Join the Tenderloin Museum and DJ Dank for a benefit screening to support the Cockettes’ upcoming new revue, featuring video highlights from the intrepid genderbending troupe’s 2020’s 50th Anniversary celebration The Cockettes Are Golden, a performance by Kitten on the Keys, a Q&A with Original Cockette and Musical Director Scrumbly Koldwyn and Assistant Director Birdie Bob Watt, as well as a special dedication to the late, great Bambi Lake, whose final performance was at the 50th Anniversary show.
A legendary and uniquely San Francisco collective of unbridled exuberance and freakiness, the Cockettes were established on Dec 31, 1969 at the Palace Theater in a haze of sex, drugs, drag, genderbending, and glitter. They took drag and old Hollywood musicals and turned them inside out and upside down, attracting the attention of the American underground culture. The Cockette’s sprawling, kaleidoscopic pantheon of colorful personalities included icons like Hibiscus and Sylvester, and was often augmented by special guests, most notably the out-of-town drag superstar Divine. The Cockettes were ahead of their time, especially in the acceptance of gender fluidity, and they changed the face of drag forever.
Although the Cockettes disbanded in 1972, its many members kept the group’s spirit alive; in 2009, a theater troupe called the Thrillpeddlers run by Russell Blackwood revived a legendary Cockettes show called "Pearls Over Shanghai" to much acclaim and a long run. Playing on the interest already garnered by "The Cockettes" documentary released in 2002, interest in this troupe was reawakened and entertained a whole new audience. The Thrillpeddlers continued recreating Cockettes shows under the watchful eye of the original songwriter Scrumbly Koldewyn over the next decade.
To mark the Cockettes’ 50th anniversary, The Cockettes Are Golden premiered to a sold out audience at the Victoria Theatre on January 4th, 2020 to much acclaim. The show featured live recreations of the group’s greatest hits, and brought together the remaining Cockettes to reminisce and celebrate the group’s legacy. Cameras were rolling to document the troupe’s golden anniversary, and they captured the night’s many surprises and special guests, including an appearance by cult film legend John Waters.
Now, producer DJ Dank is excited to premiere Highlights from The Cockettes Are Golden as part of a benefit screening to raise funds for the Cockette’s next big show, planned to premiere in June 2022. Join us on Thursday, March 24 at 6:30pm to revisit the Cockettes’ epic last show before the pandemic and to look ahead into the group’s future.
Tickets are $10 (free for cast and crew). Vaccine, booster, and masking will be required.
Register Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-cockettes-are-golden-benefit-screening-tickets-277155919817