Connecticut Drag Fans Peeing, Crying, and Throwing Up in Anticipation of Chez Legends Season Whatever

Like perennials or strange warts, Chez Legends is returning soon to the Chez Est in Hartford!

This marks season… something or other of the premiere gay bars popularity contest talent pageant. It’s been almost a decade and however many seasons, yet the pageant remains as predictable and lifeless strong and fierce as ever. Fans around the greater Hartford county world are peeing, crying, and throwing up from sheer excitement.

“I can’t wait to see ten lipsyncs in a row for ten weeks in a row!” screamed CT drag fan Tonya Sharding while flailing her arms around.

Well Tonya I think you’re in for a treat. Get ready to awkwardly hold one dollar bills out for four to six minutes at a time. You’re going to see all types of performers. These are people with vastly different styles from all sorts of creative disciplines. Writers, actors, dancers, painters, singers, and more! These people can do anything they put their minds too! Almost all of them will cram that creativity into a tight, industry standard, competitively viable mold. A lip sync. It neatly fits into a reliable time frame, it’s the least likely to have technical difficulties, and the audiences¹ have come to expect it. There’s something for everyone, and that something is a formula to follow.

¹Audiences at Premiere Gay Bars. Standard Straight Bars often have live music, comedy, poetry, and other types of shows where performers can use their voices.

“I hope they do songs I know all the words to from TikTok. I literally won’t give a shit otherwise.” said Twit Twinkbottom, who’s seen every episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Don’t you worry, Twit. If something’s trending online, you’ll be sure to see at least half a dozen queen’s hasty recreation of it within five business days. Remember that iconic quote from popular movie? Oh boy, it’ll be so fun to hear the audio of quote from movie that this next queen chopped into her mix an hour before getting here. Is the audio significantly louder or quieter than the rest of the mix? Oh well, I’m sure the DJ will figure that out quick enough. It’s been at least a few minutes since you last checked your phone, right Twit? You probably missed hearing those three songs that are attached to every post this week. Don’t worry! They’re all being lip synced to, at season who cares of Chez Legends.

“They better slay the boots house down chile… I’m here for the gag tea sis!” exclaimed a white woman who… probably shouldn’t be talking like that.

I’m sure there will be plenty of gags this season. What shocking stunt will overshadow the preparation and hard work of the other performers? We’ve already seen someone shave their head, maybe this season we’ll get a live amputation. Food fights and pyrotechnics are officially banned (party poopers!). However, I’m confident performers will find new ways to endanger the space, themselves, and others amaze and shock audiences! Shock value never gets old. Especially when there’s no coherent message behind it and it’s purely to be edgy. Let’s keep incentivizing this, there will certainly not be diminishing returns.

“The feathers better be ostrich, and there should be at least 1000 crystals, oh and backup dancers. I literally won’t give a shit otherwise.” continued Twit, who I decided to keep talking to for some reason.

Drag is all about conspicuous consumption creative expression. The queens who spend thousands to appear on television in custom couture look incredible, we should all do exactly that while earning far less. My recommendation is to buy out an entire Swarovski store to really sparkle. With the cash prize being doubled recently, why not buy a whole diamond mine just to be safe? Of course, only one performer will actually win the cash prize, but the rest will earn the honor of being nominated and some crinkly one-dollar bills. Who needs a retirement fund when you can have four to six glorious minutes of approval from judgmental twinks?

When asked who he wanted to see win this season, one man replied “Oh uhh probably that one!” pointing at one of the queens on stage. “I forget his drag name, but he’s my nephew. If it’s not him then I’ll just vote for whoever does the most splits.” Surrounding Carl was a large group of people all wearing shirts that read “Go Nephew!”. I had never seen these people at the Chez before and never saw them again afterwards. They only cheered and tipped Nephew, who I had never seen before or since either.

“I love when small artists are incentivized to outdo each other instead of collaborate!”

I love it too. It’s amazing that we can get all these artists together to grind into glitter for the title mill.

~

Okay, time to give my sincere thoughts. It’s fun to be facetious and let off some steam, but I don’t want people to take away the wrong ideas from this post…And I definitely don’t want any upset phone calls.

This is not meant as an attack on any individual performers, or even the Chez Est.

At the end of the day, drag at a local level is first and foremost a creative outlet. It’s wonderful to lip sync, spend money you have on outfits you want, follow trends you like, and participate in competitions if those things are fulfilling for you.

My problems are with the structure and pressures of our modern drag culture.

The most controversial topic I touched on is my opinions on lip syncing. I have a lot of thoughts on the subject, please don’t take them personally. Ok here goes:

I’m critical of lip syncing because it is inescapable. When I started doing drag, I lip synced. I thought it was just what we’re supposed to do. Even after I realized I wanted to do more, I continued for years because it was the only way to get booked. Showrunners have made me feel like I’m being difficult when I want to sing live, act, or do anything that requires technical setup beyond speakers. I’ve grown to resent lip sync shows because it’s nearly impossible to find anything else. Even when local drag shows are at theaters and other spaces designed for acoustics, they’re still primarily lip syncs.

Of course, there are ways to make lip syncing interesting. I’ve seen some phenomenal performances that were lip syncs. Yet, even the most interesting lip syncs rely on outside material. It’s transformative, but creatively constrained. We’re relying on preexisting material². It’s built from music and quotes from outside media. It’s fun to celebrate and recontextualize this art, but it is a shame that there’s so little space for material that fully belongs to us.

²Unless you record your own audio, but at that point you’re voice acting along with lip syncing.

I’ve heard many drag artists say they lip sync because it feels like it’s the only thing they can do. It’s sad to hear that, and I disagree. If you’re able to put on a good lip sync, you’ve already demonstrated skills that would translate to other types of performances. If you can tell a story using song and movie snippets, you can write and edit. If you can emote along to audio, you can act. Regardless of what subculture someone fits into, drag is an art of personality. I don’t think lip syncs are the strongest way to showcase that.

The Tabletop Gaming Center had some drag queens play D&D, aptly titled Dungeons and Drag Queens. Bingo and Trivia are already popular drag options. I hosted some Game Shows at the Goldenrod, and the place was packed and people loved it! I think watching queens and kings play party games would be fun too. I was president of my high school’s improv club, and I’ve been wanting to start a drag improv troupe for years. We’re drag artists, what if we had a night where we put up art exhibitions? Ok now I’m just rambling a bit, but my point is I understand the practicality of lip syncing. It doesn’t require large casts to get together to rehearse the same way traditional theater does. However, there are other options that are just as practical, and could attract new audiences.

I’ve talked to people that wanted to go to drag shows, went to a few, realized it was almost entirely lip syncs, and lost interest. And honestly, I get it. What’s kept me, Flaminia, invested in drag all these years has not been the main stage; It’s the backstage. Every single performer has something captivating about them. I see it in the way they paint, dress, and move, and I hear it in the way they tell their stories. It’s why I had the idea to do a talk show (which I haven’t forgotten about, it’s just a lot of work). I love this community, and I want us to be able to build things that are more permanent.

Ok that’s basically my spiel about lip syncing now onto the another thing that I anticipate controversy on…

I talked about the subject of money in a previous article and it ruffled some feathers, so I’ll elaborate a bit. It is absolutely fine to spend lots of time and money on outfits if it makes you happy. That goes for drag and pedestrian life. Where it gets to be a problem is when it’s not being done in a way that is healthy or sustainable. I am not all knowing (even though I blog like I am). It’s impossible for me, Flaminia, to say what the motivations for you, not Flaminia, are for making or buying an item of clothing. Obviously, some of it is for the love of fashion. Yet it seems, in my flaminiapinion, that some of it comes down to conspicuous consumption.

Wanting others to approve of or envy you is a bad reason to spend large sums of time and money.

Drag fans and performers alike have gotten used to seeing brand new custom outfits on a regular basis, but it’s possible to be fashionable on a budget! Thrift, barter, throw shit together, get weird, let loose. If you watch early seasons of Drag Race, you’ll see a bunch of girls in mall drag… and they look fantastic! There’s a quality to it that I miss. Of course, there are times and places to pull out all the stops, but it’s endearing seeing drag artists “pedestrian” outfits.

And finally, I’ll address my nuanced feelings about Chez Legends…

Regardless of the criticisms I have, I will always love the Chez Est. It’s a messy kind of love that you only get after many years, but love, nonetheless. This bar has fostered countless new performers, lifelong friendships, and memories. I remember when my drag mother started open stages. In the early days there were weeks where it was just me, Flaminia. I was terrible in the beginning. Having that stage to practice and meet other performers was invaluable.

Then came the first season of Chez Legends³. It was a completely different game in those days. I got close to winning the first season. This was my first time being a Chez Est lovely second alternate; A title that nobody else keeps track of or acknowledges, and that I’ve earned many times since. My drag sister October⁴ was the first Chez Legend. Over the years the competition evolved. For better and for worse…

³It was called Chez “Queen” until season 3, when drag king (and heart throb) Ray Decorazon won.
⁴She’s not officially in the house anymore. I don’t really care if she’s Mia’s daughter or not, she’s my sister regardless. Ugh, my drag family is almost as complicated as my real one.

The competition got more popular. Bigger audiences, more performers from farther away, and more problems. All of my criticisms of the Chez apply broadly to drag as a whole, which has grown in popularity with the TV series RuPaul’s Drag Race. It’s tricky, since the negatives are tied to positives. There are more opportunities to earn money with gigs, but a lot of that gets offset buying new costumes, props, and backup dancers to stay competitive. There are more fans watching, but less willingness to take creative risks. New ideas, but the somewhat redundant and isolating competition format.

The moment when I realized Legends wasn’t for me, Flaminia, anymore was a night I went way out of the box. It was the introduction of my paper doll series, Flaminimis. Part of the reason I designed paper dolls was because I was tired of the intense preparation and expense that goes into drag. I wanted to distill the design experience of drag into something accessible. You don’t need to study fashion, understand patterns or sewing, and you don’t need to invest in expensive materials. Just have fun with scraps! And it was fun. One of the most magical things I’ve done in drag was getting a crowd of people to come together and be creatively uninhibited.

Then it came time to present. Were there issues with how I presented it? Yes! I would do a lot of it differently if I did it again, but some of the critique went beyond technical execution. One of the judges said “This was cute… but maybe it would be better if it was 3D or something”. It absolutely missed the point. She might as well have said “oooh I would like this better if it was more expensive and less approachable”. That was when it clicked that I would rather lose on my own terms.

All these problems aren’t the result of evil scheming or plots. This is drag, not Dynasty. There are no “villains” in this community at any level. There are honest mistakes, fragile egos, and inevitable conflicts between commercial and creative interests. Venues need to make money to stay open, so risks have to be calculated.

It’s easy to complain from my end. I don’t have anything to lose⁵. I’ve invested time and money into the Chez, but not nearly as much as Mr. John Pepe, the owner of the Chez. A man that I am confident is acting in good faith. He’s added space and light to the stage. He has been receptive to different hosts putting on a variety of new shows. A little birdy told me he’d recently restructured how hosts are paid to make it more equitable. He recently doubled the prize money for Legends, and while I think it might have been better to spread out the pot instead to include second and third, I can still see his heart was in the right place.

⁵Except my unofficial title of lovely second alternate.

Is it annoying when a queen I’ve never seen before brings dozens of other random people to win a week of Legends? Well yes, but it’s great for the bar, and ultimately everyone that enjoys going there. Ultimately, I know it’s not entirely reasonable to blame the bar for being a bar, and putting on bar style shows for bar patrons. I’m still going to participate in competitions at the Chez, with the caveat that I have to actually be interested in playing. I spoke to some performers new and old at last weeks open stage and it seems like they have a healthy mindset going into this competition season. I’ll be competing in the upcoming Snatch Game June 14th, because I get to do comedy with my actual words (what a concept). I’ll be doing the Comedy Pageant August 30th for the same reason. These were fun and creatively fulfilling in a way that Legends stopped being for me, Flaminia.

For a long time, I dreamed about having my own show at the Chez, but never had the nerve to pitch anything. I didn’t feel like I deserved it, since I wasn’t a winner. After having a failed show at a brewery I won’t name and a successful one at The Goldenrod Inn, I’ve learned that I’m just better suited to a different niche. I will still be going to the Chez regularly to support, eat pretzel sticks, go on stage when I feel like it, and conduct little interviews for Yoohoo!

Sorry for making this so much about me, Flaminia⁶, but it does circle back to the broader community. I want to take my drag in a direction focused on finding new audiences, long term collaborations with other performers, and creating entertainment that can thrive beyond its allotted four to six minutes on stage.

⁶I’m not really sorry, did you read the URL of this website?

Whenever I write satire or critical opinion, I get a few people that take it too seriously. While I have felt discouraged, I’m optimistic for the most part and don’t want to discourage anyone else. I want to express my honest opinions about the good, bad, and busted qualities of this culture. I’m not taking a side, because I don’t think that’s productive. I’m just giving perspective on a community I’ve spent my entire adult life in.

If you have any of your own thoughts about pageants, shows, or whatever else, my inbox is open…

Just email me.Flaminia@Flaminia.me

You can see more of what I’ve been up to this month in the MAY 2025 issue of FAGIOLINA