Fame's Mask
There's fabulous. There's absolutely fabulous. And then then there's Ryan Landry--the patron saint of drag, the king of queens with legs like a rainy day, because you want to see them clear up. He acts, he directs, he writes his own shows and performs them, too. He's a Boston staple and a Provincetown princess. His acting troupe, the Gold Dust Orphans, has been kicking around for a long time, but still fresh. The company recently staged Ryan's take on Willy Wonka called "Willie Wanker and the Hershey Highway," at Boston’s drag haven Machine (which, despite the title, the Boston Globe actually described the piece as "sweet.") and now is playing at the Crown and Anchor Paramount in Provincetown.
Ryan visited Boldfacer headquarters recently and, in a sprawling, catch-me-if-you-can conversation, talked a little bit about his life, his loves and his philosophy. First off, he says, he's a sentimental sap who cried as a child at the movie, My Dog Skip. Aside from the sentimentality, there was also an early desire for fame. He grew up among chicken coops in a trailer park in Wallingford, Connecticut, where he lived with his aunt and uncle. Ryan spent his time imagining that he was being followed by cameras, the star of his own TV show. He broke out of the trailer park, hit the Big Apple for college which he paid for, he says, by hustling and doing whatever else it took to pay for textbooks and rent. Though he studied first to become a fine arts painter, he stumbled upon a pioneer drag troupe called the Ridiculous Theatrical Company. That was that. He’d found his calling. It involved pumps, mascara and putting his raspy, Harvey Fierstein-esque pipes to good use on stage. He became a pioneer in the Boston theater scene and hasn’t looked back.
But he’s always up for dishing. In our half-hour chat he was quick to share, in his stream-of-concious way, his opinions on all manner of cultural touchstones. Barack Obama? “The most graceful president ever seen.” Sex in the City -- both the TV show and the movie -- thumbs down. “The glorification of stupidity,” says Ryan. Provincetown? Not what it once was – too many yuppies, too many luxury condos, not enough of the old charm.
As for work, he says he never thinks of retiring. He wants to keep pumping it out—the theater, the vaudeville, the shoes, for goodness sake—and never stop. Retire? No, never. Ryan figures maybe he’ll just spontaneously combust on stage one night, burn out in a bright flash rather than fade away. The ultimate statement from the ultimate Boldfacer. Ryan, we’re proud to salute you.
Contact: www.golddustorphans.com