At first I was really surprised-I wasn’t expecting it.
LUANN DE LESSEPS: I found out just before everybody else did. How are you feeling about the future of the franchise? THE STRANGER: The news on everyone’s minds right now is that RHONY is really shaking up the format with a new cast and a cast of ex- RHONY stars. This interview has been edited and pruned for clarity. Here’s what she told me about Real Housewives, memes, and what makes cabaret so special.
I recently caught up with Luann over Zoom. The Richard Jay-Alexander directed Countess Cabaret shimmies into the Showbox Friday, June 10. “Being able to laugh at yourself is key,” Luann told me in a recent interview. RHONY has documented Luann’s etiquette book, two grueling divorces, burgeoning performance career, sexy escapades with sexy dudes, arrest (and subsequent stint in rehab), and various friendships with the rest of the cast-all fodder for her cabaret production. She’s weathered 13 seasons of the reality show with an entrenched commitment to being the preeminent diva among divas. Luann-also known as the Countess thanks to her former marriage to a man whose family literally built the Suez Canal-is one of the recognizable faces from Bravo’s Real Housewives of New York City ( RHONY) franchise. One takes the form of Luann de Lesseps as she brings her gay-famous cabaret to our mossy shores this week. It’s Pride month, so Pride miracles are in abundance.
