HoMo’Nique New York
By
July 28, 2011
STACY LAYNE MATTHEWS
A good drag queen can put “master celebrity impersonator” on a résumé of her many talents, right underneath “lip-synching for her life” and “flawless make-up.” RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 3 breakout sensation Stacy Layne Matthews stole the show with her dead-on impersonation of Academy Award winner Mo’Nique. This weekend, Matthews brings her version of Mo’Nique to the Laurie Beechman Theater with a three-day run of The HoMo’Nique Show, a spoof of Mo’Nique’s late-night talk show on B.E.T.
“Ron Lasko, from Spin Cycle NYC, saw me do Mo’Nique on Drag Race and came up with the idea of doing a talk show-something like The Mo’Nique Show.” But the Stacy Layne Matthews version would have a little extra oomph: “The whole joke is how low-budget everything is. It’s on the G.E.T. Network, which is supposed to be the Gay Entertainment Network. But I call it the Ghetto Entertainment Network. ‘Cause it’s budget.“
Ms. Matthews, who famously hails from Back Swamp, North Carolina, which she describes as a small community just outside of Lumberton (of course!), has been a performer her whole life: “I auditioned for American Idol back in… 1819, and I’ve been in more than 60 musicals,” including a recent stint in My Big Gay Italian Wedding.
During the three-night run of her mock talk show, Ms. Matthews will interview a rotating pool of guests, ranging from nightlife mainstays Amanda Lepore and Michael Musto to “Judy Garland” (by Tommy Femia) and Randy Jones—the original cowboy of The Village People. Matthews holds most tightly to a piece of advice from Mo’Nique herself: “She told me that when I do this show, I better rock it.”
THE HOMO’NIQUE SHOW WILL RUN AT THE LAURIE BEECHMAN THEATRE FROM JULY 29 TO 31. FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO BUY TICKETS, VISIT SPIN CYCLE’S WEBSITE.
