Across 15 seasons, the Fly Honey Show built a following with its mix of burlesque, dance concert and party, along the way earning a reputation as hosting a joyful celebration of all bodies and identities.
The show returns this month with a Chicago-centric series of dates, but this time, organizers say it’s the culminating performances. Though the show has been met with an embrace from Chicago’s creative community, one founder says the plan was never to keep it going for this long.
“I’m really proud of the way that Fly Honeys stood in its power in Chicago and really crafted a corner and a niche for this kind of work,” said Erin Kilmurray, the show’s director and co-founder.
Kilmurray started the Fly Honey Show in 2009 with Mary Williamson, Shannon Matesky, Missi Davis and John Cicora, though the project has cycled through hundreds of dancers and collaborators over its 15 seasons.
“We’ve been running this project for 15 years,” Kilmurray said. “Talk about real Chicago – this project started in a DIY space … It’s had these really beautiful transformations, and I think the way that the group is thinking about it is coming into this season being like, ‘If we could do a final show, what would we do?’”
What Kilmurray and her collaborators decided to do was stage a grand finale that pays homage to Chicago’s creative community with six unique performances on a custom stage at Thalia Hall. Along with 20 dancers and a nine-piece band, the show will feature special Chicago guests including Shawnee Dez, DJ CQQCHiFRUIT, Roy Kinsey, Chillona, Mariachi Sirenas, DJ Bonita Appleblunt and the Good Girls DJs.
The series of evenings will spotlight rotating vocalists and rotating hosts, with emcees Mary Williamson and Melissa “BoomBoom” DuPrey, then some rotating guest hosts.
“It almost functions like a variety event, where we’re making brand new original work,” Kilmurray said. “That’s going to be consistent every single night out of the six-show run. We’re femme-powered, women-forward, queer-celebratory, all-body-loving, joy bomb, vulnerable, big, big, big show.”
Kilmurray said she’s looking forward to considering what’s next, noting there may be more Fly Honey-related projects coming down the pipeline.
“We’re really proud of what we made,” Kilmurray said, “and sometimes you’ve got to burn it down to see what rises from the ashes.”
Nudia Hernandez: When we saw the word “finale,” it set my heart racing. What does that mean?
Erin Kilmurray: We’ve been running this project for 15 years. Talk about real Chicago – this project started in a DIY space in 2010. We really had no plans to keep it going. It’s had these really beautiful transformations, and I think the way that the group is thinking about it is coming into this season being like, ‘If we could do a final show, what would we do?’ We’re really proud of what we made, and sometimes you’ve got to burn it down to see what rises from the ashes.
How many dancers do you guys have?
Oh my goodness, there are 20 dancers in the show. There is a nine-piece band on stage with us, as well. Rotating vocalists, rotating hosts. There’s two emcees this season, helmed by Mary Williamson – who’s an OG Fly Honey, started the project with me – and then also Melissa “BoomBoom” DuPrey of the Humboldt Park DuPreys, and then some rotating guest hosts, which are really, really sick. So it’s a huge production.
You have a bunch of guest performers joining as well. How do you make this all work with so many artists, so many people?
Not alone! The Fly Honey hive and network is massive. It’s definitely the performers and artists, but it’s all the different collaborators and managers, and it’s just a huge system. I’m really, really proud of it. One of the things that’s really exciting about this project is that it’s an artist-driven project. We’re an indie project, and it has been helmed by myself and by Mary Williamson and some other founding artists named Shannon Matesky and Missi Davis and John Cicora for years, but it’s really been shaped by this huge web of artists. It almost functions like a variety event, where we’re making brand new original work. That’s going to be consistent every single night out of the six-show run. We’re femme-powered, women-forward, queer-celebratory, all-body-loving, joy bomb, vulnerable, big, big, big show.
So you’re saying you’re treating it like a finale, but there’s hope that we will see a Fly Honey Show again?
Life is exciting. Who’s to say? But we are coming into this work and being like, ‘If we were to make a final show really celebrating the 15 years that we’ve had here, and opening up what happens next, what would that look like?’ That’s definitely what you can expect. We had our big, big culminating rehearsal last night with all of the parts. It is really extraordinary.
One of the things I feel really excited about is that we’ve started to license and commission other indie musical artists, that are Chicago-centered, to use their songs. The Fly Honey band and the singers are covering songs by Roy Kinsey, Psalm One, Madison McFerrin and Pantera, and this group called the Lambrini Girls, which are across the pond. We’re really centering the Chicago vibe.
Morgan Ciocca is the digital producer for Vocalo.
Nudia Hernandez is the host and producer of Nudia In the Afternoons on Vocalo. Follow her @nudiaonair.
Want more arts and culture in your inbox every week? Subscribe to The Goods, Vocalo’s Chicago-focused newsletter.