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    Tuesday, April 16, 2024

    Social's monthly drag brunch brings dose of excitement and culture to New London

    Sutton Lee Seymour, a drag queen from New York City, reaches for tips as she performs during the "Pink Eggs & Glam Drag Brunch" last month at The Social Bar + Kitchen in New London. (Sarah Gordon/The Day)
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    Monthly drag brunch at Social brings in dose of excitement and culture to New London

    Don’t say we didn’t warn you. If you go to Social Bar + Kitchen’s Sunday Drag Brunch, anything is bound to happen — but that’s the point.

    We’re talking singing, impersonating characters ranging from Kermit the Frog to Sean Connery, lip syncing and dancing to choreographed numbers. We’re also talking original song lyrics and jokes, crude humor and games that incorporate both willing and reserved audience members. Get ready for dollar bills to rain and champagne glasses to overflow. You might feel like you are in a fabulous reality TV show (perhaps “RuPaul’s Drag Race” combined with those party scenes from “The Great Gatsby”) or at a no-holds-barred cabaret performance. Oh, and if you do go, expect to possibly be picked from the audience to perform yourself.

    There was one time, for instance, when drag queen Sutton Lee Seymour, dressed in a skin-tight mini dress and a blonde-beehive wig, pulled out four members of the audience to participate in a dance off. The game, she explained, was to have participants perform dance moves such as the Lawnmower, the Shopping Cart and the Sprinkler, and have them face off against one another. As the audience hooted and laughed in support, the four willing contestants twisted and grooved across the stage to the “Austin Powers” theme song until the crowd chose a winner.

    At another point in the show, Seymour pulled one man away from his girlfriend to perform a toned-down version of a lap dance, much to the delight of his family who seemingly dragged (yes, pun intended) him to the event.

    “Now let’s get you all really (expletive) up,” Seymour declared to the rowdy crowd buzzed on Mimosas. “Because the more you drink, the prettier and more fabulous I become.”

    But all of this (the wildly raucous and unpredictable performances combined with lively shenanigans and $20 bottomless Mimosas) is precisely what attracts groups of families and friends, and lovers of drag, looking to let loose and have some fun.

    It’s also why, since the Social started presenting its Sunday drag brunch in October, patrons keep coming back for more.

    Hosted at the Social once per month (typically on the first Sunday), the brunches are organized by West Hartford native Sky Casper, 24, owner and founder of event and entertainment booking company Sky Casper Events. The company focuses on booking and developing drag talent throughout Connecticut, as well as internationally.

    New London isn’t the only city in the state where these drag brunches are held. Casper organizes the shows, which go by the name of “Pink Eggs and Glam Drag Brunch,” in several other towns on a weekly rotating basis. But his New London brunches, he says, tend to sell out all of the 90 tickets available for each performance.

    So much so that, after organizing his first brunch at the establishment in October, Casper decided to book back-to-back performances (one at 11 a.m. and another at 2 p.m.) every month from there.

    “Everybody is just really great in New London and is open to new ideas and having fun,” Casper says. “I love that they come out to support these shows.”

    This Sunday, New York City queen Delighted Tobehere, remembered for her performance on "America’s Got Talent" in 2015 when she sang Josh Turner's “Your Man" in his signature baritone voice and received four yeses from the judges, will take the stage.

    Much of the success of the brunch rides on Casper’s rotating selection of drag performers — professional and highly regarded performers, most of whom are brought in from New York City.

    “I make sure that I am booking quality performers for each show,” Casper says, explaining how he frequently travels to New York City to seek out the best performers in the industry. “If I like their show, I will ask them if they are interested in performing in Connecticut.”

    Booking such talent, he says, hasn’t been incredibly difficult — especially after establishing a good reputation within the drag scene. That’s partly because Casper says he pays his company's clients a high flat-rate day wage (he wouldn't reveal how much), compared to what they typically earn in New York City for a single show. And the full amount of tips made (which range from $300 to $1,000) are also kept by the performer.

    Since starting his company in 2013, Casper has featured queens such as Tina Burner and Pissi Myles, both well-known performers in the New York City drag scene, and currently represents Pangina Heals, considered to be the RuPaul of Thailand.

    The inspiration for such events, Casper says, came after he attended a drag brunch while visiting New York City.

    “I had already been trying to bring drag events to Connecticut, but a drag brunch just seemed like a great idea,” he says. “And I noticed that drag brunches were really successful in New York City … I wanted to offer something that wasn’t offered in Connecticut, so I decided to bring New York queens to Connecticut.”

    Along with his Sunday brunches, Casper also organizes Connecticut-based drag competitions that typically feature new and promising talent. He currently represents an up-and-coming New London-based queen who goes by the stage name of Bella Daleadho.

    For Social’s manager Brandon Boyd, the drag brunch has been a great way to promote the restaurant’s brunch menu while also bringing a unique and exciting event into New London.

    “I’ve gone to drag shows in the past, where Frank’s Place used to be (where Octane Cafe is now), and they always went over well,” Brandon says. “When Sky presented the idea to us, we knew that it was a good idea from the beginning.”

    “It was perfect timing,” adds Oasis Pub manager Sean Murray, who helps Boyd host the event. “We were just getting brunch up and going at the Social, so we thought the drag brunch would be perfect to tie in with it … And it’s a very cool event because not much is happening here in New London on weekend mornings, and there is nothing else like this in the area.

    “The fact that it’s been such a hit in New London isn’t really a surprise either,” he says, explaining that drag, in particular, bodes well for a city that has both an openly gay community and flourishing arts and music scene.

    “It’s the costuming and the glitz that is interesting to me, especially when it is done well,” Murray says. “It’s a whole other world when someone is able to pull off these performances. And these performers are incorporating songs, dances, games and original jokes into an hour-long performance. That’s very difficult to do well, and because they are from New York City, they’ve had the right environment to perfect that. And that’s being brought here. It’s really a quality show.”

    "Pink Eggs and Glam Drag Brunch," 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday, The Social Bar + Kitchen, 208 Bank St., New London; tickets $15 in advance, $20 at the door, breakfast and drinks not included with ticket price; www.skycasper.com/events

    Sutton Lee Seymour, a drag queen from New York City, performs during the “Pink Eggs & Glam Drag Brunch” last month at The Social Bar + Kitchen in New London. (Sarah Gordon/The Day)
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