Rappelling on a giant pink boa that has descended from the heavens, the drag artist known as Sasha Velour makes a flying entrance worthy of Cirque du Soleil. The occasion is “Velour: A Drag Spectacular” — and the word spectacular is not an overstatement. Visually, the show, which is having its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse, is a feast of pastel colors, aerial thrills, painterly projections and costumes that combine the bawdy imagination of Folies Bergère with the futuristic wit of today’s haute couture.
Musically, the piece is just as exuberant. The production, co-created and directed by Moisés Kaufman, throbs with lip-synchable pop hits of such eclectic range that the dance club energy eventually ensnares everybody. “Velour: A Drag Spectacular” continues La Jolla Playhouse’s fruitful collaboration with Tectonic Theater Project.
This New York-based company, co-founded by Kaufman, has spun from documentary sources a long line of rigorous, brilliantly uncategorizable stage works, including “Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde,” “The Laramie Project” and the Pulitzer Prize-winning play “I Am My Own Wife.” A more recent success, “Here There Are Blueberries,” which was launched at La Jolla Playhouse in 2022, was a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for drama. As a work of pure performance, “Velour: A Drag Spectacular” is an unalloyed delight.
The show, however, is less successful in creating a dramatic through line. The a.