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It’s finally here! The long-awaited debut of the new HBO Max streaming service from WarnerMedia. The new service will offer a wide variety of programming — movies, TV series — from the vast Warner Brothers library (including programming from HBO) as well as a collection of original series including Love Life with Anna Kendrick, On the Record — the story of Drew Dixon, the first woman of color to come forward and accuse Russell Simmons of sexual assault, The Not Too Late Show with Elmo (a talk show hosted by everyone’s favorite Sesame Street resident), an all-new series of Looney Tunes Cartoons, kids crafting competition Craftopia, the comedy series Search Party which is relocating from TBS, and Legendary, bringing the underground ballroom community to mainstream audiences.
Right up front I will admit all I know about ballroom culture I learned from the documentary Paris Is Burning and the TV series Pose. For the even less uninitiated, the ballroom culture (not to be confused with the type of ballroom dancing you see on Dancing With the Stars) goes back as far as the 1920s as an underground LGBT subculture in New York City in which people would ‘walk’ or compete in various categories for prizes and trophies. The competitions mixed dancing (a particular style now referred to a voguing), lip-syncing and modeling for which participants were scored 1-10. RuPaul has taken elements of ballroom culture an incorporated them into Drag Race, notably beginning each episode’s runway look with ‘category is’. Early 20th century ballroom competitions were mainly white with some integration, but the judges were always white, so African American and Latino groups started their own balls, and that culture grew to primarily include the LGBT community, which then formed their own groups within the culture known as ‘Houses’, sometimes taking the name of the House Mother or Father, or from fashion houses. The most well-known Houses include the House of Ninja, the House of Xtravaganza, and the House of LaBeija, with other Houses named after fashion icons Gucci, Mugler and Balenciaga.
With Pose bursting into the TV landscape in 2018 and exposing a whole new audience to ballroom culture, HBO Max is striking while the iron is hot to approximate what an actual ball is like with the new competition series Legendary. The series is hosted by ballroom legend MC Dashaun Wesley, who has been MC-ing ballroom competitions since 2003 … and he’s only 35 years old. The MC announces the categories and comments on the performances (much like Billy Porter’s character Pray Tell in Pose). The judges are celebrity stylist Law Roach, ballroom legend Leiomy Maldonado — Mother of the House of Amazon, choreographer for Pose and known for her signature hair flip, singer Megan Thee Stallion, and actress Jameela Jamil (The Good Place), who had been originally misidentified as the host of the show which set off a mini firestorm which forced her to come out as queer (she’s also the show’s executive producer).
Legendary will launch on HBO Max with its first two episodes before a weekly release of new episodes, and the premiere is a bit schizophrenic in that the first episode is nothing like the second. The first episode is really all about introductions with each House — Escada, Ebony, Ninja, Gucci, West, St. Laurent, Lanvin and Balmain — showing what they’ve got to become the first episode’s ‘Superior House’ (each week a winning House will receive that honor). Each House presents a representation of who they are in their first dance of the series and this is where it gets a little sticky as far as the judging. Right out of the gate, the first House is criticized by Maldonado for being too ‘choreographed’ and then she praises the next House which is also completely choreographed. As are all the rest, but none of them are called out. The judges say they want to see more ‘voguing’ but that is not what this first round is about. Nonetheless, the dancing is pretty spectacular, and we get to know a bit about each House during the segments presented before they hit the runway. And being an introductory episode, no House is eliminated from the competition. Despite the confusing judging, it’s still entertaining enough to continue to the second episode.
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The second episode, which is titled ‘Once Upon a Time’, gets down to the real business of ballroom competition. As you can tell from the title, this episode’s competition has a fairy tale theme to each category, with the judging panel joined by guest Tyson Beckford. The eight Houses will compete in three categories: Voguing with Hair Whip (Rapunzel Effect), Face (Mirror, Mirror), and Runway (Three Fab Mice), attempting to score a Ten (which consists of the judges waving a magic wand in the air) and avoid the Chop. At the end of each competition, those left standing with have one last battle to determine the winner of the category. One of the huge differences from the first to the second episode is the introduction of an entire production team to help each House come up with a concept and costumes for their performances. This addition came out of nowhere since it was never seen in the premiere. One thing that would be nice to include in these behind-the-scenes segments is exactly how much time transpires between the Houses meeting with the team and the actual performances. There are some elaborate costumes on display in the Fairy Tale Ball and unless they had a team of magical mice and a fairy godmother running these things up overnight, more than a day has transpired, but at least it’s good for us to have a look to see how the performances come together.
The Hair Whip category is intense as each House member must vogue and flip their hair all over the place … and if you’re wearing a wig, you better make sure it doesn’t fly off. Also, attaching hair extensions to your costume and waving your arms about really does not fulfill the category. The Face category also contains some voguing but the main focus is the face so the participants need to get very close to the judges to serve their looks. Some seem to think that pursing their lips is serving good face but others with chiseled features and smooth skin are obviously going to take the crown. The Runway competition isn’t really about dancing but walking, in unison and with a walking stick. If you miss a single step or go on your left foot when the other two are on their right foot, you will get the chop. And this is where things get a little hectic with the judges. Roach seems to only be concerned about the fashion, and Maldonado is ready to chop any House almost before the hit the runway which often leaves Jamil flabbergasted. When it gets down to the last two Houses competing for the ‘Superior House’ trophy for the night, the editing leaves a lot to be desired because instead of really allowing the viewers to see the performances, we instead get a lot of reaction shots of the judges so their final determination could almost seem a bit arbitrary.
But those criticisms aside, Legendary is a visually thrilling competition series with some stand-out performance and personalities and is just one more reason to consider a subscription to HBO Max (Hotchka is not paid or given any compensation beyond advance screeners).
Legendary premieres on HBO Max with two episodes May 27, with new episodes dropping weekly beginning June 4.
What did you think of the premiere? Tell us in the comments section below!
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