9 a.m.: Wake up and examine all articles corresponding to each of my outfits for all four musical numbers. In this show's case, I had everything up to par for each outfit except my tiny, white lace leotard used for my "Perfect" duet with Fantina. I procrastinated all week and hadn't even begun to start constructing it, but that's why I woke up so early to do it. I whipped out my sewing machine (her name is Nichole) and I took the next 15 minutes to construct my 1980s/Jane Fonda/Olivia Newton John a la "Physical"-inspired leotard and then made sure she fit on me perfectly. 11 a.m.: I gathered up all of my belongings, consisting of a gigantic three-foot-tall Shany Cosmetics makeup tote stocked plump with all of my makeup and accessories; four wigs and about 15 layers of suntan tights and other goodies for "just in case" instances; a duffel bag stuffed full of six pairs of different styled heels (stilettos, pumps, six-inch platform under-the-knee boot pumps, black velvet and studded pumps, etc); another duffel stuffed with a huge Ulta holiday pallet that has all the essentials and my light-up mirror, which is crucial for applying the perfect look; and other odds and ends type things like hairspray, bobby pins, my Cosmo magazine for my "Obsessed" routine and my computer/charger.
Noon: I walked the three blocks down First Avenue West to Superior Street with all of my bags, which probably amounted to at least 100 pounds, and made it just in time to hop onto bus 6 up to campus.
12:30 p.m.: When I got to school, I picked up some food from the school store (because mama's got to eat, especially considering the amount of energy she is about to exert) and headed down to the A.B. Anderson Hall basement lounge to park my belongings and start practicing some choreography that I had just been taught the previous day by my great friend and excellent choreographer extraordinaire, Victoria Dudley. Victoria has a busy schedule herself, so for her to be able to squeeze me in for an hour on Friday to teach me my hot hip-hop moves for the 5th Harmony anthem "Bo$$" was an absolute honor, and I hustled my rump for the next two hours or so practicing the extremely sassy and ferocious choreography she came up with.
2:30 p.m.: I took a little break and then packed up my things like a pack-mule to meet Fantina in his Goldfine apartment.
3 p.m.: Fantina and I created little makeup stations for ourselves in his room, I turned on my drag playlist, started listening to my songs on repeat and went to town on my face. The process of creating a "beat face," as we queens call it, is so extreme and has so many steps that the two of us felt a tiny bit of pressure to get all of our makeup on in the three-hour timeframe we provided ourselves. Fantina and I are perfectionists when it comes to this, and if we mess up even just a little bit, it's the worst possible thing that can happen. If it's in a place where brushing off the mistake with a makeup wipe will affect some other bit of makeup, you have to be super-effing careful not to ruin anything you already spent so much time perfecting.
5:30 p.m.: We finished makeup and met our friend, Melanie Spring (Mitch Dagger) outside the apartment, and then went back inside to start my 8-layer tights-and-padding game. I start with one layer of suntan tights and position my hip and booty pads in there to create my womanly figure. Once they are perfectly placed, I add another layer and then another and so on, until the pads are discreetly hidden and my curves start to take flight.
6 p.m.: In the Garden Room, the finishing touches were added: eyelashes, lip liner, lip tar and the taping of the wig cap. Finally, I laid out all of my outfits, corresponding accessories, shoes and wigs neatly in order of the set list and got myself pumped for the show to start.
7 p.m.: Show time.
The show happened and it went absolutely wonderfully and beautifully. I couldn’t have done anything different to make it better!
BY APRILL EMIG
Arts and Entertainment Editor