Basilius

Basilius, the tyrannical king, is played by a scruffy, cigar-chomping Lea DeLaria, who tramps around the stage with the bent strut of Groucho Marx.

A moralizing lech, Basilius is married to Gynecia, the imperious queen brought to life with divine Joan Crawford archness by Alaska 5000, a drag performer and recording artist who was the winner of the second season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars.”

Hobson plays King Basilius like a boy trying to overcompensate for his self-consciousness at a middle-school dance, flip-flopping between peacock machismo and hand-wringing insecurity.

In Baghdad, more than one hundred congregants attended Christmas mass at St. George Chaldean Church, led by Father Basilius.

Basilius visits Pythio, the Oracle of Delphi, who delivers a terrible prophecy, involving royal adultery and a love consummated without a groom.