It's All Glamor in Buschworld
Comb out your best wig, festoon your apartment with crepe and strike up the band: Charles Busch, Downtown's hometown drag empress, is ready for a hero's welcome. Even though he self-effacingly claims he's "so apartment bound he makes Emily Dickinson look frenetic," the Tony-nominated playwright is usually out and about in one of his two personas: a classier version of Bernadette Peters, or in boy clothes, a slightly more debonair Bing Crosby.
This month he's on the big screen in both as the subject of a feature doc,umentary, The Lady In Question Is Charles Busch, and with the world premiere of his directorial feature film debut at next month's Tribeca Film Festival, a coming of age drama entitled A Very Serious Person. Charles graciously took time out from duplexing his pink palace in the West Village to give the skinny on everything from his Downtown salad days to his uptown Tony moment. He even shared his innermost fear: That his adoring fans might think, "Gee, Charles Busch actually has titties!"
NYP: I love that your directorial film debut is out at the same time as a doc over which you had very little control.
You can say that again, but it was not for lack of trying. I did send an e-mail to [doc umentary Co-directors] John [Catania] and Charles [Ignacio] saying, "Before you lock the film, you might want to show it to me because I might have some good suggestions."
I got a very snippy e-mail back saying, "Our documentary colleagues have told us rule number one: Keep the subject away!" So I told those motherfuckers, "Yeah, if your subject is the owner of Loehmann's!"
What did you think the first time you saw it?
I really didn't see it until it premiered at Tribeca last year. It was pretty intense. My poor sister threw up the whole next day. She was so emotional about it.
What was going on performance-wise back then?
At the Limbo Lounge, we'd finish our show and before the audience even left the club, they were already painting the walls pink for the next show-and getting paint on everyone's coats. I remember one time Julie and I arrived for a performance and Karen Finley was on. She was being held spread eagle upside down and they were smashing eggs on her pussy. I remember thinking, "What kind of place is this?" I felt like Mama Rose walking into the burlesque theater holding her shopping bags.
Did that Mama Rose quality help you navigate all that culture wars nonsense?
Ah contraire, my dear. In 1984, there was this spotlight on the East Village performance art scene. It was this completely bombed-out, desolate area, but there were pockets: A little avant-garde gallery here or performance space there. Suddenly all these magazines were doing big features on this crazy, decadent scene. People Magazine would come down and we were doing plays with titles like Theodora, She-Bitch of Byzantium. We always added a good kicker to the article, so we were included in every overview. It was the one time in my life I've been in the right place at the right time.
Do you think there's some young man out in DUMBO right now slipping into a g-string, some heels and a wig, plotting to become the next Charles Busch?
You mean this younger crop? There could be, quite possibly. There's a very fascinating world out there that I don't know about, but in those days the whole journey to Avenue C was exotic. These days, to tell you the truth, I didn't even know there was a transit strike. I don't leave the block. But performance art and solos seem really big-like Bradford Louryk doing Christine Jorgenson. The people I admire ain't so young anymore. I love Varla Jean Merman, but she's a veteran now. And I've always been a great supporter of Lypsinka, but they're seasoned performers.
I love that you've storyboarded this.
But my body doubles have always been these flat-chested dames. In Die Mommy Die, this girl showed up to be my body double. She was flat-chested with a dark tan and a tattoo on her arm. I said, "Hey! What gives?"
I was nervous that she was so flat-chested; people might think, "Gee, Charles Busch actually has titties! He must have started doing hormones." That's why in my new picture, I have a nude love scene, just to show it's not true.
What do you remember about The Allergist's Wife on Tony night?
It's a great dream I never even allowed myself to have. I knew I wasn't going to win. Every newspaper and Web site said I was least likely to win that year. So, I went just to enjoy the evening but, at the last second, you think it's possible-they'll all cancel each other out and?nope! But it was thrilling. I can only hope it happens again. Here I thought Taboo was going to be my big ticket!
Come on, Taboo was an infinitely watchable musical!
It was a big mess with marvelous things in it, but it was all so fucked up.
Who thought two drag queens would play nice together?
Well, Rosie saw it in London and loved Boy George; he meant a lot to her growing up. She went backstage-she's so impulsive-and said, "I want to do this on Broadway!"
The thing is, the storyline was just so stupid. In London it was about a straight boy who gets involved with this crazy group and almost goes to bed with a gay guy, but then at the last second doesn't. And that was the edgy story, so Rosie wanted a new story. She brought me in to create it around a set score. I knew that was a screwy notion, but I adore her so I let her seduce me.
Yuck! Does this documentary cap an era for you and is A Very Serious Person your filmic attempt to recreate Allergist's Wife in terms of getting away from drag in a pretty significant way?
The doc does sew things up a bit, but I really don't feel I've hit my stride yet. I keep going. This new movie is the first time I've directed a film and I'm playing a male character. There's a new play I've written that we're going to do next year at Manhattan Theater Club that goes further for me. I've had a lot of failures as well as success, but I like trying different things. And I have to say, honestly, I've never done anything as a careerist move. I just don't think people think that way. That's true of this movie, too. It wasn't like Die Mommy Die made $200 million and I thought, "Oh, I have to do Die Mommy Die 2!" I figured I have this chance, why not do something different?