By Kevin Ferrisi –
The Chez Est in Hartford, in collaboration with DCJR Events, invited ConnecticutDrag.com to come celebrate the launch of Connecticut’s new all drag, all local news platform. Giveaways and raffles all night were an added bonus before drag fans gathered for the ‘Hit Play J.Lo’ show presented by DCJR Events and hosted by Angel Rivers.
To kick off the night, ConnecticutDrag.com brand ambassadors mingled with the crowd offering free string bags and chances to win free t-shirts. Followed by a heart-pumping show produced by Angel Rivers that celebrated Latin culture by having an all-Latina performer line-up and featured music by Jennifer Lopez. Angel Rivers explained, “When Domingo approached me about taking over for a night, as a Puerto Rican who grew up here in Hartford, I just had to do J.Lo.”
Domingo from DCJR Events gave Angel Rivers the opportunity to take over his night to bring her show to the Chez Est. ‘Hit Play’ is a show Angel has been organizing for about a year now and is a celebration of music; ultimately, where she can choose an artist, make a playlist celebrating the artist’s career and then curate performers with the songs. Jennifer Lopez was a perfect choice for this show because it fell right at the start of Hispanic Heritage Month.
DCJR Events, created by Domingo Cedeño Jr, is a bi-monthly show on the fourth Saturday of the month at the Chez Est in Hartford, bringing live entertainment and legendary drag performances since January of 2019. After organizing a successful ‘End of Summer’ party at the Chez Est on September 22, 2018, which resulted in a packed house, Chez Est owner John Pepe approached Domingo about hosting a show regularly which sparked the creation of DCJR Events. DCJR Events works with drag artists such as Chez Legends season 6 winner and Mx. Chez Est 2021, Natalia Fierce, as well as Miss Chez Est Latina for Life and host of Latin Night, Lady Tatiana, both of whom performed during the ‘Hit Play J.Lo’ show.
The ‘Hit Play J.Lo’ show consisted of two sets. To start off the night, Xiomara Aura took to the stage and performed to ‘Hypnotico’ followed by Dro Lopez-Fierce who performed to a mashup of ‘Jenny from the Block’ and ‘Dinero’. Dani Arranka danced to ‘I’m So Glad’ and Lady Tatiana served ‘I’m Into You’ before Natalia Fierce brought the heat to ‘El Anillo’. Angel ended the first half of the show to an epic mashup of ‘Waiting For Tonight’ with ‘On The Floor’ and ‘Good Hit’ as well as ‘Play’ and ‘Live It Up’ that left the audience screaming for more.
After a brief intermission and the announcement of the winners of the night’s raffles, with prizes provided by Jack Woodin of the Pink Drink Social presented by ConnecticutDrag.com, the line-up of Latina performers set the stage on fire once again with the second half of the J.Lo playlist. Xiomara returned performing to ‘Tens’ and Dro Lopez-Fierce performed to ‘Love Don’t Cost a Thing’ followed by Dani Arranka with ‘Get Right’. Lady Tatiana thrilled the crowd with ‘Booty’ leading into ‘I’m Real’ served by Natalia Fierce. The host of the evening, Angel, closed out the solo performances with a lip-sync to ‘Follow the Leader’.
To close out the night, the cast hit the stage and performed a group number to ‘Let’s Get Loud’. And they were not alone! DCJR Event’s Domingo himself joined the cast to sing along to the track as a special treat to commemorate such an epic evening of collaborations between ConnecticutDrag.com, the Chez Est, DCJR Events, and ‘Hit Play’ by Angel Rivers.
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