Alaska, the bigwig drag queen starring in “Drag: The Musical,” has a surname that’s unprintable here. But she has an adorbs alternative.
“You can call me Alaska Thunderfun, which we do for family occasions,” she said recently during an interview at a bistro near the theater where the show is playing in Manhattan.
“Drag: The Musical” has been around since 2016, when Justin Andrew Honard — Alaska’s “government name,” as she called it — and fellow creators Ashley Gordon and Tomas Costanza started writing the Pop Rocks-colored, pop-rock comedy about sparring drag queens at warring bars.
Alaska plays the claws-out queen Kitty, whose nemesis-in-drag is the equally barb-tongued Alexis, played by Nick Adams; fellow cast mates include the drag queens Jan Sport and Jujubee. And, yes, they actually sing instead of lip-sync. The show, directed and choreographed by Spencer Liff, debuted this fall Off Broadway at New World Stages.
Alaska, 39, caught the musical bug early: She did shows in high school in her native Erie, Pa., and studied theater at the University of Pittsburgh. Her big break came in 2013 when she literally towered over the fifth season of the reality series “RuPaul’s Drag Race” — in platform heels she can top seven feet tall — to place in the final three. (She returned in 2016 to win the second season of “Drag Race All Stars.”)
“There’s before ‘Drag Race’ and after ‘Drag Race,’” she said. “The fact that I get to do drag as my job — I don’t take it for granted because it’s so preposterous that that’s even possible.”
Alaska continues in “Drag: The Musical” through Jan. 12, after which she tours Australia and New Zealand. Jimbo, another “Drag Race All Stars” winner, will take over as Kitty.
Over a plate of fries, Alaska spoke in her signature bass purr about the meaning of family and the merits of drag. The conversation, which took surprisingly serious turns, has been edited and condensed.
I have to say, “Drag: The Musical” is about more than drag.
It’s about family, whether that’s the people you’ve chosen to be your family or your ex and you have to figure out a way to be in each other’s lives. It’s campy and stupid and hilarious because that’s drag. But even if you don’t know what drag is or you’re being dragged there by your girlfriend, you can still connect to the brother who hasn’t talked to the other brother because they don’t get along. Everyone can connect to being a young person not feeling understood by their parents or the world.
How autobiographical is the strained relationship between a straight guy and his gay drag queen brother?
My brother really didn’t understand what I was doing. My whole family didn’t. Some of them still don’t. But my brother got to see our relationship evolve to a point where now he loves what I do. He’s one of my biggest supporters.
I have a friend who didn’t care for the musical number about how women can be drag queens. He thinks a man in a fabulous dress is subversive but a woman in a fabulous dress is just fabulous.
The fact that he’s offended, doesn’t that make it subversive? Starting out in drag, these things like — “Oh my gosh, cis or trans women doing drag, or drag kings” — the validity of all that was never a question. We were all in the same community. With World Famous *Bob*, Elvira — it wasn’t even a question. It was like, this is drag. Chappell Roan is a huge example of a young cis woman who is definitely doing drag.
Adam Pascal, from “Rent,” recently replaced Joey McIntyre, one of the New Kids on the Block, as the show’s main straight man. How has it been working with Adam?
All the girls have a crush on him. I have no scenes with his character so on his first night I was like, “Well, I’m really glad you’re here.” It’s weird hearing his voice through the monitor. It’s so signature. He’s a legend.
Who else do you think should play Kitty?
I really want Jinkx Monsoon to do it. I want someone who isn’t really drag, like a “To Wong Foo” casting. Cheyenne Jackson would be so fierce. Oh my god, Billy Porter. Could you imagine? [Shrieks and pretends to faint.] She would be so sickening.
How much did you know about drag growing up?
It was limited. We had “The Birdcage,” so my idea was that all drag queens were like Starina, Nathan Lane’s character. Divine was huge too.
When did you start doing drag?
Like, 2007. When I was starting, drag was not a viable career path. It was like, I’m never going to get laid again. My parents are not going to understand what I’m doing with my life. But if you still wanted to do it, you did it. You were a drag queen. Now it’s like: Instead of going to college, I’m going to do “Drag Race,” which is bonkers.
Someone I know who works with drag queens thinks drag is dead because the scene is oversaturated. Do you agree?
It is ubiquitous, and “Drag Race” is so huge. But the fact that there are more eyes on drag can only be a good thing. The strict binary of this is man, this is woman has been responsible for a lot of ills. We have a younger generation that has so few hangups about gender and sees this spectrum as this beautiful thing. If “Drag Race” being everywhere is responsible, there are worse things.
In some states there are legislative pushes to restrict drag. That has to be concerning.
I started doing drag in the Bush administration. We’ve done this before. Queer people are not going to disappear. Trans people aren’t going to stop being trans. Drag queens aren’t going to stop doing drag, no matter what laws may be put into place. Women aren’t going to stop getting abortions just because you make a law that says they’re not allowed.
And, by the way, drag queens make the world a better place, more beautiful and fun. It’s strange to want to silence that.
The post Alaska Knows Why Her Drag Show Resonates: ‘It’s About Family’ appeared first on New York Times.
