On March 20, San Francisco\u2019s The Castro Theatre celebrated its renovation with one of the most iconic queens in RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race herstory, Alaska Thunderf— 5000. From the moment she walked out onto the freshly built stage to her bombastic final bow, Alaska expertly showcased the quirks, bumps and beauties that makes drag so fierce.<\/p>\n
In many ways, the show was a homecoming for both attendees and the queen herself. The energy along Castro Street as people filed into the venue could only be described as electric; generations of friends and lovers chatted with excitement about the theater\u2019s new look and the rejuvenating liveliness on the street. Alaska certainly felt the same way \u2014 in the days leading up to her show, her social media feed was lovingly dedicated to the Castro and San Francisco\u2019s drag scene as a whole.<\/p>\n
This love carried onto the stage as well. After introducing her live band, she dubbed their team \u201cAlaska Thunderf— and the Tenderloins,\u201d named for the infamous San Francisco district. Halfway through the show, as a way to keep the audience engaged while she changed gowns, Alaska played a satirical public service announcement on the history of San Francisco and its status as a safe haven for the queer community. Throughout the video and into the game show segment that followed \u2014 during which an audience member was randomly brought up on stage to answer trivia questions about the city \u2014 the show\u2019s attendees were eager to share with Alaska all of the fondness they had for their iconic home.<\/p>\n
When she wasn\u2019t overflowing with love for the Golden Gate\u2019s hometown, Alaska was busy stunning the audience with her vocal abilities and stage presence. After kicking off the show with her most popular song, \u201cYour Makeup Is Terrible,\u201d she forwent the usual drag show staple of lip syncing to a recorded track. Instead, using the live band to her advantage, Alaska seized the opportunity to show off her wide vocal range. While it is perhaps unconventional to hear a drag queen sing a cover of a Dave Matthews Band song, Alaska easily shut down any would-be critics with her commanding baritone.<\/p>\n
Her vocals went beyond college rock band covers, though. During the strongest segment of the show \u2014 informally named the \u201cRequest Megamix Bonanza 5000\u201d \u2014 Alaska took song suggestions from the audience and strung them together into a single medley with her piano player and friend Jeremy Mikush. While the songs ranged in genre from \u201980s power ballads to modern pop a from Broadway staples to her own B-sides, one thing was consistent: Alaska\u2019s ability to hold any note thrown at her.<\/p>\n
The Megamix Bonanza was ultimately emblematic of the show\u2019s strength in highlighting the queer community\u2019s ability to create unity anywhere. Despite the Castro Theatre\u2019s size and the distance between Alaska and the audience, the show consistently felt as intimate as the ones at your average gay bar or brunch spot. Audience members were chatting over drinks, making new friends, connecting old ones and cheering one another on whenever the queen interacted with them.<\/p>\n
For her part, Alaska was not afraid to break the unspoken barrier between seat and stage. During her cover of Ace of Base\u2019s \u201cDon\u2019t Turn Around,\u201d she glided down from her microphone stand to the orchestra with ease. When people spoke to her, she listened and responded like they were good friends.<\/p>\n
Alaska\u2019s visit to the Castro was a good omen for the iconic venue\u2019s future as it navigates its first few months following its two-year construction period. In today\u2019s political climate, any opportunity to join your friends under the bright neon marquee on Castro Street should be seized. Given the show\u2019s turnout, it\u2019s clear that much of San Francisco feels the exact same way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On March 20, San Francisco\u2019s The Castro Theatre celebrated its renovation with one of the most iconic queens…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[113297,8513,9969,113295,113294,113296,27825,101,103,102,104,106,105,13528,80104],"class_list":["post-255947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-francisco","tag-ace-of-base","tag-broadway","tag-castro-street","tag-dave-matthews-band","tag-golden-gate","tag-power-ballad","tag-rupauls-drag-race","tag-san-francisco","tag-san-francisco-headlines","tag-san-francisco-news","tag-sf","tag-sf-headlines","tag-sf-news","tag-tenderloin","tag-the-castro-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}