Drag Theatre Puts The ‘Camp’ In LA’s Fabulous Casita Del Campo

casita+del+campo+katy+perryIn August 2015, The Golden Girlz Live closed its second run at Cavern Club Theater, in the basement of the Los Angeles Mexican restaurant Casita del Campo. This production, which recreated actual Golden Girls episodes from TV, included the particularly memorable moment when Rose falls for a bona fide little person, Dr. Jonathan Newman.

Golden Girls fans certainly remember that episode, but it was funny for newcomers as well: besides four guys dressed in drag playing Blanche (Sherry Vine, standing left), Dorothy (Jackie Beat, standing right), Sophia (Sam Pancake, seated left) and Rose (Drew Droege, seated right), the cast also featured Selene Luna as Dr. Newman (standing, far right) who packed a politically incorrect, scene-stealing punch.

Word spread about the show and the audience became a treasure trove of celebrity sightings, including one night when Katy Perry was in there, undoubtedly singing “Firework” in her head and celebrating the circus that unfolded before her eyes.

Katy Perry watching a drag version of The Golden Girls? This was just another typical night for this bizarre little place in the middle of Silverlake. All of gay L.A. knows Casita del Campo: on the main floor is the Mexican restaurant that serves cheap enchiladas and sour margaritas, while downstairs is a campy theater swarming with cabaret singers and men wearing dresses. There isn’t much logic to it, but it works. Practically everyone in town has a story about seeing a show in that basement theater, or ordering one too many cocktails from the restaurant’s bar and getting silly. Sometimes both.

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Casita del Campo has been part of the Silverlake family of pubs and leather bars since way back in 1962, when the restaurant was opened by Rudy del Campo, who—fun fact—was one of the original “Sharks” dancers in the film West Side Story. Later the basement was converted into a little theater with approximately 60 seats, more or less if they squeeze in a few latecomers to sit in the aisle; now that stage, the Cavern Club Theater, is L.A.’s premier show palace for campy extravaganzas of questionable decorum.

Shows to grace the stage have included drag comedies like Rise n’ Shine with Bette & Juliette, a send-up of a morning chat show starring Bette Midler and Juliette Lewis, and Chico’s Angels, a Mexican/American parody of Charlie’s Angels complete with racial stereotypes. Chico’s Angels has been a particularly huge hit, with several versions staged over the years; local TV station KTLA has a page devoted to news clips featuring the cast in all their glory. Like is so often the case with drag, the ethnic generalizations and crude jokes would probably be really offensive if the show weren’t so funny. (See below)

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