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SHOCKINGLY FUN!

By Guy Wolf (for Provincetown Magazine)

Jackie Beat is a dirty-minded and dirty-mouthed drag queen. That is a good thing by the way, since a lot of her jokes and song parodies depend upon graphic descriptions of sex organs and a variety of sex acts. It is tough to do a show with smut as a central theme. The risk is you'll become tedious and leave an audience feeling like they are hearing one long dirty joke. Luckily, this doesn't happen in Jackie Beat's one-hour, live singing and comedy show, currently running at the Post Office Cabaret.

What keeps The Jackie Beat Show vital and fun is Ms. Beat's near flawless presentation and skillful working of the crowd. Don't get me wrong, this show is dirty and no doubt offensive to some people – not a big deal, since Jackie Beat doesn't care a bit if you walk out. "Leave when you want. I don't care. I've already got your money."

Drinking during the show is also encouraged, and she makes no bones about wanting a "well lubricated" crowd. "Drink! Drag is spelled with one 'A'. There is no 'A.A.' in Drag." I would have to say most of the audience was in total agreement with Jackie, since the 10:15 show is the last one of the night at The Post Office Cabaret. Everyone was feeling good and the energy in the room was definitely high. The audience cracked up at the cute, but corny opening announcements. The jokes are funny, most of the time, and when they are not, Ms. Beat rebounds in a snap and says or does something truly comical. She is the first performer I've ever seen who can independently rotate her eyeballs and freeze her face in a look that is all at once menacing, empty-headed, sad, and hysterically funny. And then there's the voice.

Jackie's voice has the power and range of a Broadway star and an old-school Black Diva. She is an amazingly good singer with incredible vocal fl exibility. She mimics just enough of song-stylists like Shirley Bassey, Angela Lansbury, Nina Simone, and Jennifer Holliday to set you laughing at these singer's vocal quirks. This is not a show about impersonating stars, but there are familiar song parodies like "Billy and the Priest" ("Beauty and the Beast") and two standout numbers, "Please Don't Tell Me You're Gay" ("Please Don't Leave Me this Way") and "Dildos are Forever" ("Diamonds are Forever").

Jackie also excels at a performance skill that looks simple, but is actually difficult to do well. She can work an audience. She fancies herself as "Oprah before The Secret," and is a master at playing with the crowd, giving us some of the funniest moments of the night.

All this song-singing and joking around is written and performed by Kent Fuher, an actor and writer from Los Angeles with some great credits, including a part in the film Flawless, and writing for the short-lived TV series, Hype. He toured with Roseanne, who is quoted as saying, "Jackie Beat is the greatest drag queen on earth!"

Fuher, all made-up as Jackie Beat, is a plus-sized "broad" with The Joker's mouth and a high head of hair that only Diana Ross (after age fifty) could compete with. Even if Ms. Beat periodically used a notebook during the show, (she made a really funny joke out of it), a lot of thought and work went into creating this X-rated "Provincetown experience."

Jackie Beat is not for the neo-puritan or the obsessively politically correct, but it is damn good fun for the rest of us. The night I attended, you couldn't have had a more mixed crowd of straight couples, single straight women, gay males, and lesbians, and
everybody appeared to be having a great time.

This is Jackie's first show in Provincetown, so try something new. Lend your support and help Jackie reach her goal this summer. "Buy a CD so I can get a vagina!" The Jackie Beat Show is shockingly great fun wrapped in a brown paper bag.

The Jackie Beat Show runs Tuesday – Sunday through Labor Day at The Post Office Cabaret, 303 Commercial Street. Showtimes: Tues & Wed @ 8:30 PM, Friday @ 7:30 PM and Thurs & Sat @ 10:15 PM. Call 508-487-0006 for ticket prices.