Each night we are joined by special guest performers. We bring you music, burlesque, circus, drag and more, hosted by the extraordinary Johnny Blazes.
The line-up of this special pre-show variety show changes every week. Use the navigation at the left to check out our special guests!
Johnny Blazes
Named "one of Boston's rising stars" by Stuff Magazine, Johnny Blazes is known for hir genre-bending, gender-blending, tongue-in-cheek performances. Ze draws from hir training in theater, dance and opera to create a graceful clowning style that incorporates drag, burlesque and circus arts to create works that defy categorization.
Johnny first made hir mark on Boston as the director and choreographer of The Madcap Rumpus Society’s “Mischief in the Machine”, a circus-theater performance set to the boisterous music of Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band. The show made use of mask-work and combined non-verbal storytelling with poetry and music to tell a steampunk-inspired narrative. Johnny also founded and directed Oberlin College’s OCircus!, a 95-person student group with whom Johnny created five original shows. The final OCircus! show that ze directed was a small ensemble circus that drew upon vaudevillian traditions to create a dark and sexy narrative with a cabaret feel. The show wowed audiences in Cleveland, Columbus, Detroit, New York, DC, Richmond, and Boston.
Johnny has collaborated with The ExtraTerrestrial Circus Experiment, The Theater Offensive, Big Moves, and is a touring performer with both The Tranny Roadshow and The Femme Show. Ze has performed in spaces ranging from Carnegie Hall in New York (as an aspiring young opera star) to the Fox Theater in Tucson (as part of The International Drag KingCommunity Extravaganza). Ze is a core cast member of the monthly variety show TraniWreck, and often contributes to other local shows such as Bent Wit Cabaret, Intro to Anatomy, Perestroika, and others.
Johnny's current solo project, "wo(n)man show", makes full use of Johnny’s broad range of talents. This semi-narrative, evening-length performance uses drag, dance, theater, clowning, circus arts and classical voice to tell stories that are both personal and universal. “wo(n)man show” is a humorous look at the gender stereotypes that pervade our world, and the performativity of one person’s daily genders. “wo(n)man show” has played at venues and colleges throughout New England, and continues to tour the US throughout 2010.