Electra, who, when asked by Bette Midler, “Are you still doing me?,” responded, “I bought a house doing you,” returned to Fire Island for the first time since 2010, giving her all in a show at Cherry’s on July 26, with Tom Branigan as DJ.
Heralded by a fanfare, Electra entered as an energetic Midler, to celebrate the importance of “Friends,” and to preen, “I Look Good.” In a zesty Midler medley, she shared that “It’s the Girl” that’s essential, not the trappings, and segued in bouncy renditions of “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,” “In the Mood,” and “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.”
Quipping ruefully, “My demographic is getting smaller—everybody’s either incarcerated or dead,” Electra greeted Johny Pool, whom she teased about his hair; Bob “Rose” Levine; Hedda Lettuce, to whom she is ‘drag mother;’ Danny Logan, the former Dallas Dubois; George; Bobby “Cobra” Scherffius and Victor Alfieri; Valerie Perez; and Paul Jablonski.
By now in her third costume change, Electra continued with “Mr. Sandman,” strumming her ukulele; then “One Fine Day;’ and a segué into “Be My Baby.” Next came a wig change for some “vintage” Bette: “Drinking Again;” risqué Sophie Tucker jokes (“I shall never forget it”), thrice familiar and always worth repeating; “Dr. Longjohn,” limning the lusty dentist, who found that her “cavity needs a little filling;” and acknowledging lonely older folks, “Hello in There.”
Electra saluted the new nationwide legalization of same-sex marriage with “I Believe in You” and got people swaying and singing along to “Wind Beneath My Wings.”
Giving us, as she put it, “two Jews for the price of one,” Electra morphed into Barbra Streisand, for “Putting It Together” (“Art isn’t easy”), from “Sunday in the Park with George;” “As If We Never Said Goodbye,” from “Sunset Boulevard;” “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” from “Funny Girl;” and “Papa, Can You Hear Me,” from “Yentl.” Her final incarnation was as Elton John, for “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.” Talk about a consummate entertainer!