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A CALL FOR ARTISTS [1]

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Date: 2026-04-11  

Ohio has become the latest state to ban “drag shows”. They join Tennessee, Florida, and I’m not sure how many others in deciding that men in dresses are a threat to public safety.

The buckeye state has inspired me.

I am calling upon the nation’s amateur actors. The time has come for Charlie’s Aunt.

For those of you who didn’t do it in high school, Charlie’s Aunt is an innocuous little comedy, set in Victorian England. It is eminently suitable for children. I think I was twelve when I saw it. But it is about a young man who dresses up and pretends to be “Charlie’s Aunt, from Brazil, where the nuts come from.”

Which makes it a drag show.

Never mind that roughly fourteen percent of the population of the United States were in it in high school. Never mind that it is set in Victorian England, before sex was invented. There’s a man in a dress in it. That makes it a drag show.

Even better, another man falls in love with the man in the dress! What a shocker.

There’s the regular stage version, and a musical version including the song, “Once In Love With Amy”, one of the world’s all time great earworms.

So, I call upon our nation’s amateur actors. Summer is coming. Little theaters will be opening all over the United States. Instead of doing Plaza Suite, Six Rooms River View, or any of the other nice little comedies, people enjoy in the summer, go with Charlie’s Aunt.

Consider the police officer, who has to raid the show. His sister played the second lead in high school, and his best friend worked the lights.

Think of the judge, who has to try the cast and director. His college girlfriend played the lead in the musical version.

Consider the press coverage, as an inane little play, that high school students have been performing for decades, is closed down, because it’s considered obscene.

For the record, when a man plays a woman, it’s called a dame role. Back in the days when women weren’t supposed to show their legs, you could get away with having a fat lady do a prat fall, if she was played by a man.

When a woman plays a man, it’s called a trouser role. Back in the days when women weren’t supposed to show their legs, a woman in pants was something to see.

Speaking of trouser roles, the part of Prince Orlofsky in Johann Strauss’s opera Die Fleidermaus is traditionally sung by a woman. Cincinnati has an excellent opera company. I hope they will consider performing it next season. (Preferably in English, as the opera is actually funny.)

In 1870, when Strauss’s opera premiered, I’m sure men lined up to see Prince Orlofsky’s thighs. Now, nobody cares. But they would have something to say if an opera was shut down, especially in Cincinnati.

Then, maybe we could stop fussing about guys in dresses, and start working on ending homelessness, building better schools, dealing with climate change, and other important issues.

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