Review: If You Knew Her Story

By Michael Block 

This may be a shocking declaration but reality stars have personal stories too! And if you knew their story, you may just fall deeper in love with them. Making her Laurie Beechman debut, Robbie Turner brings a handful of life lessons alongside a playlist of showtunes, some that only the greatest Broadway aficionado would recall, in I’ll Tell You For Free.

photo by Michael Block

Just a girl and her piano, Robbie Turner owns the stage as she shares an array of anecdotes from her life as the kid who glued her feet into high heels and the family that shaped her. Paired with some of Broadway's finest, the RuPaul's Drag Race season 8 queen invited the crowd into her world. Up until her elimination, Robbie Turner was one of the prime narrators of the season. And I’ll Tell You For Free helped to define why. She is an expert storyteller. Even when going on a long-winded tangent, she is able to reel them back. Her ability to recall jokes throughout allowed her comedy skills to shine on. Recurring jokes are in fact comedy gold. Her comfort behind the microphone allowed the night to flow effortlessly. With song selection being a prime player in the evening, if you're looking for standards or top 40, you may have been bummed. But those theater queens had a field day. From Bright Star's "If You Knew My Story" to Jekyll and Hyde's "Bring On the Men," her set list was dynamite. She even got in on the parody game lampooning the preparation of drag in an almost complete reconstruction of "Its a Privilege to Pee" from Urinetown.
There must be something in the water out in Seattle because these Seattle queens' in are ability to bring the theatrics is on point. Expect Robbie Turner to have multiple Beechman return engagements like her sisters Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme.