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(Paige Turner with the cast of the fifth anniversary edition of Slurp!)
When showbiz spitfire and unnatural blonde Paige Turner showed up to Therapy last night for the fifth anniversary of her weekly show, Slurp!, it was all laughs and gratitude.
“I’ve always considered myself an entertainer,” she said while securing her top hat with a bobby pin. “Slurp! is like my baby. It’s the one show I’ve done forever.” Originally launched at Vlada, the Sunday night drag spectacle gained traction over the years, relocating to Therapy after Vlada shut down in 2014.
Turner, clad in a sequined ringmaster look, kicked off her show with a musical number from Pippin and some dancing with special guests Chelsea Piers, Jackie Cox, and others. A musical theater buff, Turner took the show back to her platinum roots with some live singing and Fosse dance routines. “I’ve had this amazing following of people who love what I do," she explained. "My show is always about engaging the audience. The circus theme is full of misfits, crazy lions and tigers and being like a ringmaster is kind of what I feel like I do."
While Turner’s cult following as a drag performer includes the likes of Perez Hilton and Graham Norton, she initially got her start touring in musicals as an actor. “Drag just kept finding me and finding me, and I was like, ‘OK, why am I fighting this?’” she said. “I really enjoy doing it.” Things are really picking up for the Hell’s Kitchen queen. With her cabaret show, Confessions of an Unnatural Blonde, headed to its fifth city on tour, Turner is expanding her shtick beyond the local bars. The solo show, she says, is just the start of a slew of new projects for the Indiana-born performer.
“It’s a celebration tonight," Turner continued. "It’s always about entertaining and entertaining myself first in case no one else is. But we just all have so much fun.”
See more photos from the slurpy celebration here.
