that film along with many other collaborations over 50 years later.

Idol Worship is a cabaret show that celebrates the work of Mink Stole through song, banter, stories, and film clips. It is evident that Christ and Stole have been performing this show for a while: it is a well-oiled machine. Though still playful with each other, Christ tees up punchlines and gags perfectly which Stole is always able to nail home. Fans are overjoyed to see the inclusion of memorable film clips— particularly Stole’s turn as the ‘misunderstood’ Taffy Davenport in Female Trouble and her courtroom outburst as the uptight Dottie Hinkle in Serial Mom. Outside of celebrating the moments we all love from Stole, it is a treat to hear her sing. She is a consummate professional crooning a few well-placed ballads throughout the evening before bringing down the house with a rewritten version of Stephen Sondheim’s I’m Here as the finale.

All of the stories, factoids, and gossip are genuinely fun, elevating the evening above a stuffy retrospective. Christ has a keen eye for developing a rich evening with a sense of variety, pacing, and humor. The show waxes sentimental, irreverent, and absurd at different times. Aside from a few off-the-cuff remarks about ‘pronoun crap’ that elicited a bone-chilling round of cheers from a few elderly patrons, I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.