King's Men Rule

All-female troupe brings topical humor to drag show

By Ryan Lindsey


The all-female performance-art troupe All The Kings Men performed at Jimmy Tingle's Off Broadway Theater in Davis Square on October 9. According to its program, the group is "dedicated to challenging the confines of gender identity and stereotypes," and though this goal is a serious one, ATKM's performances are full of energy and wonky fun. More importantly, the troupe boasts some serious talent that is deftly adapted to several different styles of performance.

In a show that lasted just under two hours, there were 22 acts ranging from the opening N'SYNC act to the thoughtful political commentary and including burlesque, hip-hop, slapstick, Michael Jackson, and beyond.

One of the acts more obviously focused on gender identity involved four cast members in shirts, slacks, and ties, with three in pink and one in blue. To Frankie Valli's "Walk Like A Man," the blue shirt tried to force the three pink ones to cast off their femme ways and embrace their manliness, to fantastic comic effect. This sort of humor was pervasive.

The piece just prior to "Walk Like A Man" involved a sleazy '70's character, a plaid-wearing geek, and a buck-toothed Chris Farley-type nerd lewdly dancing to "I'm Too Sexy." There were also bits involving a pair of Princes Charming that were knee-slapping entertainment. While the first number involved these characters bemoaning the travails of being in love with Rapunzel, Snow White, or Sleeping Beauty, the second act was a play on lip-syncing, in which a track mix-up forced the princes to sing lyrics from "Figaro," much to their dismay. Eventually, the two princes shot one another and ended their misery.

The fifth act provided the evening's political commentary, with the Statue of Liberty standing before a large white screen, onto which a quote from educator Robert Hutchins was projected: "The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference, and undernourishment."
Then a drag king walked out performing Don Henley's "All She Wants To Do Is Dance," at which point the statue began to groove as pictures of President Bush and various members of his administration were projected onto the screen, mixed with horrific images of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib and with images from war-torn Iraq and hurricane-devastated New Orleans. Eventually, Lady Liberty caught sight of the images and crumbled to the floor in horror and disbelief. The images faded away to be replaced with Shakespeare's line, "O, it is excellent to have a giant's strength! But it is tyrannous to use it like a giant." Subtle, it is not, but it is disturbingly effective.

The troupe's eight members - Katie Allen, Julee Antonellis, Jill Gibson, Jen Winslow, Hannah Grey, Leighsa Burgin, Maria Kogan, and Laurie Pinkham - are all gifted entertainers who figure large in the success of their troupe, but one among them stood out. Antonellis brought a huge energy to the stage. Her physical comedy is hilarious, her drag abilities are engaging, and her dancing is impressively accomplished. The show's closing act had Antonellis performing as Michael Jackson in his "Thriller" video, with the other cast members offering mummified back-up. It was a finale that easily places Antonellis among the best drag kings in Boston and that proves the entire troupe to be one of the city's most entertaining acts.