Boy in a Dress

How old is La JohnJoseph? He has the swagger and the confidence of someone who discovered free love in the '60s, and whose heady adventures saw him through the 'Me Decade' of the '70s. Add to that his religious, and unstable formative years that sound as distant and full of corruption as the '50s and you have here a performer who sings, dances and tells stories of his repressive childhood and unbelievable, erm, career shall we say, with ease and charm.

But this boy in a dress and heels to boot looks like a young slip of a thing with his mischievous red hair and enviously good skin. He attempts to fuse the solid retro elements of his musical, autobiographical show with experimental, metaphor-laden interruptions like the additional performer who teeters around in distracting, obnoxiously high heels. He also strays from his own rendition of classic songs and heartfelt stories - the best of which detail his relationship with his flawed mother- and begins lip-synching to soulless pop, spoiling the atmosphere of his intimate, delicate and (for the most part) well-crafted show. How old is La JohnJoseph? It doesn't matter but man, does he have some stories to tell.

Naima Khan