Review by Steve Bennett

So, what's the difference between making a cheesy response
to September 11 to boost your showbiz career, and dressing up
in drag to parody the cheesy responses to September 11 to boost
your showbiz career?

Chris Green hit the publicity jackpot with his country and
western cowgirl Tina C, who supposedly mocks those entertainers
who used the deaths of thousands of civilians to increase their
profile. Heaven forbid the same accusation could be levelled
at him.

That's not to say there aren't some serious points made in
Twin Towers Tribute - it's just that you may take some convincing
that a glamorous 6ft drag queen is the best vessel for it.

Actually, this show isn't as offensive as its press - or its
posters - suggest. In fact, it's not much of anything.

Song titles such as Penta-Gone or 9/11/24/7 are hardly sensitive
or politically incisive, just bad puns. Elsewhere we have double
entendres about New York firemen having 'dirty helmets'.

Tina C - which sounds like Tennessee in a Southern accent
- is concerned that America may have missed the poignancy and
tragedy of the appalling events, so she's penned a few songs
"to ram the point home".

But the running theme is that whatever global catastrophe
she is singing about, "it's really more about me."

Many of these are based on gags worthy of a smile or small
chuckle, but rarely a strong enough to sustain a three-minute
song - admittedly the same accusation that can be levelled at
the majority of musical comedians.

Her views no doubt reflect that of the majority of Americans,
and certainly their president, who cannot understand what their
country did wrong to even become a target, and that unquestioning
blind patriotism is the only way to survive.

But Green could be accused of the same unsubtlety of his creation
- ramming points home that could have been made in a much lighter
way.

The show's not all 9/11, though these segments inevitably
dominate. And without the spectre of the Twin Towers references,
the quality of the material behind the make-up and stetson are
laid bare.

This we have one-gag songs like I Became Schizophrenic So
I Could Love You Twice As Much, and Tina C's power ballard likening
herself to the Virgin Mary, that stretch initially good ideas
too far.

That said, she did prove very popular with the majority of
the audience - and she can certainly sing. But ultimately this
show couldn't live up to its hype.

Review date: 1 Jan 2010
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett