COVER FEATURE
Bette Midler & Other Irrelevant Divas!
There we were in the lobby of The Palace Theatre during intermission for “Priscilla Queen of the Desert.” All gay sensibility aside the crowd seemed very tourist-mainstream (straight?). Considering that “Priscilla” had a built-in homosexual base it confounded the senses that the gay cognoscenti seemed to be ignoring this incredibly relevant event. Even with costumes by the movie’s Oscar winning Tim Chappel and Lizzy Gardiner and a Producer credit for Bette Midler the musical seemed to have an automatic gay stamp of approval on it. But I was reminded that while “Priscilla” had flourishes of gay pride all over it Bette Midler was a questionably relevant piece of the LGBT equation in recent days. It seemed the Divine Ms. M had gone the way of the Eight Track tape.
Holy ostrich feathers Batman! You mean that Our Lady of The Bathhouse was no longer relevant to the pulse of a community that depended on her outrageous infusion of energy and high camp? For some it comes as no surprise; it’s merely part of the ever imploding cultural dynamics of a new generation gone mad. Well, mad may not be the right word to apply to a generation who has embraced Lady Ga Ga, Kathy Griffin, and Adam Lambert as official contemporary gay icons replacements for Midler and her ilk.
Bette Midler’s new DVD/Blueray of her Las Vegas show“ The Showgirl Must Go On”(Image Entertainment /$24.98) has lots of glitz in a ball of showbiz kitsch and yet it seems almost devoid of the Divine Ms. M ‘s gushing gay banter. Yes there are references to “gays traveling in packs” and Midler sharing the entertainment duties at Caesar’s Palace with Cher and her wild exuberance as she declares “Can you get any gayer?” Uh, Bette yeah I think so. The video document of her popular Las Vegas stint is essentially an aged diva in the final phases of an extraordinary career. The stage is enormous and Midler feigns mock fatigue, or does she? It’s great theatre no matter what but alas the gay boys and the lesbian girls have been relegated to an afterthought or worse a mere reference point for a legendary diva whose roots run deep in homosexual culture.
“She’s busy planting trees for Bloomberg” opined one slightly drunk ticket holder during The Palace mid-show soiree. It was a sober point taken since, Julien’s Auctions of Beverly Hills has plans to handle Midler’s baubles for a November 12th sale. Darren Julien has intimated that bidding could bring in over $400.000 and it would go to Bette’s favorite charity; The New York Restoration Project.
Midler’s resurgence amidst a big charitable event and a DVD release does beg the question ‘do the ironclad gay divas of yesterday have any relevance today despite their historical alliance with a colorful minority’? It’s a difficult thing to analyze. Barbra Streisand has a gay son but she’s mostly worshipped by aging baby boomers who are plugged into QVC. Cher is barely a gay icon even while crusading for the rights of her daughter with Sonny who grew up to be a man named Chaz and featured performer on “Dancing With The Stars.” To add insult to divadom Midler has been waging a war of words with Lady Ga Ga over a costume that Ga Ga designed that looked suspiciously like the Dolores DeLago’s mermaid outfit the Divine Ms. M. created ions ago. Around the time Midler’s auction date was announced she extended an olive branch of sorts to Ga Ga encouraging her to bid for some of the costumes that will be sold.
“The Showgirl Must Go On” showcases an entertainment spectacle that has gone from high-brow to low-brow and then back again. Culturally Generation X has crossed it off their list of things to acknowledge. Streisand and Cher will have an equally hard time pushing through the unwashed crowds of Lady Ga Ga fans. Midler’s mindset is a bit more flexible and forthright. She chides her audience as she struggles through an Olympic stroll across the stage “ Some of my friends insist ‘they couldn’t pay me enough’” A sly smile appears on that divine mug. “Oh yes they can” she offers.
Relevant or not Bette Midler’s comic timing defies gravity and that may be all that counts in a world that is on the lookout for the next piece of space junk to enter the atmosphere along with an equally cataclysmic Wall Street correction.
Well, you got to have friends. Right?