Arts > Theatre

The Gentle Kingz Club

Voodoo Daddy's Showroom

10/01/23

‘Food Poisoning yassisfied Sam Moanella has formed from the scraps of the Christmas pud’ to present his debut show at Voodoo Daddy’s showroom. A night of newcomers and well established names, for The Gentle Kingz show, hosted by the disgustingly talented Sam Moanella. 

After watching Sam Moanella put on an incredible performance at the Norwich Drag pageant last month, I was extremely excited to see what an entire evening with this energetic stomach bug would bring. The established drag king has been performing for 8 months, after being invested in the drag scene for much longer, but finally felt it was time to bring his own show to the stage.

 
Starring a selection of Norwich’s finest kings, presenting the host himself, Sam Moanella and featuring Dandy Darling, Terry D’Actyl, Sir Hugh Mungus and King Soda Pop, along with some bacteria floating around too. 
 
A pink shimmered, hand-made fridge, with personalisation of ‘Moan’, is becoming a staple to Sam Moanella’s act and is up there with the most innovative and dramatic ways to enter a stage. A sneaky, extra performance from Clutter Malarkey started the evening, who arrived with their very own Deliveroo bag, delivering the very meal that Sam Moanella would soon grow from and turn into his food poisoning self. Clutter’s performance was so energetic, bright, and set the night off on a wonderful high! Sam Moanella, stepped straight out of his famous fridge and straight into his performance, not letting us go a single moment without an iconic performance. Delivering a very entertaining and creative act, with a mash up of hazardous warnings voice overs and Lipps Inc’s ‘Funky Town’, what more could you expect from this flamboyant germ.

With a packed showroom, the Star of the night Sam Moanella himself greeted the crowd to kick off an evening of ‘twists, turns, and a surprising lack of pants!’, in his words and he was 100% accurate!

 
Following Sams warm and amusing welcome, the first king to take the stage was Terry D’Actyl, ‘The dinosaur of lurveee is ready to stomp his way right into your heart! He’s got high masculine energy and an even higher libido, with his stunning live vocals you'll be in love before you know it!’. Terry D’Actyl gave us a live rendition of Everybody Loves an Outlaw’s,  ‘I See Red’, his powerful voice was incredible paired with the song choice. The juxtaposition of his attire in blue jeans and a red plaid shirt on top of a white vest, matched with a bandana to the song of choice was impressive. That’s one thing drag will always deliver on, it’s never predictable and this was no exception, staying true to his drag act and having the crowd in awe.

  
Next to perform was Sir Hugh Mungus, ‘the pervert with permission is here! From his top hat to moustache, he’s going to have you practically panting with pleasure with his suave moves and even more dashing attire’. This is where the lack of a pants came in, but lack of blazer, waist coat, shirt and 90% of all garments was more suitable for this performance. Maybe inspired by Magic Mike, to create magic Michael, Sir Hugh Mungus put on a jaw dropping performance, that took confidence to the next level. Performing to Joe Cockers ‘You can leave your hat on’, the upbeat Blues rock R&B soul song was a perfect fit for his graceful and entertaining undressing, extra points for following the lyrics instructions to a T.

 
King Soda Pop was up next, ‘one of Norwich's newest boys and he's all dressed up for you! Weaselling his way around Soda is the punk of skunk and we're so excited to show you what he's got!’. I found it very hard to believe that Soda Pop was so new to the drag scene as he was very confident on stage, with his cheeky and playful persona during the act. Taking inspiration from the sixteen hundreds, in Shakespearian style, but not exactly Shakespeare’s style, or that would be copying, and Soda Pop came before him, right? ‘It’s Hard to Be the Bard’ from Something Rotten played whilst Soda Pop embodied a sixteenth century poet, dressed in the full attire, with a ruff, traditional shirt and waistcoat and leather knee high boots. A very entertaining and upbeat performance, that had the audience gripped and laughing along too. I have a feeling the Norwich drag scene will be seeing a lot more of Soda Pop in the near future.

 
Dandy darling graced the stage for the last performer for the first half of the evening, known as ‘the king of cheap thrills and a shape-shifting storyteller and he’s ready to give you an insight into his creative and comedic mind’. We were being absolutely treated, with not just one drag performer singing live for us, but in fact two, as Dandy Darling took the microphone for his performance. Dressed in a silver bikini style 2 piece, with bedazzled hands attached on the top and bottom, he was in true pop start style, which of course made sense when singing Ariana Grande’s ‘Greedy’.  I’ve seen Dandy Darling perform several times before, but never singing live, so for me this was a different side of his talent I got to witness. His fun personality shone through whilst singing, with amazing vocals for a very high energy performance, making sure to sweep the stage still and not leave us without any high leg kicks and low squats.

 
 
To start the second half, a lip sync battle between members of the audience commenced! Welcoming anyone with experience or any potential new talent, as long as you’re ready to dance to be crowned the lip-sync winner. That’s not all that was up for grabs, the unconventional prize of a crotched penis was also available to be won, because duh what else would the prize be? Cammy Leone, Bitch Finder General and Harry Stallion were the special guests to take part in the lip-sync fight of the night, giving it their all with true to their drag style dance moves, rotating round the stage and putting up a fight to come out on top. As talented as they all were, Harry Stallion got the loudest applause from the audience, which in turn meant he was the lip sync winner and new owner of the wonderful crotched penis. Sam Moanella emphasised how much he wanted others to have the opportunity to show their talent or just have the chance to get up on stage for anyone who had an interest in drag. This sentiment was so lovely, as the community is ever growing and appears to be very supportive within Norwich.

 
Speaking to a member of the audience, they were surprised that Drag Kings shows were hosted in our very own city and had previously been looking at travelling to London for the experience. This is a real hat off to Norwich for continuing to provide not only Drag King inclusive shows but Drag King focused events and creating an inclusive drag community.

 
The Gentle Kingz Club marks the second all kings drag show in Norwich, after the casts very own Dandy Darling hosted his Kings of East Anglia show at The Castle earlier in the year, for not one but two incredible shows! This is an incredible example of how the Norwich drag scene is constantly expanding to become the most diverse and inclusive that it can be, an aspect that many members of the drag community admire.
 
As a first-time host, Sam Moanella was genuinely so wonderful, keeping the audience entertained in-between acts, his wit was hilarious and had the crowd laughing at any given opportunity, just an absolutely magnificent show! Seeing Sam Moanella star in multiple drag pageants through the last 8 months, his style has always been so clear whilst being the craziest and completely unpredictable on what he might use as a wig next. It is always so special to watch a drag performer take on their very one night, having the chance to host and tailor the show to suit each of their unique styles and personalities.

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