At Woody’s on Church St., Joseph Philpott has just gone on stage.He is decked out in a black velvet gown, with a bouffant blond wig, detailed makeup and countless rhinestones. He looks glamorous, and calls himself “a gorgeous creature who is an over-exaggeration of the feminine ideal.”Philpott is a drag queen who performs under the stage name Carlotta Carlisle. On this night, he lip syncs a monologue from the TV sitcom Designing Women, before songs by Gladys Knight, Alannah Myles and Céline Dion. The audience eats it up, many dancing and singing along.This is what the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood is all about. There is joy, adulation, celebration and pride in the crowd.Outside the bar, the vibe is tamer. The historically LGBTQ-oriented community, running along Church St., bordered by Charles St. to the north and Gerrard St. to the south, was once a vibrant destination. The daily lineups for countless gay bars, eclectic small businesses and packed bathhouses have been replaced by coffee shops, gentrified pubs and corporate chains.Other than during Pride month festivities, the crowds are smaller. Many once-popular bars and shops have closed, often because of rising rents. Societal acceptance of gay and lesbian people gave them other places to go. Online dating has pulled people out of bars everywhere.The neighbourhood has lost its sparkle. But you can find the missing energy in the bars when the lights go down and the drag show goes on.“Drag is the fabric that keeps gay bars together,” says Sky Gilbert, a professor, writer, drag performer and co-founder of Toronto’s Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. But the fabric doesn’t stretch as far as it once did.The careers of drag performers are limited to these few blocks. If they aren’t on a stage here, there is only minor corporate or charitable work in Toronto. Most theatres now don’t have drag on the bill. Yet the local scene birthed the performer wh ...
|
