A Murray Little Christmas

by Sara Marcus

Drag kings may come and go, but Murray Hill has proved his staying power a hundred times over. The self-proclaimed "hardest working middle-aged man in show business" has been dabbling lately in standup, TV and film in addition to his customary variety and burlesque shows, but he still takes time every December to mount a Christmas show that would make Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer blush.

You better watch out, you better not cry: This year, A Murray Little Christmas is coming to town, and Dirty Martini and *BOB*, two of New York's top burlesque dancers, are coming along as well. Last year's Christmas show, which was only performed in New York, featured bikini-clad backup dancers, ridiculous skits, off-kilter renditions of holiday song classics and an acrobatic, homoerotic dance by the Wau-Wau Sisters -- performed, in Catholic schoolgirl drag, to the song "Sister Christian." The whole motley mix was held together -- in inimitably ramshackle, falling-apart fashion -- by the inebriated, wisecracking Murray Hill himself.

This will be Murray's third time hurling deliciously crass insults and bawdy bombs at Philly audiences. "I'm hoping that the ladies will come out," he says, "because I will have mistletoe attached to my cuff link, and I will be single that night." That night? What about the night before? "I like to take it one night at a time," he says, and you can hear his lecherous wink traveling over the phone lines.

A Murray Little Christmas, Thu., Dec. 18, 8:30 p.m., $12, The Five Spot, 5 S. Bank St., 215-574-0070.

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