Latest news with #JurassiqParq
Axios
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Axios
San Francisco drag landmark Oasis to close by year end
Oasis, San Francisco's beloved drag nightclub, will permanently close at the end of the year after more than a decade of serving as a cultural hub for queer nightlife. Why it matters: The closure marks the end of an era for one of the city's most celebrated LGBTQ+ venues — a space that launched careers, created a devoted community and spotlighted drag and queer performers. Driving the news: The closure, announced Monday, comes as the club has struggled with attendance post-pandemic, as well as rising costs and declining bar sales. Owner D'Arcy Drollinger had to tap into his retirement savings to keep the business afloat, he told Axios. "There is a strong community; it's just not enough. It breaks my heart," he said. Zoom in: Oasis has anchored a number of over-the-top parties and community events, and it produced campy originals in a genre Drollinger brands "Vaudeville 2.0," with titles such as " Sh*t & Champagne," " Reparations" and most recently " Jurassiq Parq." Since opening in 2014, numerous high-profile drag artists, including Snaxx and Nicki Jizz, and celebrity guests including Cher, Anderson Cooper and Jane Fonda have made appearances. What they're saying: Peaches Christ, an internationally renowned drag queen, told Axios she's "absolutely gutted." "(D'Arcy's) team built something truly vital to San Francisco's queer culture — uplifting talent, entertaining endlessly and giving both artists and patrons a home. It's hard to imagine the city without it," she said. Zoom out: While the brick-and-mortar at 298 11th St. may be closing, Oasis Arts — the nonprofit arm of the club — will continue to carry on the legacy with shows at other Bay Area venues next year, per Drollinger, who is also the city's first Drag Laureate. Claire's thought bubble: Losing Oasis — which has been such a huge part of my life — feels like losing a piece of San Francisco's heart. Since first going in 2021, I've laughed and cried in those four walls, staged two shows and met lifelong friends.
San Francisco Chronicle
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Review: ‘Jurassiq Parq' at Oasis is S.F.'s show of the summer, claws down
In 1993, 'Jurassic Park' roared and stomped summer blockbuster records to shreds. Today, if there's any justice in the world, the drag spoof 'Jurassiq Parq' will sashay and belt its way to the live performance equivalent. The core of D'Arcy Drollinger, OasisArts and Michael Phillis' unimprovable show, which I saw Friday, July 18, at Oasis, is a bone-deep understanding of its source material. Writer Phillis and director Jason Hoover bring electric wit to and contagious affection for the many, many quirks in Steven Spielberg's film about an island theme park with real live dinosaurs: The shirt of Jeff Goldblum (Marshall Forte) is unbuttoned a lot more than seems necessary, and when he's injured, he does spend a lot of time posing like a male model. The explanation of how Colonel Sanders Hammond (Vanilla Meringue) and Dr. BD Wong (Trixie Aballa) reincarnated dinosaurs from fossilized DNA (Edie Eve) is indeed a bit like intoning one word — 'Science!' — and sending tasseled pasties spiraling in opposite directions. The team devises one brilliant lo-fi solution after another, starting before the show with an electric fence cordoning off the VIP area and a giant cube dominating the stage with 'CAUTION' written on the sides' fabric; inevitably, those curtains must drop, and sexy velociraptors (Madeline Lambie, May Ramos and Ryan Patrick Welsh) must emerge to sing 'Bootylicious.' A couple lazily rotating foam tubes and a leafblower simulate a helicopter. When Dr. Laura Dern (Elenor Irene Paul) plunges her hand inside a hillock of dinosaur poo, the wet, thwack sound that designer Jerry Girad devises is so evocative you might think someone licked your ears. And ingeniously, even in a low-ceilinged club, a tyrannosaurus rex finds a way to tower. As characters vent their sexual frustrations with chef's-kiss retro tunes — Chris Isaak's 'Wicked Game,' Aerosmith's 'I Don't Want to Miss a Thing' — the singing is way, way better than you have any right to expect from performers humping their way onstage through a sweaty, throbbing crowd sloshing their neon drinks around. Tuneful, soulful, powerful, it puts to shame the vocals in many musical theater productions that take themselves more seriously. More Information Those same performers nail their caricatures. As Dr. Jeff Goldblum, Forte is all twitchy, breathy smarminess, his entreaties for someone, anyone, to listen to him talk about chaos theory liable to explode at any moment in a spontaneous ejaculation. As inept villain Wayne Nerdy, Snaxx is a whole bundle of live wires, fizzing in so many directions simultaneously that you really start to question any enterprise that would give him sole control of security systems. And as grandkids Lexxx and Timy, Barbie Bloodgloss and Kitty Litter create a double act so deliciously weird and fully embodied they could stand to the side and give a running commentary. When, not if, you go, re-watch the movie first, just so you can savor the full splendor of every punch line — a bathroom sequence, a goat cameo, why it was such a good idea to (almost totally) eliminate Sam Neill's nonentity character. Put team Phillis and Hoover in charge of more things. The city of San Francisco has a lot of problems, but 'Jurassiq Parq' makes you feel like you could solve more of them if we all just banded together with some sequin-clad dinosaurs to sing 'What's Up' by 4 Non Blondes.
Axios
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Axios
"Jurassiq Parq" brings '90s camp roaring into SF
It's Saturday night in San Francisco, and I'm watching a drag queen dressed as Steve Irwin unveil a cage of sexy velociraptors in fishnet stockings. State of play: This is "Jurassiq Parq," an immersive musical parody of the 1993 film that goes all in on nostalgia. Think Richard Attenborough in a rhinestoned safari suit and dinosaurs singing everything from Destiny's Child to Cyndi Lauper. What they're saying: "'90s nostalgia is the warm Snuggie for the millennial soul," writer and director Michael Phillis tells Axios. "Wrap yourself up in it and revel in the simpler times when the pager was high-tech and cargo shorts were still OK." The intrigue: San Francisco is no stranger to niche drag shows, but "Jurassiq Parq" has broad appeal. Movie buffs, queer theater fans, and '80s and '90s music lovers will all find something to love, as well as "anyone who had a sexual awakening to Jeff Goldblum," Phillis said. My thought bubble: This is exactly the type of ridiculous theater we need right now — a chance to walk into the jungle and forget the world while you sing-scream Madonna.
Axios
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
SF weekend events: "Jurassiq Parq," Al Pastor Papi and more
The weekend has arrived, and it's time to kick back and relax. Here are a few of the many events on our radar. 🦖 Indulge in "Jurassiq Parq," a sci-fi musical parody of your favorite 90s movie, featuring pop vocals, wild puppets and plenty of drag. Dress ups and sing-a-longs encouraged. 6:30-9pm Thursdays through Saturdays at Oasis until Aug. 2. Tickets start at $57. 🇫🇷 Enjoy a taste of France with French wines, free berets and live performers at Bastille on Belden . 4:30-8:30pm Friday at Belden Place between Pine and Bush Streets. 👯♂️ Check out BANDALOOP Live & In Process , a vertical dance performance that showcases performers scaling the walls of Oakland City Hall. 2-4pm Saturday at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza/Oakland City Hall. Free. 🎉 Commemmorate the Ferry Building's 127th birthday with live music from Bay Area artists, including Big Blu Soul Revue, Liv Belda and Prophet Martian. 11am-6:30pm Sunday.
