Cate Blanchett Is So Good at Drag That I Thought This Was Cate Blanchett Drag

Several minutes ago, a friend sent me a link to the video above along with the question, “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOBBY?” I had not seen it, nor did I know what it was before clicking. The video’s title, “Cate’s performance at The Stonewall 2/20/17,” didn’t help either. Cate who? At The Stonewall Inn? Is she a drag queen? What’s she performing?

So I began watching. “Please welcome to the stage Ms. Cate Blanchett,” the host says. And then, from behind a sparkly curtain, walks someone with a face that looks a lot like Cate Blanchett’s (only with thicker contouring), hair that looks a lot like Cate Blanchett’s (only with more exaggerated curls), and a voice that sounds a lot like Dusty Springfield’s. So, for roughly 20 seconds, I thought this was not Cate Blanchett, the Oscar-winning actress who brought Carol Aird to life on the big screen, but a very talented drag queen who goes by some other name, and is able to execute a very good Cate Blanchett.

She was too good at this. Too good at the theatrical steps, the flashy costuming, the over-exaggerated mouthing, the slow-mo gesticulating. This was just a typical Manhattan-dwelling fan of Notes on a Scandal! Someone who’s seen Elizabeth: The Golden Age more than once, you know? And what self-respecting drag queen hasn’t sounded exactly like Dusty Springfield on at least one occasion?

Oh, wait. No. It’s actually Cate Blanchett. Performing in a drag show “to benefit a charity for the Sandy Hook massacre.” Good to know!