Joseph Faragher '14 debuts "Primadonna Gay" music video
The Heimbold soundstage was a medley of glitter, lipstick, and fake eyelashes during the filming of director Joseph Faragher’s (’14) latest project, Primadonna Gay: a re-envisioned version of Marina and the Diamonds’ “Primadonna.” The mood was cheerful as nails were painted, wigs fastened, and raunchy answers to the game Taboo shouted out in the dressing room.
How did this elaborate vision in pink come about? “I was driving up to Northern California with my family over winter break and this song [Primadonna Girl by Marina and The Diamonds] came on my Spotify (product placement--intentional, Spotify is pretty amazing),” said Faragher. “I had never listened to it before, really, and was suddenly struck with this image of a Victorian tea party and all the gay kids I could wrangle sitting at a long pink table. I listened to the song on repeat for the remainder of the four-and-a-half-hour drive and constructed the storyline in my head. I became a little bit obsessive—I’m an obsessive person—and insisted in my head that I would make it happen.”
Primadonna Gay is a project that came to fruition because of the hard work and collaboration of all the people involved. “To build community you should create something together, so that’s what were doing,” said producer Lila Mensing, ‘14. “This is also Joe and my senior year and I wanted something to take with me.”
The video’s greater message is that it is “in support of LGBTQ expression and equality and gender fluidity as it applies to modern media,” said Busty Bruschetta, one of the many drag queens starring in the video. “And now quote all of us vomiting. No that was good!” said Decaf Divine, laughing. “It’s just everyone having fun with their gender and expression,” added Valentina Totino (the queen bee of the video).
The individuality of each character shone through as they lip-synced “all I ever wanted was the world” together at a long table covered in cakes, pink balloons, and tea party paraphernalia. Each character in the video is based off the actor’s real life drag persona. The majority of the costumes that appear in the video came directly from the queens’ closets themselves. Put together with pieces from the costume department and a few Good Will treasures, this created an incredibly glam sight to be seen.
After all was said and done, the queens put a ton of W-E-R-K into this video. Faragher’s advice to future music videographers, “Get an instagram photo on set. No one else is going to make that happen for you.”
To see this glitter and glam in action stay tuned for the release of the Primadonna Gay music video on 5.6.14. In the meantime check out this teaser: