The Kinsey Sicks

The Kinsey Sicks, performing at Gravity Lounge in Charlottesville, Virginia.

The Kinsey Sicks bill themselves as "America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet."

They perform both original music and lyrics as well as parodies of well-known songs. Their work, while extremely comedic, is often highly politically charged. Their name is a play of words on "Kinsey 6," the end of the Kinsey scale defined as exclusively homosexual.

Origin

The Kinsey Sicks began in 1993 when a group of five friends (largely lawyers and professional activists) went to a Bette Midler concert in San Francisco, dressed as the Andrews Sisters. Assuming they'd be among many drag queens, they found themselves to be the only ones. They were approached that night by a woman who asked them to perform at her upcoming 50th birthday party. Though their initial reply was, "we don't sing," the group was surprised to learn that all of them had previous musical experience.

In July 1994, The Kinsey Sicks (then consisting of Ben Schatz as "Rachel," Irwin Keller as "Winnie," Maurice Kelly as "Trixie," Jerry Friedman as "Vaselina," and Abatto Avilez as "Begoña") drew a large and enthusiastic crowd at their first public performance on a street corner in San Francisco's Castro District. A year later, Avilez died, and was never replaced, leaving the Kinsey Sicks as a quartet (a formation that has remained consistent ever since.) Since then, The Kinsey Sicks have produced and performed full-length theatrical productions and concerts around the country. The group eventually became successful enough for its members to leave their former occupations to concentrate on performance.

Members/Roles

Since its initial formation, the lineup of the Kinsey Sicks has undergone several changes and iterations. Schatz and Keller have been the group's only constant through all incarnations. Each member of the group performs a fully-realized character, and as new members have joined, they have been encouraged to personally expand and develop their own "history." The members of the group over the years have been:

• Ben Schatz as "Rachel" (1993-Present)- Schatz, a Harvard-trained civil rights lawyer and former Director of the National Gay and Lesbian Medical Association, created the first national AIDS legal project and authored Bill Clinton's HIV policy during the 1992 presidential campaign. He is now a full-time performer as a member of the Sicks. His character, "Rachel," is loudly feminist, angry, and an activist noted both for her dimunitive stature, muscular build, and her refusal to shave her underarms. Ben Schatz wrote and performs "Jerry's Song," an absolutely beautiful tribute "Jerry's Song" to his dear friend Jerry Friedman ("Vaselina"), and it is performed in several of their shows. The song, a show-stopper, also appears on the album "I Want To Be a Republican."

• Irwin Keller as "Winnie" (1993-Present)- Keller, also a lawyer, received his law degree from the University of Chicago and was the former director of the AIDS Legal Referral Panel of the San Francisco Bay Area. Keller authored Chicago's gay rights ordinance, passed into law in 1989. By 2002, Keller had ceased practicing law to perform full-time. His character, "Winnie," is Jewish, a lesbian, and motherly with an old-fashioned sensibility. .

• Abatto Avilez as "Begoña" (1993)- Though Avilez was present at the Bette Midler concert that led to the formation of the Sicks, and appeared with them at their first performance, he quickly dropped out of the group. In 1995, Avilez died, though the song "Begoña's Song" was written to honor his memory and was frequently performed in concert by the Sicks.

• Jerry Friedman as "Vaselina" (1993-1999)- Friedman, Director of Audiology at the San Francisco Hearing Center, was the son of a piano teacher. . "Vaselina," said to have been born in a trailer, was trampy, sweet, and not particularly bright.

• Maurice Kelly as "Trixie" (1993-2001)- Kelley, a former project manager for Levi Strauss Corp,. created the role of "Trixie," platinum blonde, glamorous, and somewhat conceited.

• Chris Dilley as "Trampolina"- (1999-2007/ 2008)- Dilley, an actor-musician, joined the Sicks as understudy for Friedman's "Vaselina". Trampolina was originally referred to as Vaselina's illegitimate daughter,, but those references were phased out after Dilley became Friedman's permanent replacement. Like Vaselina, Trampolina filled the "dumb and slutty" stereotype of the group. After joining the group full-time, Dilley became one of the principal arrangers of the groups music. Though he retired from the group in the summer of 2007, he has come back to play "Trampolina" in summer season of 2008.

• Kevin Smith Kirkwood as "Trixie" (2001-2004)- Kirkwood is a professional actor-singer-dancer who was understudy for Kelly in "Dragapella!" and was then announced as Kelly's replacement for a year while Kelly took time off. After Kelly decided not to return to the group, Kirkwood remained in the role for an additional year. Kirkwood's version of Trixie was introduced as "[Trixie's] long-lost identical twin sister, Trixie" - a joke made funnier by the fact that Kirkwood is African American and Kelly is white. Aside from the racial differences, and the occasional 'Trixie Houston' reference, Kirkwood's persona as "Trixie" was largely faithful to the character's original conception. Kirkwood is currently pursuing a Broadway career.

• Jeff Manabat as "Trixie" (2004-Present)- Manabat, a professional musical theater-performer and graduate of UC-Berkeley, was discovered by the then-current members of the group while performing in a production of When Pigs Fly at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco. The Asian-American Manabat's casting as Trixie means that the character has actually had three ethnicities over the years. Manabat's Trixie retains all of the original elements of the character, but has, at Manabat's insistence, stopped wearing platinum blonde wigs and is more easily identifiable as Asian. Since joining the group, Manabat is responsible for musical arrangements, Trixie's inordinate glamour and soaring counter-tenor, as well as the entire group's hot couture.

• Charles Romaine as "Trampolina" (2007-2008)- Romaine, a Los Angeles- based performer and graduate of New York University, joined the group as Dilley's understudy and, in the year after Chris Dilley's August 2007 retirement from the group, played Trampolina.

• Spencer Brown as "Trampolina" (October 2008-Present) - beginning in October of 2008, the Kinsey Sicks are joined by Spencer Brown, a Kansas City-based actor and singer, already known for his drag character Daisy Bucket (pronounced, "bouquet").

Performances

In 2001, the Kinsey Sicks produced and starred off-Broadway in the critically acclaimed DRAGAPELLA! Starring the Kinsey Sicks at New York's Studio 54. That production received a nomination for a Lucille Lortel award for Best Musical of 2001 and a Drama Desk Award nomination for Best Lyrics.

In 2006, the Kinsey Sicks performed an extended engagement at the Las Vegas Hilton. In addition, their first feature film, Kinsey Sicks: I Wanna Be a Republican, premiered at the 30th San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival. Another documentary following the Kinsey Sicks backstage on tour is due for release in 2007.

The group has also appeared in such venues as the Herbst Theatre and New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco; Boston Center for the Arts and The Theater Offensive, [Boston]; Just for Laughs Comedy Festival and Club Soda, [Montreal]; the Nordstrom Recital Hall and Triple Door Seattle; the Ogden Theatre, Denver; the Colony Theatre, South Beach; the Wheeler Opera Hall, Aspen; Studio 54, Caroline's on Broadway, and Gotham Comedy Club, [New York]; Hobby Center for the Performing Arts and The Improv, [Houston]; Crown & Anchor and Town Hall, [Provincetown], and The Palm, Blue Chairs, and Club Manana, [Provincetown]. Their stage productions have included "The Balled Sopranos," "Motel Sicks: A Dragapella Summer Vacation," "Everything But the Kitsch 'n'Synch" and "GreatesTits," all of which premiered at San Francisco's New Conservatory Theatre Center. They are also frequently invited to perform at colleges, and those performances are usually followed by a question-and-answer session with the group, out of costume.

Discography

• Dragapella!
• Boyz 2 Girlz
• Sicks in the City
• I Wanna Be a Republican
• Oy Vey in the Manger: Christmas Carols and Other Jewish Music
• Sicks! Sicks! Sicks! Full Frontal New Ditties (complete with "nude" photos)

External links

• The Official Website
• The Film Website