Arts & Life, Events

Royalty graces Cal State Long Beach campus

In the early afternoon of a mostly empty campus, a handful of Delta Lambda Phi members did what most fraternity brothers do to prepare for their Saturday night — they listened to music, traded stories and spent hours applying a full face of makeup.

The annual Dragalicious event, hosted by Delta Lambda Phi, took place Saturday in the University Student Union Beach Auditorium. The two-hour event invited over a dozen queens to the campus to strut across the stage in their drag personas. The crowd of over 200 whooped and cheered while backstage, hours of work and preparation were being executed by a group of scrambling students, all wearing 4-inch heels.

Earlier that day, plans and directions were being shouted across the small room that houses the campus LGBTQ Center. Each table, couch and office chair was piled high with hair dryers, eyeshadow pallets, tubes of lipstick and colorful wigs as four queens prepared for their time in the spotlight.

Conversations drifted from makeup tips and the details of the upcoming show to of course, “Ru Paul’s Drag Race.” The students mused over who is the most dramatic, which contestants they are rooting for to win the current season and the queens they are inspired by.

This year’s coordinator Hector Benitez did her makeup based on the “Dragula” star, Dahli. Benitez did a dramatic look, with bright drops of blood dripping down her face to go with her mid-century outfit and five inch thigh-high heels.

The 21-year-old gave her fourth performance Saturday, giving a sassy performance to “Attitude,” by Leikeli47 and joining the 12 other queens who took to the stage, wowing the crowd of students, alumni and chapter members from various schools.

“This is my third year [attending Dragalicious],” Cal State Fullerton student Micah Brooks said. “My favorite thing is the music, the performances, the unity, it’s all very fun to me. I like to be the loudest person in the audience.”

Brooks was one of many students who migrated from outside of the city and sat in the auditorium an hour early, waiting for the queens who showed up in an exaggerated late fashion. To keep the crowd occupied between performances, the fraternity raffled off prizes that included gift cards to restaurants, earphones and a spin class subscription.

Fountain Valley High School sophomore Chris Drummond came to watch his friend Brandon Hong, who went under the stage name of Yakisoba.  

“Everyone was incredible,” Drummond said. “It’s important to have Dragalicious on campus because it brings a side of unity; you’re bringing your masculine and your feminine [and] combining it together and everyone is just having a good time. You’re seeing performances and everyone is just being themselves, it doesn’t matter what’s going on.”

Hong’s performance was focused more on the comedic aspect of the show, as she played a woman being cheated on in a messy wig and tarnished robe, only to rip off her costume and reveal another underneath, causing the crowd to erupt in applause at the sight of an elegant silk robe and smooth, white hair.

“I feel like I’m on cloud nine, all of my stunts pulled out, my reveal on my waist and my reveal on the wig, everything just turned out great, it killed,” Hong said.

The performers in the annual event varied from local celebrities to chapter alums and first timers, all receiving support from the audience in the form of cheers and crumpled dollar bills. The night created a fun, inviting atmosphere for members of the fraternity as well as their friends and families. Delta Lambda Phi concluded the night by bringing all the current and former royalty on stage for the crowd to bow down to one last time, until next year’s drag ball.

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