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“The higher the hair, the closer to God,” says Reverend Yolanda, the campy, drag-queen star of the new documentary Reverend Yolanda’s Old Time Gospel Hour — The Movie, billed as the Rocky Horror Picture Show of country gospel music. “Yolanda and Dolly Parton keep the wig makers of America in business,” jokes iKE ALLEN, the film’s Boulder-based director. “The show is filled with humor, love and great music. Expect to leave the film and live shows with a new view of what a drag queen can be.”
Reverend Yolanda serves her God with her outrageous performances, using her persona to affirm LGBTQ people struggling with faith. ALLEN’s favorite moment is when Yolanda talks to her mom on the phone. “She says, ‘I have a wonderful son, and I love him very much.’ Then next is the scene where he talks about growing up in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and when he was in fourth grade he read a Time magazine article about homosexuality. He went to school, and for Show and Tell, he held up the magazine and told his class he was a homosexual. It gets even better as the film goes on.”
Bow to the queen and enjoy her brand of old-time religion, along with a screening of the documentary, at the Crossroads Theater, 2590 Washington Street, tonight at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at goyolanda.com.
Sat., Sept. 6, 7 p.m., 2014
