‘Midnight At The Palace’ is a brand new musical telling the tale of real life performing group, The Cockettes, a hippy drag group from San Francisco who burst into luscious life in 1969, attempted to take New York with their (then) unique brand of glitter-fuelled silliness but… failed. And ended up back in San Francisco where they proceeded to bring their riotous entertainment to delighted audiences for many years to come.

Written by Brandon James Gwinn and Rae Binstock, this pint-sized musical (it runs at just under an hour) is brimming with live music, foot-tapping songs, flamboyant choreography and quirky, endearing characters. Director and choreographer Paul McGill makes great use of the compact space and the inventive cardboard set is wholly in-keeping with the homespun nature of the entertainers. The costumes (Allen and Adcock) are an explosion of colour: military jackets meet tutus meet tassled bras meet kimonos meet string vests, all beautifully embellished. But the most captivating thing about this show is the joyous exuberance of the performers. Gwinn pulls off the impressive feat of creating wholly distinct doe-eyed, tassled and twirling characters and the actors revel in it.

Hibiscus (Andrew Horton), self-appointed leader of the pack, is as magisterially in love with himself and his communist ideals as he needs to be. Harlow (Al Knott) has a coquettish charm alongside a voice of 1000 cigarettes and hard liquor. Becky Sanneh as Dusty Dawn has a mischievous sense of fun. Sweet Pam (Baylie Carson) has a wide-eyed wonder that befits her country-girl-in-the-sequinned-city status and a gloriously soaring voice that makes easy work of the sparky score. And Gregory Haney is surely born to be Sylvester, the sharp-cheekboned self-assured majestic queen of the group.

Because the script’s trying so hard to stick to what actually happened, the story arguably lacks a cohesive emotional journey. Sweet Pam’s the only one of them who experiences any real character development and she still radiates wholesome when she’s gyrating in a hand-painted bathing suit. But kudos to US-based Sing Out Louise Productions for continuing to create new work in such cash-strapped times. And what better time to champion individuality, creativity and freedom of expression than now?

‘Midnight at the Palace‘ is at Gilded Balloon Patter House – Big Yin until Sun 24 Aug 2025 at 21:30