PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Bearded Ladies Cabaret has performed opera, sing-a-longs and mobile shows on a truck. And now, they’re gliding on ice to tackle climate change.
“The premise of the show is climate justice is so impossible to talk about right now, almost as impossible as getting drag queens to learn how to ice skate. So if we can get these messy queens to ice skate in under an hour, we can solve the climate crisis,” said Artistic Director John Jarboe of Beards on Ice, coming to Tarken Ice Rink in Northeast Philly on March 15 and 16, and Laura Sims Skate House in Cobbs Creek on March 22 and 23.
The show was created in 2023. This year, it’s back and bigger.
Jarboe says they'll have two shows: One family-friendly and one more PG-13, but both are filled with jokes, joy and some outrageous characters.
“We've got bees, ‘Polly Nator’ and ‘Honey Trap.’ We've got a wooly mammoth this time, a penguin, Mr. Potato Head — don't ask why,” Jarboe said. There’s also a glacier named “Diane Slowly.”
“If we're gonna go down, we might as well go down laughing.”
The group is partnering with Physicians for Social Responsibility, Penn Environment and other environmental groups, which will table at the show.
“They're going to have little jewels. You can bedazzle yourself and you can get free hot chocolate,” Jarboe said.
All performances are donation-based and include a free skate rental and 1-hour skating session after.
“With everything going on with the climate, we thought, well, how interesting to do a show engaged with climate justice on an environmentally toxic rink? How interesting is that tension, when you're thinking about the ice in the world melting, to do a show about that on ice, on artificial ice, basically,” Jarboe said.
Tickets are on the Bearded Ladies website.