The Lady in Question Is Charles Busch (2005)

Charles Busch genious

Charles Busch has a flair that's pure genious. Like all good parody it's rapier sharp with just enough camp to take the edge off. He spoke at the Image Out film festival in Rochester, NY last year where his film had already won the hearts of the audience. You can't loose with him. March 12, 2008

Well worth watching.

I had never heard of Charles Busch until I saw this DVD on Amazon. I have a keen interest in theatre and it looked intriguing so I ordered it and watched it (twice).
This documentary gives you an excellent introduction to Charles Busch - who he is, and what he's done.
I have to say that the old video footage shot in the 1980s and 1990s is PRICELESS. There is a lot of these old video tapes edited into this documentary. The tapes show Charles doing his one man show, and show many of the actual stage productions of the plays he wrote and starred in. This footage is REAL theatre history. It shows an actor/writer go from being a very young man doing a one man show in way way way off Broadway venues, to being the creator of a theatre company in the East Village in New York in the early 80s doing campy movie parodies in drag, to being the playwright of a hugely succesful Broadway comedy and a major stage musical. Intercut with all this archival video footage are interveriews with Charles Busch and the members of his theatre company who were with him from the very begining. It's fascinating and increadible. January 19, 2008

Fantastic!

Charles Busch is an incredibly talented artist and this film is brilliant!

I can't wait to see his guest appearance in Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell this week in New York at the Minetta Lane Theatre! It is suppose to be great! May 21, 2007

A Documentary of Merit

"The Lady in Question is Charles Busch"

A Documentary of Merit

Amos Lassen and Cinema Pride

Charles Busch is one of the most prolific, talented and outrageous New York artists of recent times. He is a playwright, an actor, a novelist, a drag performer and a leading lady "The Lady in Question is Charles Busch" is a stunning look at him. He came into the life of New York in 1984 as a new artist in East Greenwich Village with his cross dressing classic, "Vampire Lesbians of Sodom" which even though it was filled with sex, became a theatre classic. It ran for five years and become listed as one of the longest running shows in off-Broadway history. His other forays into performance art. "Theatre-in-Limbo" were produced at the dirty but inspired Limbo Lounge and were made of fascinating groups of all kinds of people.
"The Lady in Question..." begins in 2000 at the opening night of Busch's first hit on Broadway, "The Allergist's Wife" with a stellar cast. From there we go backwards and through interviews and film clips, we get an inside view of Mr. Busch and learn of his traumatic childhood. It was his interest in Hollywood and his "Auntie Mame" like aunt that saved him from going astray. He became a writer and was willing to go anywhere and do anything.
His parodies of Hollywood films he showed the world his talent and began to appear ala Tracey Ullman. Directors John Catania and Charles Ignatio have given us a beautiful look at one of America's most versatile performers.
Watching the movie is like opening a chest full of treasures as we sit and watch a thorough account of Charles Busch's life. We are privy to his early successes with "Vampire Lesbians" and "Psycho Beach Party" as well as the play that gives the documentary its name, "The Lady in Question". Busch also made the transition to film with the movie version of "Psycho Beach Party" and "Die, Mommy, Die!" We also learn that he almost died form a congenital heart condition.
Busch is living proof that all the great movie stars are not gone--they live in the impersonations of Busch. He is a one-man reincarnation of the great ladies of the stage and screen. The documentary is affectionate and beautifully edited. Busch is more than just the run-of-the-mill gender bender. He is a genius who in his heyday was the master of camp and pastiche who brought back historical pageants, anti-Nazi melodramas and beach movies of the `60s. This is a priceless look at a man who0 is able to do anything...and does.

March 10, 2007

"I've always felt such an affinity for eleventh-century England"

For anyone who loves Charles Busch (and I do), this documentary about his life and work is absolutely required viewing, especially since as extras it includes some videotaped excerpts from his plays, including VAMPIRE LESBIANS OF SODOM, PSYCHO BEACH PARTY, THE LADY IN QUESTION and RED SCARE ON SUNSET (from which I draw my title). The documentary might be a bit puzzling to someone who had not seen the films made from Busch's PSYCHO BEACH PARTY or DIE, MOMMIE, DIE!, given that there are perhaps not enough clips of Busch performing; and the documentary makers use an artificial dramatic arc climaxing with the sudden surgery that Busch had to undergo for a ripped aorta that feels a bit heavy-handed as presented here. (Certainly Busch's life was in serious jeopardy at the time, but he did come through it with flying colors.) yet why quibble, given that over an hour spent in the company of the gifted, funny, and always gracious Charles Busch is like an invitation to heaven? And the film also gives terrific background material about his lonely childhood, his wonderful Aunt Lillian who changed his life, and the many close friends and colleagues who worked with him at theatre-in-Limbo (including Kenneth Elliott, Judy Halston and Andy Halliday, all of whom are interviewed for this documentary, and Meghan Robinson and Robert Carey, both of whom sadly died not long after the opening of THE LADY IN QUESTION). There's also a new silent film short starring Busch, HER ROYAL ESCAPE TO LOVE, shot largely at Belvedere Castle in Central Park, that's intercut with the footage here and also stands on its own as an extra. if you're a fan of Busch, you won't be able to resist; if you're not, you need to see PSYCHO BEACH PARTY so you can become one, and THEN see this documentary. February 8, 2007

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