Joey Arias isn't so much distracted by the cameras following
him around as he is in constant communication with them. The
emcee of Cirque du Soleil's Zumanity, being tailed
for a documentary about the show, will every so often, in mid-sentence,
purse his lips and wink at the lens. Attention is like oxygen
for a randy extrovert like Arias, who learned the thrill of
fame as an Andy Warhol pal decades ago but only now is tasting
its giddiness as the anchor of a mainstream Las Vegas production.
After years as a Greenwich Village legend -- with some other
break-out moments under his garterbelt -- Arias is"very happy
to be the focal point of this show."
Cirque's happy, too. Show co-creator Andrew Watson conceived
of the role with Arias in mind, sensing that the appropriate
tone would be set for the audience by the discordant experience
of listening to a husky male voice emerge from a feminine figure
in fabulous black gowns, a thicket of long black hair and emerald
eye shadow. Arias guides the crowd through the erotic cabaret,
quizzing guests on whether they're feeling sexy, horny or delicious.
It's an ultimate drag role for the Fayetteville, N.C.-born
Arias, whose folks once caught him dressed as Cleopatra and
fellating a neighbor.But Arias eschews the term "drag queen,"
griping that it evokes images of"a clown with big cartoon tits,
bad makeup, bad shoes, bad hair." Instead, he's "the next generation
of highly engineered sexuality."
Questions about his age are deflected with the retort, "I
love music," but we know he hit New York in 1976 as an aspiring
chanteuse. He enjoyed several highlights, including singing
with David Bowie on "Saturday Night Live," performing at Carnegie
Hall for an AIDS benefit and appearing in a half-dozen films.
He achieved iconic status in the late 1980s when his Billie
Holiday vocals turned an insignificant piano bar, Bard'o's,
into an institution.
Now, Arias is the fittingly outlandish new queen of Sin City.
To his friends, it's a natural fit. "It makes complete sense,"
Paper Magazine Kim Hastreiter says."Vegas is perfect
for Joey, and Joey is perfect for Vegas."
