Mink Stole and Peaches Christ Celebrate Cult Cinema With Cabaret Show Idol Worship

Actress Mink Stole and “drag impresario” and filmmaker Peaches Christ will take Texas by storm this season, staging Idol Worship: An Evening with Mink Stole and Peaches Christ in Dallas, Austin and Houston.

The tour will kick off April 5 at the Texas Theatre, which Christ calls a “cult movie lover’s dream of a movie theater. ” The Dallas show will be presented by May May’s Nightmares with special guest Xochi Mochi.

Idol Worship celebrates the bond Christ and Stole have developed over years. In addition to their stage performances, the pair have collaborated on set, with Stole appearing in All About Evil, a 2010 film written and directed by Christ (as Joshua Grannell). They have performed variations of their Idol Worship stage show since 2020, adapting it over the years as it settled into its current format, a 90-minute cabaret show that includes storytelling, songs and movie clips.

“When the show first started, it was always coupled with a screening of a Mink Stole movie at my Midnight Mass movie series,” Christ says. “And I would celebrate Mink and put on a big show in honor of Mink, and then we would screen a movie. It’s still about me worshiping Mink, but it’s also very much about our history together and our friendship and … it’s evolved over the years.”

“Peaches may worship me, but I worship Peaches. So it’s a mutual worship,” says Stole. “It’s just kind of focused on me.”

Anyone familiar with Stole’s body of work can understand the admiration. She is perhaps best known for her appearance in the films of iconoclast director John Waters (Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble). Stole also appears in the cult classic film But I’m a Cheerleader and Gregg Araki’s Splendor. Christ grew up watching Stole’s movies, so sharing a stage with her and providing others who feel affection for her work as a communal expression has been a dream opportunity.

“It’s very much a show for fans of Mink Stole, you know,” says Christ. “So I ask her all the questions that you want to know, the behind-the-scenes questions. We show clips from the old movies and the new movies.”

Christ says that when Stole comes on screen as Connie Marble in a clip from Pink Flamingos and says there are two kinds of people in the world, the audience will join in to finish the line: “… my kind of people, and assholes.”

While Stole’s work has a cult appeal, in many ways it is even fresher and more relevant today than it was when the films were first released.

Hell or High Waters

“The act of the subversiveness of particularly our early movies is really on target now,” says Stole. She adds that while John Waters was making and marketing his movies to have an impact, looking for ways to let audiences know they were in for a unique experience when they engaged with his work, Stole and the other actors were just having fun.

“You know, we would get together for our rehearsals and just laugh at these ridiculous things that John was having us say and do,” the actress says. “And we loved it. We just loved it. And there was never in any of our minds, except possibly John’s, the idea that 50-some years later, anybody would still care. This is a spectacular surprise.”

There is a political undercurrent to much of Stole’s filmography, and its influence can be felt in Idol Worship. While neither Stole nor Christ attempt to be overtly political with their act, they do not shy away from the contemporary thematic resonance of movies dealing with racism, fatphobia and abortion when putting on the show.

Being familiar with Stole’s filmography will certainly enrich an audience member’s experience of Idol Worship, but it’s not required to enjoy the show. However, if you wanted to sample the legendary actress’s work ahead of time, Stole recommends watching John Waters’s “Trash Trilogy” (Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble, Desperate Living).

“And I, of course, selfishly, would add that they should also include All About Evil and But I’m a Cheerleader,” says Christ.

Whether you take the plunge into Stole’s collaborations with John Waters, the work she’s done for other directors, or go into the show blind, the hostesses are more than happy to welcome you into the fold.

Christ says that if audience members should expect one thing, it’s this: “You’re really, definitely going to leave the show feeling like, for better or worse, you really know us a hell of a lot better.”

Idol Worship takes place at 9 p.m., Saturday, April 5, at the Texas Theatre, 231 W. Jefferson Blvd.