Pride brings an extra worthy theatre event to the Gulf Coast with

"ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 2" performed by the Prince of Pride, himself, Jade Esteban Estrada.

     Turn back time a week or two and there, bejeweled, be Jade. But it's not mere rocks that give this proud prince his bling. The lesbian-impersonating thespian who calls Comedy Central his home reflects the glittering aura of gay heroes as if he were beaming their souls as brightly as the spotlights bouncing from his dolled up Latino peepers and into the emotional bodies of the audience.

     Uplifting, inspiring and educational: the musical comedy "ICONS Vol. 2" takes the audience even deeper into queer history. Where "ICONS Vol. 1" brought Ellen and Oscar Wilde to us, in "ICONS Vol. 2" Jade asks the audience to make the journey to the characters. More subtle, thoughtful and mature than #1, the middle act of this trilogy is also more technically intricate. Billie Jean King plays a whole tennis match, Harvey Milk does a soft shoe dance for office at least a half dozen times and Mark Bingham sings us along on his wild 9/11 ride. Somehow Jade even manages to put Queen Christina's crown on the entire audience, bedazzling them all with the effervescent ballad "Unearth Me."

     Jade's show is so much more than song and dance, much more than history lessons in a wig. The (Christian) church, the White House and the bath house all have a place in the fluttering pages of Sappho's queer history chronology. I can only hope she shows up again to place a bookend on the series.
 

©2006 Tampa Bay Gazette