REVIEW: MargOH! Channing is Tipsy!

originally published by edgenewyork.com 4/3/12

MargOH! Channing bills herself as the most decorated extra in the history of motion pictures and television. Born to an inbred and intolerant family in Bangor, Maine, MargOH! was rescued by a "drunk slut" aunt and whisked away to be raised in the glamorous confines of a brothel.

She overcame her rather checkered past with a new name inspired by the acid-tongued Bette Davis in All About Eve and gained new confidence from picking herself up "by the bra-straps." She then obtained a measure of notoriety in Hollywood before settling here in New York to focus on inserting herself into the downtown scene as one of Manhattan’s premiere cabaret divas. "MargOH! Channing is Tipsy" is the latest installment of her ongoing serial of autobiographical shows chronicling her harrowing journey to hell and back.

In truth, MargOH! Channing is the drag persona of performance artist BT Shea. Shea has endowed MargOH! with a hilariously absurd backstory, but he draws the character with such honesty, truth, subtlety, and vulnerability, that she becomes -- if only for a couple hours -- a living, breathing person. Henceforth and therefore, this review will refer to Ms. Channing not as a character, but as the star of her own one-woman show.

Perhaps "tipsy" is in the eye of the beholder, but as far as I could tell the title of her show is a major understatement. Ms. Channing was so visibly drunk that she had to be walked out onto the stage and propped against her microphone by her gal-pal, the celebrated drag queen and gorgeous ex-con Flotilla DeBarge.

Through slurred (and sometimes inaudible) speech, Ms. Channing spoke of her life’s humble beginnings as the daughter of New England fishmongers from the "school of hard knockers." With every wrong recounted, she poured herself another drink: perhaps to keep the emotions flowing, perhaps to dull the pain.

Ms. Channing is a singer who understands her limits as a vocalist, and even warned us that her voice may be a little "scratchy." But what she lacked in pitch and tone, she sure made up for in her ability to fearlessly and shamelessly emote. It’s clear why she detests cheap sentiment: the bitch can sell a song.

She transitioned from Tom Waits’ maudlin "Shiver Me Timbers," which she imbued with heartbreaking genuineness, to "Rusty Warren’s novelty "Bounce Your Boobies," that underheard, ironic feminist anthem.

This medley illustrated for Ms. Channing’s audience the very essence of drag: the pain of leaving behind one’s family, friends, and identity in order to seek out another life where beauty, glamour, and fantasy reign supreme. Drag queens empower themselves by choosing illusion over hard truth. That’s sad, and also beautiful.

In the tradition of Victor Hugo’s "Notre-Dame de Paris" Ms. Channing marries the sublime and the grotesque in a show that transcends its comedic trappings to become the portrait of a woman whose dreams have been dashed but whose hope springs eternal.

Her whispered and wistful rendition of "Everything Changes" was devastating. I only wish it had come later in the show, because for me it was climactic.

Throw in an earnest tribute to Amy Winehouse, a couple of glitter-dipped back-up singers, and a duet with Ms. DeBarge, and "MargOH! Channing is Tipsy" became a hilarious hodgepodge of performance art, stand-up comedy, cabaret, theater, and drag. We are allowed to see MargOH! at her best and at her worst, somehow at the same time. It’s that fine-tuned duplicity that makes her so real.

Watching the performance was like seeing a cat thrown from a roof: you pity it, you fear for it, you witness its desperate flip-flopping. But then it lands on its feet, and you marvel at the grace of it all.

"MargOH! Channing is Tipsy" played on March 30 at Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie Street. For information on MargOH! Channing’s future shows, visit margohchanning.blogspot.com.