It’s hard for Cassandra Peterson, known to most as the quick-witted and sexy, antihero Elvira , to narrow down her favorite moments from four decades of live stage shows at Knott’s Scary Farm. Fronting a six-piece band in a couture costume after being scared by knee-sliding monsters is up there, next to the joy of watching Cher and her son in the audience while singing a parody of “Do You Believe in Life After Love” — in Elvira’s version, “Life After Death” — to a packed house of fans, friends and celebrities. For the record, Peterson’s Cher impersonation rivals Ru Paul’s; Elvira is a drag queen after all.
Many of the spontaneous, raunchy and hilarious moments that made Elvira’s show special will be highlighted at the upcoming “Yours Cruelly, Elvira XXPerience,” a retrospective at Knott’s Scary Farm that honors and celebrates her career within and beyond their seasonally spooky gates. “I had been a singer and dancer my whole life, you know, not that I was a great one,” Peterson jokes, reflecting on the beginning of her 22 seasons of collaboration with Knott’s that started in 1981. The park offered Peterson the slot when Wolfman Jack stepped away from his annual show, having had success working with local TV personalities who specialized in the macabre.
Peterson jumped at the opportunity to bridge her Las Vegas showgirl chops that she thought were behind her with her sketch comedy improv skills from the Groundlings , and her new Mistress of .