Today, during a writing break, I took to Google and typed with fury. “TOM HOLLAND?!” I demanded of the search engine. You see, I had just watched this video from Lip Sync Battle in which the Spiderman star performs extraordinary choreography to Rihanna’s pop masterpiece “Umbrella.” Now I have watched it several times, and I don’t plan to stop.
What might be most delightful about Holland’s routine is that he begins in a trench coat and fedora and performs a little fancy footwork to Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ In the Rain.” But after a few moments, it’s time to get serious: little dude remerges in full drag and delivers a stunning dance number.
I was blindsided by pure delight. Reader, I nearly cried.
And I was not alone in my glee.
Tom, buddy, you pulled out every goddamn stop, and for that I am grateful. If you were willing to indulge us with more videos of this sort, I do not think anyone would protest. Maybe even go the Martha Graham route next!
But, while I’m here, just a quick and gentle reminder: Holland is adorable, and I highly encourage watching the shit out of this performance. That said, professional drag queens perform this work regularly, and for far less acclaim. In fact, outside of a hyper-heteronormative context, engaging in this sort of art can be dangerous. On the Lip Sync Battle stage we see a great deal of drag, but it’s generally executed by heterosexual cis-men—and they’re protected by the tacit understanding that nobody is really disrupting anything.
So, enjoy! But also take this opportunity to research upcoming drag shows near you—hopefully you’ll find a few—so you can support what they do.