BWW Preview: La Vie En Rose at the SB FRENCH FESTIVAL

Santa Barbara has no shortage of citywide festivals. The Solstice revelries celebrate art and creativity, and Fiesta is an engagement with local cultural heritage. The fourth of July is nothing short of spectacular, and the carnival never fails to come town. But one of my favorite Santa Barbara summer events is the French Festival. The French Festival means Absinthe in flasks at the thigh of your stocking, champagne flutes and big hats with tri-color garnish, and bushels of lavender large enough to spill out of barrels--and, la piece de resistance: the corset-clad, high-kicking can-can ladies of the French Festival Drag Review. And in the middle of it all is one of Santa Barbara's premier drag performers: the serene and otherworldly divine Belladonna.

Theatre is an umbrella term that refers to all varieties of artistic performance, from standard dialog designed to move the plot forward to expressive re-enactments of a less defined nature. Some still consider the art of drag to be out of the mainstream theatre fairway, yet it's a sensational performance art that includes acting, makeup and costuming skills, stage presence, dancing and choreography, comedic timing, and singing (to list a few). An inspiring, cutting-edge drag juggernaut is so much more than a man in a dress.

You may have seen Belladonna around town. She performs as Stevie Nicks and Janice Joplin, among others; but regardless of the character, the quiet force of Belladonna's emotional commitment to the material is constantly evident. Bella is a class act who exudes zen perfection--a complete command of the stage.

"I don't like to be in front of people," Bella admits. "I'm very uncomfortable in the spotlight. But when I'm up there on stage, I'm supposed to be there." She likens her performances to being in front of her bedroom mirror. It's going to be the same show, the same presentation, whether it's an audience of a hundred or an audience of one reflection. "When I'm on stage," she says, "I'm showing what I'm feeling right then. It's about honesty. It's about what I have to say right now. I'm there, and the audience is there, but there's this disconnect, a kind of barrier. Even if they come up and tip you."

While it's common for performers to feel alone on the stage, staring into the blackness beyond the reach of the footlights, there's another layer between Belladonna and the audience: the costume. Not only is it the physical presentation of the body--the wigs, the padding, the gown--it's also the persona of Belladonna, a character that reacts based on the experiences of a gender opposite of the man beneath the glitter.

"I never thought there was a difference between Belladonna and Salvatore," she says. "But people tell me there is. Belladonna is more aggressive than Salvatore."

Salvatore, Belladonna's biological alter ego, is a master of disguise, both masculine and feminine. But donning a Halloween costume (one year he was Edgar Allan Poe, complete with a stuffed Raven perched on his hat) is not the same experience as is the transformation into BellaDonna. "I always say that Belladonna isn't a layering of costume pieces, it's actually an unveiling. Belladonna is taking layers off of Salvatore. Edgar Allan Poe, that's a costume. I don't feel much different in that than just being myself." But being Belladonna is different. Belladonna might walk out of the club and kiss an attractive man in a fedora, all while waving down a cab--and then disappear into the downtown late night, leaving lipstick stains on shot glasses and an unsuspecting man's face. Belladonna is glamorous and ethereal, qualities Salvatore relates to less when he is out of drag.

"When I enter a room--when Belladonna enters the room--she enters the room. Salvatore just comes along. The same people know me either way, but... for instance, Salvatore doesn't stand up to pee. Belladonna does. You'd think it'd be the opposite, but it's not." She admits that's at least partly due to the logistics of removing layers of fabric and hosiery and foundational garments, but she pauses and ruminates:

"There's a story of Marilyn Monroe and her friend Jean Strasburg. They were walking around New York City, just hanging out, and no one was paying attention to them. Marilyn's famous, you know, and she says to Jean, 'do you want to see me be her? Do you want me to be Marilyn?' And something just changed inside her. All of the sudden people started turning their heads and noticing her. I don't have that level of disassociation with Belladonna. I'm pretty much the same person, but people perceive me differently with makeup on. Salvatore is more of a wallflower, but Belladonna gets noticed because she's got makeup on and big wigs, sparkles, glitter. I don't like the spotlight. But drag queens, when they're dressed up, they're on. Even when they're not on stage, they're on. You're dressed up, so you have to be a bigger personality."

Belladonna and others in Santa Barbara's community of drag performers always provide one of the most entertaining segments of the French Festival. "I used to do a lot more changes than I do now," Bella says of the many years of streamlining her set. "I used to go from whatever my first number was and then get into the Marie Antoinette outfit." She's learned it's quite a bit more efficient to start with the big ornate costume, then remove pieces for subsequent numbers. "One year I was trying to get into the costume, and the tent we were changing in collapsed, so I was crawling around this collapsed tent trying to put on a Marie Antoinette wig. One time I had to perform all by myself. Everyone else was drunk." This was in the early years, when the queens performed in the mid-afternoon. Now they perform in the evening. Belladonna jokes that someone must have complained; the more likely reason is that the spectacle of the Moulin Rouge dance hall drag show was a finale in itself, and audiences weren't interested in whatever came next.

It's no secret that I love the art of Drag. I find the transformation--the physical illusion--fascinating. I love the presentation of beauty and gender fluidity. Beyond the lip-synching and dancing, there's a sultry, flirty performance that projects the feminine energy. The French Festival isn't to be missed, and the drag review is a highlight: you'll see a bevy of beauties twirling and waving their skirts--and the goddess Belladonna, singing the sad beauty of La Vie En Rose as the sun sets over July.

The French Festival runs from Saturday, July 18th-Sunday, July 19th at Oak Park. Come enjoy the festivities, the crepes, the lavender, and the lovely Belladonna, performing songs of love at the pinnacle of summer.

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