The GLASS (Gay, Lesbian and Straight Supporters) Drag Show was held in Buckman Theater on Friday, March 26 in front of a crowd of about 80 people. The event featured two of New York City’s most popular drag artists, Sherry Vine and Joey Arias, performing multiple Broadway, variety, cabaret numbers and comedy sketches based off their acts performed in bars and nightclubs across the country.

Vine is known for her risqué parodies of chart-topping songs, and sang her own versions of Lady GaGa’s “Bad Romance” and “Poker Face” during the show. These adaptations contained vulgar lyrics unlike the originals, which had the predominantly female crowd bellowing in an uproar of laughter. Many more of her parodies can be found online on her Web site, Sherryvine.com.

In between acts, the two joked around about the University, intentionally mispronouncing the school’s name, referring to The Chronicle as “The Quinnipiac Times,” with Arias making specific comments about the tacos he “just had from the Ratt.” The two were highly interactive with the students, serenading random unsuspecting ones they picked out of the crowd. In addition, they scouted out the theater looking for the very few males who showed up and would egg them on to answer questions and appear onstage with them.

The performance Friday was actually Vine’s second at Quinnipiac, as she was given high reviews by students last year.

“I had a blast the last time I was here, that’s why I wanted to come back,” Vine said. “I said, ‘If you ever want to have me back, let me know, maybe I’ll come with Joey and we could do so much together.’ It’s actually a lot more fun to perform for an appreciative crowd. Sometimes, especially in Manhattan, young people can be so jaded that you’ll be singing and they’ll just be texting and not paying attention at all.”

Both Vine and Arias found their way into the drag profession in different ways before teaming up in 1999 to create StarLust, a cabaret show performed in cities across the world.

“I was actually going to USC for my FMA in acting, when I had an assignment to create ten different characters,” Vine said. “One of these characters I created was based on a drag queen in LA. I ended up using this character in my own acts afterward.”

Arias, by his own admission, got into drag accidentally.

“I was invited to a party with Andy Warhol, Truman Capote, Keith Haring….It was basically the ‘downtown gang,’ it was around 1986 or 1987, and I never liked drag,” Arias said. “So here’s all these famous artists and writers all going in drag at a Halloween party, and when I walked in they were like ‘Oh my God, you need to be in drag. Period.’ ”

Photo credit: Joe Pelletier