DQ MILESTONES

Best Use Of Food Stuffs

1987: Leslie O’Shey singing an overwrought version of Shirley Bassey’s “I, Who Have Nothing” while eating cereal and subsequently vomiting it all over the stage. “It was the grossest thing you ever saw, but for some reason people were on the floor laughing,” says agent and original DQ producer Michael Oscars.

Most Racially Problematic Showstopper

1992: Full company production number of Prances With Poodles (a takeoff of Kevin Costner’s Dances With Wolves) with Rusty Ryan and company singing Rose Marie’s “Indian Love Call” and Jackie Loren performing “Half Breed” in full Cher regalia.

Most Diva-like Behaviour

1992: An all-star cast featuring Christopher Peterson, Jackie Loren, Danny Love, Jackee Baker and Rusty Ryan. “There wasn’t enough space in that room for all those egos,” says stalwart performer Candi Barr.

Best Reason To Call Your Equity Foreman

1995: The Brazilian Ball number featured massive, authentic feathered costumes and onstage fireworks. “If the fire department had shown up, we would have all been in prison rather quickly,” says Oscars.

Most Fabulous Showstopper

1995: A breathtaking opening number emulating over-the-top costumes from Madonna’s “Vogue” video, and featuring a wig lowered onstage to a group of worshipping apes to the music of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Scariest Onstage Accident

2005: A frightening fall by dancer Rommel from a go-go dancing platform. Fortunately unharmed, girlfriend finished the show with no complaints.

Most Fabulous Onstage Disaster

2006: During a Bette Davis/Joan Crawford-inspired catfight, Candi Barr and Hollywood accidentally dewigged each other and sent a cleavage-concealed bottle of pills rolling into the audience. Bald-headed but unflappable, Barr marched into the audience, retrieved the bottle and carried on with the scene. “Hollywood is a walking comedic disaster of comedic proportions waiting to happen,” says director Graham Maxwell.

Oldest/Longest Running DQ Performer

Fingers directed toward Candi Barr are later found mysteriously bitten off. Investigation still underway.

Keep Reading

Collage with two hands holding a bat, swinging towards a baseball with a dollar sign on it, against a blue background with a net, baseball player and the Olivia logo on an outfield sign

Why the WPBL partnering with a lesbian travel company matters

Support from lesbian brands and bars harks back to the queer history of women’s sport leagues
Confluence cover

‘Confluence’ brings Vancouver’s queer history to life

The late Alex Turner and his husband, Lucian Childs, have written a unique and rewarding ode to mid-century gay British Columbia

Gaudy goddess: Self-described backwoods Barbie, Dolly Parton, chats about boobs, Broadway and battling hate

Revisiting Matt Thomas’s interview with the legend, originally published in fab Magazine in 2009

Dolly Parton was all of our chosen family

The superstar, who passed away at age 80, was always there for her queer fans. We collectively mourn her loss
Advertisement