Club Oasis, San Francisco’s premiere drag and cabaret theater showcases the best of Bay Area’s queer community’s talent, from fresh performers to campy remakes of pop culture and TV shows (their recent Rocky Horror was a hoot). The latest sitcom to be spoofed by the talented Oasis team of performers is The Nanny. the CBS sitcom (1993-1999) featuring Fran Drescher as “Fran Fine”, the flashy Jewish girl from Flushing New York who lands a job as a nanny for wealthy Broadway Producer, Maxwell Sheffield, a widower with three young children. Fran is no ordinary nanny. She’s brassy, flashy and a breath of fresh air to the Sheffield family and staff. For the first five seasons the audience was teased with the “Will they or won’t they” sexual tension between Fran and Maxwell; by the sixth and final season they are happily married.
Oasis takes the sexual tension and double entendres to a whole new level of camp and hijinks. Making an Oasis debut, Evian shines as the statuesque and nasally Fran Fine. Her tall and lean figure accentuates Fran’s colorful outfits including her signature mini skirts. With her big curly black wig designed by Laundra Tyme and her perfect nasally whine — “Ohhhh Mistah Sheffiellld” — Evian perfectly embodies Drescher’s over the top performance that made the sitcom such a big hit. Also outstanding is the multi-talented and versatile Oasis regular Michael Phillis as the prissy and uptight Maxwell Sheffield. His lean figure sporting all of Maxwell’s signature three-piece suits capture his formal, somewhat stuffy façade. His vocal intonations — “Miss Fine: this is UNacceptable” — is a carbon copy of Charles Shaughnessy’s priggish Mr. Sheffield.
All the supporting performers equally replicate their television counterparts. Polly Amber Ross captures Maxwell’s assistant C.C. Babcock’s desperation as she tries to win over Maxwell’s affections by undermining Fran with every chance she gets. Mudd: The Two Spirit milks all laughs as Niles the butler. Vanilla Meringue steals every scene she can as Sylvia, the quintessential Jewish mother who wants everything for her daughter. She gets help from her mother, the chain smoking grandmother Yetta (Loma Prietta, who also designed the wigs). As Fran’s young charges, Edie Eve (Maggie), Jota Mercury (Brighton) and Cal Cadian (Gracie) go to camp just as well as the “adults”. Edie has a particularly memorable scene in the first act that had viewers screaming. Marine Lay’her as Nanny Mueller rounds out the cast (Sky Russell is the swing).
Page Turner’s costumes, particularly all of Fran’s form-fitting suits, evoke Fran’s fashion plate so perfectly, it’s surreal. Adapting the episodes, Michael Phillis also wears his director’s hat, allowing each crazy character their moment to shine. With the political climate taking a nosedive and the holidays approaching, The Nanny LIVE! is the perfect fun and funny distraction that you know you’re looking for.
The Nanny LIVE!
Oasis Arts
Oasis Nightclub, 298 11th St. in San Francisco
Thurs-Sat at 7: Wed at 7 (Nov 20 only) (doors at 6) (dark Nov. 23 & 28)
ends on November 30, 2024
for tickets ($35-$55), visit SF OASIS