New Day, New Drag for David Drake It's been 20 years since David Drake starred in "The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me," his autobiographical one-man show about how Mr. Kramer's play "The Normal Heart" - revived on Broadway last year in a Tony-winning production - inspired Mr. Drake to become a gay-rights activist. The show was a hit when it opened Off Broadway in 1992, earning Mr. Drake an Obie Award. Mr. Drake is returning to the New York stage this month with a new solo show about a lighter sort of self-discovery. "My Tawny Valentine," directed by Robert LaFosse, is a rags-to-riches-to-rags story about a washed-up, one-hit wonder disco singer named Tawny Heatherton, played by Mr. Drake. The character's sordid back story, he said, was honed during a costume party in Provincetown, Mass., where he lives much of the time. ArtsBeat recently checked in with Mr. Drake, 48, about his old show and his new inner diva. Tell me a little bit about how Tawny was born. I was Cindy McCain for Halloween during the election year. One of my lesbian friends went as John McCain. I looked around at what I had and I pulled out this wig and put it on but was like, blech, no. Then I flipped it backwards and Tawny was born in an instant. It was also that summer that Farrah Fawcett died. I'm enamored of that kind of blond, young, vibrant, sensual woman. Some people call it a dumb blond, but I find it childlike. I also associated it with my mother, who was blond and pretty. I made the transfer in my mind. What about Tawny's persona? She sounds like she's seen a lot. I fell down one of those YouTube holes during Farrah's death. That's when I stumbled upon Joey Heatherton, who I fell in love with as a child. She was in those Serta commercials. I was really tan at the time and that's where the Tawny came from. The hair was in my face. She was kind of androgynous. She had sexual energy in that let's-have-fun way. Farrah was a real good-time girl, as was Angie Dickinson, although she was more mature with her let's-have-a-cocktail kind of fun. I like that quality. These kind of women are inside their sexuality somehow. How much of Tawny is there in David Drake? There's a sense of joy, not bitterness, in this character. She is a showbiz survivor like me. The thing about being a one-hit wonder is you can always keep the wonder. That's what she lives on. Many people, especially gay men of a certain age, will remember you most from "The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me." Since then a lot has changed about the gay community in New York. How much has changed for you? I was 28 when "Larry Kramer" opened in New York, but I had started writing it a few years earlier. The show ran for over a year and I toured all over the world and made it into a movie. It was three or four years of my life. It was about witnessing what so many other gay men and women of my generation were going through. For me it was a piece of service. I started seeing things differently in the world. At the time Tim Miller and Karen Finley were at the forefront of putting things on stage that they felt were important. I was inspired. There were people getting up and going to the lip of the stage and going, "Here's my stories, folks. Gather "round. Listen up. What else have you been up to recently? I'm working with Kathy Najimy on her new solo show, and I've been working with other cool people, like Taylor Mac and his show "The Lily's Revenge." I was also Charles Busch's standby for nine months in "The Divine Sister." I went on for Charles a half-dozen times - never with more than 40 minutes notice. The old-fashioned way. "My Tawny Valentine" begins performances on Friday at the Laurie Beechman Theater, 407 West 42nd Street, Clinton; (212) 695-6909.