Baby breaks the rules

Anyone in the Hordern Pavilion in the early hours of Sunday morning should expect to shocked -“ and that’s just the way provocative drag performer Baby Marcelo likes it.

At around 5am the Italian-born entertainer and killer bitch will make her way through the crowds on her trademark stilts before a 10-minute Mardi Gras party show that she promises will be very, very hot.

In town for her first Mardi Gras, the showgirl tells Sydney Star Observer she is a tranquil and quiet person offstage and out of her spectacular drag attire.

In the spotlight -“ whether at her usual base in Spanish party mecca Ibiza or performing around the world -“ it’s a different story.

My [Mardi Gras] show is the one that I perform in Ibiza and also the one I do when I have toured in Europe, the US and in Brazil, Baby Marcelo says.

The concept is always the same: coming out on stilts and entertaining the audience with a very energetic performance.

Once I’m on stage I’m exactly like the words [of my songs] -“ very transgressive, outgoing and sexual, but in an ironic way.

Since making her debut in Rome about 12 years ago, Baby Marcelo has earned a reputation for insulting her audience -“ in thoroughly tongue-in-cheek fashion.

La Troya Asesina, the party she appears at in Ibiza club Amnesia, is derived from the Italian for killer bitch.

I’m a killer bitch, Baby Marcelo laughs, [but] it’s ironic.

While I’m performing and talking to the audience, I like to do it in an insulting kind of way.

It’s part of the show and it’s what people want and expect from a character like mine.

Baby Marcelo will perform two songs at the Mardi Gras party. She often sings live -“ in Spanish or Portuguese. Like any good drag queen, she also admits to the odd lip-sync, but says the similarities between her and other drag performers end there.

I don’t consider myself to be a drag queen. I’m something in between a drag queen and a performer -“ more a performer, Baby Marcelo says.

You can’t really put me in a drawer or label me. I even think of myself as a fucking transvestite. I don’t want to imitate anyone. I sing with my own voice and show my own version of a drag queen.

Not that Baby Marcelo considers herself above other drag stars. She says she’s keen to meet other performers while in town.

She’ll have a chance to do that during the Mardi Gras parade, when she’ll be appearing on the Gaydar float and performing a number at Taylor Square.

It’s an honour to participate here and I’m really looking forward to it, Baby Marcelo said.

I hope Australian audiences will like me. Ever since I was a little boy I’ve always wanted to come to Australia.

For more information visit Baby Marcelo’s website.