All Photos: Denis Largeron Photographie

A coworker recently told me that she was thinking of having her bachelorette party at Town Danceboutique’s drag show (which happens every Friday and Saturday at 10:30). And that’s what the scene there typically is: women wearing sashes and crowns, getting trashed and heckling queens, and every Virginian gay boy with a fake ID. Not last Saturday.

Last Saturday our FAVORITE drag queen, the lovely Miss Summer Camp (who stars in the outrageous CRACK variety show twice a year and who you may know as local DJ Shea Van Horn), stopped by to show the Ladies of Town her own brand of drag. Summer comes from the modern school of outrageous drag, and that was on full display. Opening up with Primadonna by Marina and the Diamonds, Summer was dressed like the Virgin Mary herself, progressively stripping off layer after layer of clothing until her outfit would make any nun blush. And here is where Summer Camp’s true brilliance came through – instead of collecting “coin” (dollar bills offered by the audience) as a traditional queen would, Summer brought a subversive commentary into play by passing around a box labeled “Offers for Jesus.” The audience was officially on notice.

The second round featured SUmmer coming as close to traditional drag as she got all night: a stunning rendition of Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite. Swathed in metallic gold wings that extended several feet from her arms, Summer proceeded to flag dance across the stage. She then (once again) stripped down, this time to reveal a golden seashell bra. Aphrodite, indeed.

Finally, to close her Ladies of Town debut, Summer Camp brought out a song that most people in the audience had likely never heard before. Die Antwoord is not exactly the kind of music one hears at Town Danceboutique, and I Fink You Freaky is, uh, freaky. Add to the already intense song a kabuki mask and kimono (which – I know this comes as a surprise – ended up on the floor) and some truly extreme dance moves, and Town went absolutely WILD. This is not the drag show that those bachelorettes came for, but we think they were pleasantly surprised.

Of course we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention always-good performers from Ba’naka Devereaux (who kindly recapped Ru Paul’s Drag Race for us all last season), Tatianna, and Shi-queeta Lee. The real standout among the regulars, however, was newcomer Epiphany, whose rendition of Nicki Minaj’s Starships brought the house down.

Want to see Miss Summer Camp drag it up? She’ll be performing at our annual pride party, BYT & Capital Pride Present: WildLife (along with Amanda Lepore and JD Samson). Tickets on sale now and going FAST. And catch a full two hours of Summer Camp at the sure-to-be-incredible CRACK Presents: Anything Goes! variety show, Saturday June 2 at 8pm and Sunday June 3 at 5pm.