DIE, MOMMIE, DIE! is the third and final installment of CTGLA’s Block Party celebrating Los Angeles theatre, and is written by Charles Busch (American actor, playwright and female impersonator extraordinaire).

It’s a campy noir classic that tells the story of Angela Arden (played to the hilt by Drew Droege), a washed up chanteuse mixture of Gloria Swanson and Joan Crawford, trapped in a loveless marriage to a sleazy film producer (Pat Towne) with mob ties and two children that are no prize! Daughter Edith (Julanne Chidi Hill) is the ultimate daddy’s girl and son Lance (Tom DeTrinis) is obsessed with wearing his mother’s clothes and lusting after other boys. Angela’s only reward is a torrid affair with a much younger, very well endowed lover boy Tony Parker (Andrew Carter).

The hilarious and talented cast intertwines brilliantly in their physically demanding roles through a storyline full of twisted family relations, shifting loyalties and sexual innuendos. And through all this, Angela’s Republican, bible-quoting, Nixon-loving maid Bootsie (Gina Torrecilla) has a few tricks up her apron, too!

Under the masterful direction of Ryan Bergmann, we are transported to 1960’s Los Angeles life in this fast-paced, darkly comic melodrama while our expectations keep being teased with subtle (and not so subtle) clues as to the secrets each of them harbors.  This is camp at its gayest best!

— Victor Riobo

Die, Mommy, Die! playing at the Kirk Douglas Theatre through May 20th. Tickets HERE.