Big Queer Rock Show to benefit Boston Alliance of Gay , Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth

by David Foucher, EDGE Publisher -

In the world of gay cabaret, female impersonators are ubiquitous – but precious few can say they are adored by those they imitate. When Richard Skipper takes the stage as Carol Channing, he dons both the actresses’ ring and her ringing endorsement of his work.

“We’ve become very good friends,” Skipper says of his relationship with the actress he emulates. “We talk all the time, she calls me to ask how I am. She was in New York three weeks ago and we spent the afternoon together. She’s thrilled with what I’m doing.”

Skipper admits his is not a usual line of work; he eschews the term “drag” when its used to describe his artistry – but he doesn’t mind telling a willing listener how he was dragged into his career.

“I watched a lot of television when I was young,” he begins. “As a kid I mimicked everything I saw on TV. And one of the things I remember really well was Lucille Ball doing her imitation of Carol Channing.”

Via television he discovered a yearning to act; and as a young thespian, he rapidly bloomed.

“I started out in musical theatre, of course,” he quips. “I was first in ’Mame’ – and no, I was not Mame, I was young Patrick. I came to NYC when I was 18 to pursue this as a career. And had some one then said to me that I would be doing what I’m doing now, I would never have believed it.”

But when Skipper was called to sing “Hello Dolly” in a Manhattan piano bar one night, he took Lucille Ball’s lead… and ended up with a startling change in direction.

“I was nineteen,” he rcalls, “but I got up and I sang as Carol. The place just went crazy. Afterwards, someone asked me what my drag name was. Look – I grew up on a farm in South Carolina – I didn’t even know what that meant. She said, ’Well obviously you do this professionally.’”

Her statement was prophetic; he was briefly added to a gay-themed theatrical show performing as Channing – the gig didn’t last, but at its close he had added to his arsenal a critical next weapon: the outfit.

For the span of a few years, Skipper continued to work odd jobs – messenger, waiter, temp – while entertaining crowds each Halloween as the famous actress. He slowly developed a reputation for his high-quality emulation. And then, in 1994, Broadway called.

It didn’t call Skipper – at least, not yet. Instead, Carol Channing returned to the Great White Way in ’Hello Dolly,” and the fervent fans in the gay community celebrated her return. One of the organizations to officially mark the event was the New York Gay Men’s Chorus, who that year produced a tribute to Jerry Herman.

To Skipper, the confluence of events seemed the perfect opportunity. He began researching and preparing a show, and then reached out to the chorus.

“I started campaigning to do a number in that show. I faxed, emailed, everything -= all on deaf ears,” he laments. “But a week or two before the concert, a friend called up and asked what I was doing the night of the concert. He was planning the post-party, and Carol and Jerry were both going to be there.”

He then asked Skipper to crash the party dressed as Channing, and suggested that Skipper prepare a few numbers in case there was an opportunity to perform. Skipper debated about this unusual chance to meet his idol – but not for long.

“I went down to the Regent that night, and I walked into the bar. The entire place went crazy. They walked me through to Carol’s table, and they said, ’Carol we have a surprise for you – this is Carol Channing.’”

“I went down to the Regent that night, and I walked into the bar,” and here, Skipper pauses for effect. “The entire place went crazy. They walked me through to Carol’s table, and they said, ’Carol we have a surprise for you – this is Carol Channing.’ she looked up and she said, ’Where did you learn to do this?’”

Skipper has – consciously or unconsciously – begun flawlessly channeling Channing in my presence.

“I said, ’Bennington College in Vermont, you do know where that is Carol? It’s the lower left-hand corner of the map, the part of the state that’s always purple.’ Of course this is material from her act.

“She started laughing, and she asked, ’How long have you been impersonating me?’ And I said, ’Who’s to say you’re not impersonating me?’”

A friendship was struck, and Channing asked Skipper to sit with her. She grilled him on his life, and he responded with hers, in complete character. “She said I was scaring the hell out of her,” he brags.

“Well I didn’t want to monopolize her,” he continues. “But I did say I wanted to do a song for her before she left. She said, ’You want to do a song for me?’ I said, ’Actually I would like to do my whole show for you, but I don’t think you have the time.’ She said, ’I’ll make the time, you just tell me when and where.’ I said, ’Upstairs in ten minutes.’ And she stood up and she announced to the entire room: ’I never thought I would say these words, but in ten minutes we’re all going to see Carol Channing.’”

She was good to her word, sitting on a stool in front of the nervous Skipper as he performed his new show. At the end of the performance, Channing jumped up on stage and presented him with a ring of hers, placing it on his finger.

“As long as you keep this,” she said to him, “I will always be on stage with you.”

The audience cheered. Skipper laughs, remembering: “She then told me, ’There are two things I don’t like about your show, you look better and you sound better than I do.’”

With her ring – and her ringing endorsement – in hand, Skipper left behind odd jobs and took his act on the road. Over the past ten years, he’s played from coast to coast, earning awards and accolades, many for his recent production, “An Evening with Carol Channing.” He’s not played in New York for three years, and returns this month with a full band and a musical tribute entitled, “Carol Channing in Concert,” playing sporadically during Gay Pride month at the Hideaway Room at Helen’s NYC. He describes the show as a loving musical-comedy tribute.

“I call it loving because most people who do impersonations are mean and nasty,” he asserts. “Most people who do that are making fun of the people they’re impersonating. They’re putting their own spin on people. I don’t need to put a spin on Carol, she’s bigger than life as she is. I’m 45 now. I present Carol exactly as she was at 45. Imagine her then – she was doing ’Hello, Dolly,’ she had done ’Thoroughly Modern Millie,’ she had a lot of wonderful things behind her and in front of her. And I present her at that point of her life, at her heyday.”

The show is also a throwback to the popular supper clubs of the 1950s and 60s. Those who wish to merely see the show may do so; but for those who wish to truly immerse themselves in the experience, a full dinner is held prior to curtain. And then, Skipper tells her story through song. His focus, this time, is on the music… and with luck, a different kind of return to Broadway for Carol Channing.

“I want to do this show on Broadway,” he states without hesitation. “The buzz is already great. At my first preview there were three women who said they wanted to invest in the show. I have three theatre companies coming in to see the show. It’s selling out every night. That’s the goal. I want to do this show on Broadway.”

With determination and critical acclaim in equal evidence, he may just succeed – which makes “Carol Channing in Concert” a homecoming to remember.

Aug 30 – Sep 2
9pm

MADEIRA ROOM VIXEN @ THE PILGRIM HOUSE, 336 Commercial Street, Provincetown, MA

“CAROL CHANNING” IN CONCERT STARRING RICHARD SKIPPER  (WITH A LIVE BAND!)  SUITABLE FOR ALL AGES

Tickets are $35 ($30 if ordered in advance or for groups of 5 or more). A portion of proceeds from each ticket will benefit The Dr. Carol Channing & Harry Kullijian Foundation For The Arts. www.ptownvixen.com or (508) 487-6424.

www.RichardSkipper.com

NOW BOOKING JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2011!