By John Hayden
BenDeLaCreme is terminally delightful and ready to be committed. The two-time alum of the RuPaul’s Drag Race franchise is looking for love in all the wrong places, including Fort Lauderdale. She’s bringing her show, BenDeLaCreme…Is Ready to be Committed, to the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. She’s ready to get married and all she needs is the dress. And the ring. Enabling friends and objects. Oh.. and a husband!
She debuted the show in 2019 in Provincetown and New York, but the pandemic forced production to stop. She used the downtime to make the act even more of a visual feast, and now she’s back in full force. BenDeLaCreme talked with OutClique about creating the show, finding a husband, and the perfect wedding cake.
John Hayden: I’ve been looking at the previews of the show, and it seems like the wedding is front and center, and the loving husband is strictly an afterthought.
BenDeLaCreme: All those details are really what matters about weddings, right? The husband is the final thing. All you need a groom for is to stand next to you while you yell at the caterer. The priority is the perfect cake, the perfect dress, the perfect diamond and then finding someone to give it to you. This is a show all about DeLa’s search for love and her race to get to the altar.
JH: Tell me about the eclectic group of supporting characters.
BenDeLa: In my show the cake is heavily featured. There are a variety of characters that DeLa meets along her quest for love. One of the key characters is her wedding cake topper bride. She’s the bitchy bridezilla that keeps DeLa on her toes. She has to keep up with this bride’s strong feelings of what a wedding should be. There’s a variety of characters in this. There’s a group of gay men whose entire purpose is to fall all over themselves to make sure DeLa finds the perfect dress. There’s a bachelorette novelty penis water bottle that comes to life and is a devout, problematic lesbian that has a lot to say on the nature of the history of marriage. A lot of them we meet along the way.
JH: I love cake! What is the best flavor for wedding cake? Vanilla? Chocolate? Other?
BenDeLa: You need enough tiers so you can have one of each (flavor). A wedding cake should be taller than you. I really believe you should take full advantage. One of those where you do a layer of chocolate cake, the vanilla cake, the pumpkin pie, the pecan pie. Let’s throw a turducken in there. Get the whole nine yards.
JH: From Grindr to Tinder, Christian Mingle to For Farmers Only, there are lots of ways to meet people. What’s the best app for finding a husband?
BenDeLa: In the show, DeLa does use Grindr to choose the perfect person, so I’d have to go with Grindr since that’s the branding. She’s really searching for the perfect individual. However, she doesn’t understand a lot of the language. When someone says “PNP” she thinks it’s because someone sat on their phone or whatever. Someone asks her if she’s into pig bottoms and she assumes they want pork belly for dinner.
JH: Describe the person who’s gonna like it and put a ring on it.
BenDeLa: Whoever is willing to fill the vows that DeLa’s already written. They are to have, to hold, stay out of my way, let me do whatever I want, stop bothering me, that sort of thing. The worst thing about relationships is the other person. I just need someone to go with me and see what I’ve got going on, whim-wise.
JH: Does a wedding even happen if no one sees it?
BenDeLa: One of the best things about marriage in our modern day is, there is no end to the reality TV shows you can be cast on during the process and after. In reality, marriage is just a stepping stone to more publicity.
JH: I know you’ve visited South Florida and Wilton Manors, but have you performed here?
BenDeLa: I’ve never gotten to bring one of my solo shows to Fort Lauderdale and I am really happy that I get to share this experience with all these Floridians.
JH: Finally, this is an intense tour schedule. How do you keep it all together night after night?
BenDeLa: The biggest trick is to maintain that perfect balance, going back and forth between caffeine and alcohol. You really gotta ride that roller coaster. We don’t want to dip into any Judy Garland area, but it’s about finding that chemical balance.
BenDeLaCreme will be at the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts at 8PM on Friday, May 20, 2022. For tickets visit BrowardCenter.org.
