What a wonderful evening we had in the company of the legendary David Dale, courtesy of the House of Homosexual Culture at the Purcell Room last night!
Opening with a fabulously revealing in-depth exploration of a grande dame's life in drag, with a perfectly-steered conversation with the ever-lovely MC Rupert Smith, Mr Dale gave us some selected insights into his early emergence into the world of gay London from rough-neck Essex.
Through theatrical aspirations in such ground-breaking ensembles as "The Disappointer Sisters" (with HIH Regina Fong and Lily Savage) and numerous revues and panto, all the way to his current-day artistic management of what he describes as a club "a bit like Blackpool's 'Funny Girls'" complete with hen parties and lip-synching to Kylie and Christina in lots of feathers, it appears to have been an incredible journey indeed... But even Mr Dale's personal insights into his fantastical life couldn't prepare us for the show with which we were entertained in part two!
Transmogrifying himself from Frank-n-Furter to Mrs Lovett (from Sweeney Todd) to Oliver's Nancy to Miss Hannigan in Annie to the grandest finale of the lot, Ethel Merman's Mama Rose (from Gypsy) - this was a tour-de-force spectacle in front of which all the drag queens in mufti in the audience could only sit in awe!
Quite rightly, Mr Dale received a standing ovation which left him in tears - perhaps this was not only a performance that served to remind the audience just how good the star is, but also one that reminded our celebrated diva himself what exactly he is capable of...
And here are some of my memories of my first encounter with the superbly talented Dave Dale - from the 1984 TV special If They'd Asked For A Lion-Tamer:
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