Matthew Martin Photo by Gareth Gooch

Less than a week before the club was scheduled to permanently shut its doors, depriving the drag scene of its most visual local venue, in comes an angel in the form of a billionaire couple who made a multi-million dollar donation which allowed Oasis Arts to purchase the club and make significant repairs and renovations. After an opening night party in July, the Oasis is back to its mission of presenting outrageous–and often outrageously funny–drag theatre.

I wish I could say Disastrous, the first full-length show to play the newly reopened Oasis lived up to that reputation. The show, written by club owner D'Arcy Drollinger, opened this weekend to a raucously-full house, ready to be entertained by the likes of Drollinger, Matthew Martin, Michael Phillis, James Arthur M., Steven LeMay, and Nancy French. Despite the fact that the show seemed to go for the cheapest laughs, it seems that's what the audience came seeking, for they roared for most of the two hours of Drollinger's send-up of disaster films.

Disastrous tells the story of Champagne Horowitz Jones Dickerson White and her ostentatiously gay best friend, Sergio (James Arthur M.), as they are about to jet off to Acapulco for a much-needed vacay for this stripper, er, dancer, and star of two previous shows, Shit & Champagne and Champagne White and the Temple of Poon. But at SFO, Champagne runs into a spy who's just been shot and falls into Champagne's arms, thrusting an attaché case into her hands and telling her to "get it to the authorities." Never one to follow rules, Champagne boards her flight (on Like a Virgin airlines flight 362436), where Sergio discovers a bag of white powder marked "GMO" inside the attaché. Assuming it to be cocaine, Sergio dives into the bag, only to discover it induces the strongest orgasm he's ever had. As it turns out, this is all a giant evil plan for the pharmaceutical company Mansanto and its secret backer, an organization called S.P.H.I.N.C.T.E.R. (the initials stand for something, but I couldn't jot it down fast enough). The GMO is a key ingredient in their new pill Crescendo, and also a part of their evil plot.

Over the course of two hours (including an intermission), Champagne has to pilot the 747, which crashes in Mexico, stranding her in the deepest jungle, and ultimately ending up in S.P.H.I.N.C.T.E.R.'s underground lair, where villain El Cafitan (Matthew Martin, who, natch, wears an outrageous caftan) strokes her white cat–which, not unlike the rabbit in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is capable of dispatching El Cafitan's hapless henchmen. As you can imagine, there are plenty of jokes about El Cafitan's pussy.

If you're in the mood for bawdy humor, albeit of a rather low-res variety, Disastrous will be right up your alley. You will enjoy regular reports from newscaster Connie Lingus of station KUNT, and lines like "give you a hand on your big opening." Despite the silliness going on on stage, it's hard not to be impressed by the joy the performers take in being back on the Oasis stage (which is much improved with the renovations).

Matthew Martin is especially delicious as the evil El Cafitan, and Michael Phillis bounces from character to character (he plays five) with equal enthusiasm. Steven LeMay, who plays Sharron the put-upon stewardess, has a ball working with the male members of the cast, and takes much abuse, as Sharron survives the plane crash, a lightning strike, being stabbed multiple times–and quite a bit more than that.

Costumes and wigs (by Alice Ruiz and Becky Motorlodge, respectively) are appropriately over the top and skimpy/sexy in all the right ways.

Disastrous is not a show to bring your Midwestern in-laws to, but if you are in the mood for a raucous, profane, fabulously silly evening of entertainment, it will fill the bill.

Disastrous runs through September 12, 2026, at the Oasis, 298 11th Street, San Francisco CA. Performances are Thursdays - Saturdays at 7:00p.m., with doors opening at 6:00pm. Tickets are $47.08 and $67.58. For tickets and information, please visit www.sfoasis.com.