Nevertheless, in spite of all the spillage and spewage, most people left with clean shoes. This was something of a miracle, given the evening's entertainment. "I want to welcome you all to what I think is going to be one of the best nights of the rest of your life," drag-clad Nick Garrison said in an opening bit he performed along with Sarah Rudinoff and Chris Jeffries, not warning anyone unfamiliar with Kiki & Herb's boozy lounge act that it would also be one of the most messy. Kiki & Herb--a long-since washed-up songstress (invented and brought to life by Justin Bond) and her affable piano player (affably played by Kenny Mellman)--gave an apocalyptic, table-massacring performance that included, at the beginning of act two, a cover of PJ Harvey's "Rid of Me." Halfway through the number, Kiki clawed her way onto a table crowded with cocktails and half-eaten desserts, sending a full beer and a glittery centerpiece to the floor, and began to shriek at the man sitting there: "Lick my leg! Lick my leg!"
On the Boards has been around a hell of a long time, though not as long as Kiki, who, when it comes to stage personas, is as fitting a mascot to longevity as anyone. "You go through life and you do all sorts of things--you do one thing, you do another thing--and sometimes you forget all the things you've done," she slurred late in the show, sounding an awful lot like some of the people talking in the lobby afterward; there is, after all, no better way to celebrate a great run at life than to drink up and forget about it. Grady West, better known as Dina Martina, was among those in attendance. (To date, he's done three Dina Martina Christmas shows at On the Boards.) When we asked him for his profound thoughts about On the Boards' 25th anniversary, he stammered: "I think it's fine. I think it's great. Really. I mean, I'm drunk. What do you expect?"
