Be-wigged and be-sparkled in a short, sexy dress (lovely long legs), Miss Coco Peru makes a rare New York appearance to a crowded, enthusiastic audience. Her stories are sad, funny and delivered with sharp-witted and sharp-tongued timing. Coco plies her trade as a boy-girl, storytelling drag queen, comparing herself to a Kathy Griffin look-alike. Out of the “monolouges” which she dubbed a “monologue in parts,” based upon a misspelling on an ad card sometime back, come stories of parties, "retards" and psychics as she segues one to another, all with well-thought-out sequencing.

Coco has tales of herself as “The Little Mermaid,” albeit her version depicts that she dies and evaporates into seafoam, out of which comes “I Want More” (all music to tracks) assisted by a bubble machine. Coco as volunteer prostitute resolves into “Sing"/"Make Your Own Kind of Music.” Stories of growing up in the Bronx abound as she fulfills Mom’s dream to see castles abroad, all brimming with sadness, heart and truth, and punctuated with a resounding “This Is My Life.”

For the faint of heart unaccustomed to lots of four-letter words in cabaret, heed Coco’s advice: “If I’ve offended any of you . . . I don’t care!”

Miss Coco Peru continues at the Beechman Nov. 13-15.

Sandi Durell
Cabaret Scenes
November 6, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org