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The Cockettes were a psychedelic theater troupe founded by Hibiscus (George Harris) in the fall of 1969. The troupe was formed out of a group of hippies, men and women, that were living together communally in Haight-Ashbury. Hibiscus came to live with them because of their preference to dressing outrageously and proposed the idea of putting their lifestyle on the stage. Their brand of theater was influenced by The Living Theater, John Vaccaro's Play House of the Ridiculous, the films of Jack Smith and the LSD ethos of Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters. The troupe performed all original material doing mostly musicals with original songs. The first year they parodied American musicals and sang show tunes (or original musical comedies in the same vein). They gained an underground cult following that led to mainstream exposure. In 1971, over differences in philosophy, the group split into two separate groups, the Cockettes and The Angels of Light. The Cockettes continued to work as paid performers while the Angels of Light chose to do free theatre without admission charge. The Cockettes were the subject of a 2002 documentary, ''The Cockettes.'' == Underground beginnings == On New Years Eve, 31 December 1969, at the Palace Theatre in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, Sebastian let the Cockettes perform as part of his "Nocturnal Dream Show", a showcase of underground films, in exchange for free admission.〔(The Palace was located at 1741 Powell Street. Much more here )〕 The show soon became a "must-see" for San Francisco's hip community. Combining LSD-influenced dancing, set design, costumes and their own versions of show tunes (or original tunes in the same vein), the Cockettes took to the stage every month, performing prior to the Saturday midnight "Nocturnal Dream Show". Show titles included ''Gone With the Showboat to Oklahoma'', ''Tinsel Tarts In A Hot Coma'', ''Journey to the Center of Uranus'', ''Smacky & Our Gang'', ''Hollywood Babylon'' and ''Pearls Over Shanghai''. Word quickly got out that nothing like these shows had ever been seen before, and within a few months the Cockettes were getting enormous attention from the media. Not only hippie magazines, such as Earth and Rolling Stone, wanted stories on the Cockettes, but also mainstream magazines such as Look, Life and Esquire were anxious to do features as well. In 1971, The Cockettes released the short film ''Tricia's Wedding'', lampooning the wedding ceremony of Richard Nixon's daughter, Tricia Nixon; Nixon's chief of staff H. R. Haldeman arranged a secret screening of the film for White House staffers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Cockettes」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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