By Nicole Gluckstern for the SF Bay Guradian ::
Thrillpeddlers has slyly redefined its brand of thrills to embrace a wholly different genre besides the Grand Guignol revivalism for which it is best known; setting aside its usual quotient of twisted naturalism and splattered gore for the rambunctious, over-the-top glitter and glam of Theatre of the Ridiculous.
By Leslie Katz for the SF Examiner:
Not only has “Pearls Over Shanghai” survived a flash flood that closed it down for several weeks, the good-humored, gender-bending show is hosting guests of national prominence and questionable tastes — such as John Waters.
Chris Jensen for the SF Weekly:
In November 1971, a San Francisco theater troupe became the laughingstock of New York. The Cockettes were a ragtag bunch of acid-tripping Bay Area misfits who had started performing less than two years earlier at the Palace Theater in North Beach.
By Lynn Ruth Miller for For All Events :: In her wonderful and fascinating description of her life as a Cockette, MIDNIGHT AT THE PALACE, Pam Tent says, “Although PEARLS OVER SHANGHAI had long been germinating in the fertile mind of Link Martin, it was extremely fortuitous when the real Peking Opera played the stage [...]
By Mariella Krause for the LA Times :: In San Francisco, you need not worry about which horror movies the video store has in stock when there are half a dozen Halloween-themed plays you can see. “Shocktoberfest,” for instance, has become a Halloween tradition. This annual blood-fest, put on by the Thrillpeddlers, is inspired by [...]
Violet Blue from SFGate.com :: How can I best describe the adults-only, non-PC, musical extravaganza “Pearls Over Shanghai?” Take our local, super-talented Grand Guignol theater company The Thrillpeddlers and mate them with the legendary drag troupe The Cockettes — it’s as if Heklina birthed Rosemary’s Baby. It’s also the most entertaining live performance you may [...]
By Robert Avila for the SF Bay Guardian :: Thrillpeddlers, the Bay Area’s Grand Guignol maestros, is having a very good year. Amid an ever-extending run of the gloriously notorious Cockettes’ musical Pearls over Shanghai — the hit revival now shimmying its way to New Year’s Day — opened its 10th anniversary pageant of Halloween-season [...]
From Kimberly Chun of 7×7 :: For kids who were born too late to experience the fabulous freaks and drag delights of San Francisco’s world-famous underground troupe the Cockettes, your moment has come to truly sample the, ahem, wares of the groundbreaking psychedelic tranny troupe. The Cockettes may be gone, but it hasn’t been forgotten [...]
From Carnal San Francisco :: I recently got to see a preview of the revival of the Cockette’s show “Pearls Over Shanghai.” It’s an original musical written by Cockette Scrumbly Koldewyn, a musical genius born in the wrong era. His tastes and style come directly from show tunes of the early to mid 20th century [...]
Thrillpeddlers, well-known for blowing dust and gristle off Grand Guignol plays from early-20th-century Paris, are setting their sights a bit closer to home for this year’s Theatre of the Ridiculous Revival. Forty years ago, the Cockettes — a lurid, shimmering, acid-soaked theater troupe composed of gay men, fag hags, and babies — rose like a phoenix draped in thrift-store finery from a dilapidated movie theater in North Beach. Praise for the resulting exuberant midnight musicals spread like easy thighs across America, enticing Truman Capote and influencing everyone from David Bowie to the New York Dolls.
