Stage: Lip-Sunk

Dance skills save a drag show.

A A A Comments (2) By Erika Hobart Wednesday, Oct 28 2009

The WTF factor is high as Jody Kuehner and Ricki Mason impersonate various celebrities via the synching of lips, piano, and tap dancing on a small, plain stage. Does this require any actual talent? No. But both Kuehner and Mason are professionally trained dancers. Enjoying the show depends on sticking around long enough—if you can stand it—to see those skills displayed.

Tim Summers

Kuehner (left) and Mason impress more with their feet than their looks.

Details

Century Ballroom, 915 E. Pine St., 324-7263, centuryballroom.com. $15. 9 p.m. Fridays. Ends Nov. 20.

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Performing as "Cherdonna Shinatra," Kuehner is blonde, lanky, and looks like a dude in drag. Mason, as "Lou Henry Hoover," is brunette, petite, and looks like a chick in drag. "Are we being punk'd?" my date whispered incredulously as the two began flailing like drunks to Olivia Newton-John's "Xanadu." The second number, an intentionally lackluster rendition of Madonna's "Like a Virgin," has Kuehner writhing around on the floor while Mason pretends to play a miniature toy piano. The first act reaches a camp nadir as Kuehner, dressed as Cher, manipulates Mason, as Sonny, like a ventriloquist's dummy for the entire duration of "I Got You Babe."

The show's intermission produced an explosion of pent-up conversation from all corners of the room. "Amazing. I love it." "So, um...what do you think so far?" "It's fucking weird." "Do we have to stay through the whole thing?"

But Kuehner and Mason up their game for the show's second half, which involves more actual dance. When they collaborate on a tap-dance number to Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds' "Singin' in the Rain"—which you can't really "synch" to unless you actually know how to tap dance—it's obvious these two know what they're doing. The show's best number, however, comes courtesy of Kuehner, who performs a hilarious spoof of Madonna's "Don't Tell Me," inspired by the music video and a sand bag. If that doesn't do it for you, well, there's a bar in the back of the room.