Some people spend their Sundays sleeping in, some sit down in church pews and others drink bottomless mimosas while throwing singles at drag queens lip-synching to Doja Cat.
Mid Tap bar held its first drag brunch on Sunday, March 27, with Louisiana drag legend, London Manchester, hosting the event. Manchester and queens Connie Hung, Mahogany Campbell and Queen Essence Hall sashayed and slayed for the girls, the gays and the theys, wowing the carefree crowd.
“These girls are breaking out all the hoe songs,” Manchester said after a performance of Summer Walker songs by Connie Hung. “Looks like I’m the only Christian here. I’m gonna need y’all to lift your voices in praise.”
Unlike most traditional drag performances at nightclubs and gay bars, drag brunches have a different vibe with a quite different crowd. Audience members who usually would not stay out late at nightclubs or go out to gay bars on the weekends are able to come to a drag brunch and enjoy some light tipsy fun.
“I did a show last night that was from 11:30-12:30. You’re not going to get a lot of these people to go out at 12:30 at night, or even go to a gay bar,” Manchester said. “Some people are hesitant. Brunch is an entirely different audience than we get at night, but they are honestly just as fun.”
While the audience at a drag brunch may not be as young or alternative, a crowd full of middle-aged women will turn up once they have a few drinks, eat some chicken and waffle nachos and Queen Essence Hall comes out death-dropping to Beyonce. The Mid Tap crowd was chock full of mothers, women celebrating their birthdays and old-time friends dressed up in Kentucky derby-style hats.
“We’ve never done this before as a friend group, and we have always wanted to,” Gabrielle Geiger said while wearing a “birthday girl” sash and crown, celebrating her special day with her friends. “We would love to come back and do this again, all of it was so much fun and the drag queens were amazing.”
To truly immerse the crowd in drag culture, Manchester announced a “sissy that walk” competition. To “sissy that walk” means to do your fiercest and most high-energy model strut as you enter any stage or occasion. Audience members practically jumped out of their seats hoping to get picked to compete. Amongst the participants of the competition was a woman in the crowd, nicknamed “Sugar Tits,” wearing a beautiful pink tea hat.
“She just solidified herself as the top hoe in the building,” said Manchester of “Sugar Tits.”
Tying the whole brunch together, the queens all got together to perform an encore to “Lady Marmalade.” Everyone in the crowd let out an audible sigh of sadness when the show ended. Although this wasn’t a typical show’s crowd, the drag performances still had the special power of bringing people together and forming a bond between audience members, making it so that no one wanted the show to end.
“I think that a lot of times we’re stuck doing the same things we always do,” said Manchester. “When we’re doing a drag brunch, it’s always something new. Brunch audiences are always engaged no matter what we do. They are just so ready and excited to see drag.”
