Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy by Charles Busch
What's It About?
The Tony Award-nominated writer of The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife and the long-running hit Off-Broadway play Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, and a Sundance Festival award winner, Charles Busch is a playwright, LGBT icon, drag actor, director, and cabaret performer. "Leading Lady" is for anyone who enjoys real-life stories of artists who break the mold, ditch the boundaries, and find their own unique way to sparkle.Since Charles Busch is witty, distinctive and unforgettable – as a writer, actor, impresario and in drag –reading his new book, Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy, is a form of being inner sanctum. Full disclosure, while I’ve always been a fan and gone to anything written by and starring Charles Busch, we were introduced in the early 2000’s. When I was asked to review his memoir, I was already awaiting my preordered copy.
Historical Look at Busch’s Theater Career
Charles’ book offers a historical perspective of the downtown theatre world and an inside story of his accomplishments. During a childhood filled with great sorrow–his mother died when he was seven years old, he was buoyed by his older sisters who provided refuge. Yet it was his Aunt Lil who is depicted as a devoted, if practical, fairy godmother and savior. Her knowledge and respect for Charles’ enormous talents were channeled into goals. Under her tutelage, he attended the High School of Music and Art and Northwestern University. Aunt Lil’s judgment and understanding of who he was contributed greatly to the outcome of his career.
His years at Northwestern are recounted. There he penned his first play, Sister Act, which he also directed and starred in with his roommate Ed Taussig and owned his identity as a gay man. In 1984 his hit, Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, played Off-Broadway for five years and established him as a playwright. His awareness that when he dressed like a woman he felt empowered and comfortable, described in his memoir as “a passageway to channel the feminine in [his] nature” solidified his place in the theatre. In 2000 The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, a mainstream play, opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and ran for 777 performances.
A Personal Journey Brushes with Celebrity Life
The chapters move forward and back in time, a method that works well and is appealing to the reader. Charles’ personal journey is set against the backdrop of his work, all of this told to us in a conversational, warm manner. It is almost as if we are invited into the dressing room, right at the next makeup table, as his rise to stardom and keen sense of self are formed. His vivid descriptions of theatre life and celebrities include Claudette Colbert, Kim Novak, Joan Rivers and an interview with Liza Minelli for In the Life, the LGBT magazine. Details and reveals include his ChapStick ‘addiction’ and his very serious heart surgery.
Add to this the photos, among them the original Limbo Lounge flyer for Gidget Goes Psychotic – later renamed Psycho Beach Party, with Julie Halston whom he describes as his ‘great stage buddy’ in the revival of The Lady in Question, with his sister Margaret in 1987 when she gave birth to her son, and the poster for The Confession of Lilly Dare that ended a week before the Covid lockdown in 2020.
This multilayered memoir reminds us of Charles’ impressive staying power. Truly he is unique and magical – his book shows us how and why.
About Charles Busch:
Charles Busch is an actor, playwright, and drag legend. He is the author and star of many plays, including Vampire Lesbians of Sodom,one of the longest-running plays in Off-Broadway history. His play The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife played 777 performances on Broadway and received a Tony nomination for Best Play. Busch wrote and starred in the film versions of his plays Psycho Beach Party and Die Mommie Die, the latter of which won him the Best Performance Award at the Sundance Film Festival. He has been honored with a special Drama Desk Award for career achievement as both performer and playwright and he also received the Flora Roberts Award for Sustained Achievement in the theater by the Dramatist’s Guild.
