Jinkx Monsoon, winner of the latest season of “Ru Paul’s Drag Race,” is maintaining a hectic schedule, splitting her suddenly high-profile time between drag performances and her popular cabaret show “The Vaudevillians,” which is coming Aug. 23 to Voyeur Nightclub.
Monsoon, the alter ego and creation of Portland, Ore., native Jerick Hoffer, launched “The Vaudevillians” before appearing on season five of “Drag Race.” In the act, Ms. Kitty Witless (Monsoon) and Dr. Dan Von Dandy (Major Scales) are finally thawed out from an avalanche in Antarctica — where they’d been frozen since the 1920s — only to discover a number of pop acts had recorded versions of their songs. They immediately hit the road to perform their music the way they wrote it.
“The Vaudevillians” has been wildly successful in New York City, and the team is making its Philadelphia debut at Voyeur.
“The premise of our show allows us to do vaudeville covers of pop songs,” Monsoon said about the duo’s popularity. “A lot of people like to hear their favorite pop songs re-imagined in the way that we do it. I think it’s like hearing a remix or a cover of a song. It’s fun to hear a new take on something you’ve heard a million times. It causes you to listen to the song in a whole new way and that is what is exciting for people.”
Monsoon added that the pair keeps the show fresh by continually changing it.
“The show is constantly taking new shapes and forms. When we started out, we were just performing short sets in a variety show. The first time we did a full-length show, it was extremely different than what it was today. After four years of polishing and us honing in on the characters and developing a shared stage presence between the two of us, it’s a more involved and concise interpretation of the show.”
We asked if the character of Kitty Witless is all that different from Jinkx Monsoon.
“I always say Jinkx is the face of all my drag characters,” Monsoon said. “There’s a little bit of Jinkx in all my characters. Jinkx and Kitty Witless have a lot of similarities and a lot of differences. I think they are in the same family. I almost think Kitty could be Jinkx’s great-grandmother. They are both kind of self-absorbed and showboat-y. Kitty is a lot more selfish and she’s willing to go a lot further to get what she wants than Jinkx.”
Monsoon is no stranger to the stage, having appeared in musicals like “Rent,” “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” and “Hairspray.” She said her background in theater made her stand out among the other drag performers on “Drag Race.”
“I definitely think when it came to the challenges, I had the skills that were required on that show, especially when it came to lip-syncing, acting and comedy,” Monsoon said. “It was a double-edged sword because my commitment to theatricality was also what held me back on the runway. I had more of an old-world theatrical look in drag and less of a modern-day glamour look in drag. I think it gave me what I needed to get as far as I did.”
Monsoon also said that spending her formative years in Portland helped shape her as a performer.
“The Pacific Northwest is so welcoming and inviting and encouraging of all different kinds of people doing all different types of things that it allowed me to flourish and become passionate about drag in a safe environment,” she said. “Some communities are so competitive with drag and are dominated by the pageant style of drag that who knows if I would have gotten the same kind of support and encouragement from any other community? In Portland and Seattle, there’s a lot more room to explore different forms of drag and all other art forms, so you can experiment with stuff without the fear of being torn down for it.”
Now that winning “Drag Race” has made Jinkx Monsoon a household name in drag circles, she’s juggling as many gigs as her schedule will allow.
“It takes a huge amount of commitment,” she said about keeping her cabaret and acting jobs going, along with her drag commitments. “It’s time-consuming. I pretty much spend my weeks in New York performing ‘The Vaudevillians,’ and I spend my weekends making guest appearances on my tour. It’s nonstop with very few days off. It’s the most exhausted and happiest I’ve ever been.”
Monsoon has played some gender-bending roles on stage but said she didn’t have an obvious favorite.
“Hedwig always goes to the top of my list, but I was really surprised at the impact that playing Angel in ‘Rent’ had on me,” she said. “I came back from ‘Drag Race’ and immediately started rehearsing ‘Rent.’ I was still completely shell-shocked and readjusting to normal human life after being kept in the little reality hamster cage for a month. I was very wide open and pretty vulnerable when I was working on ‘Rent’ and I was able to let the story into me in a way that I don’t think I have with a show before. I really took on the character and Angel and his story. I was taking seriously the work we were doing in ‘Rent.’ So I think that is now one of the more profound experiences that I have had.”
Monsoon said that hopefully the spotlight shining on her from “Drag Race” will open opportunities to perform drag and theater at the same time.
“My dream has always been to marry the two,” she said. “I’ve played some male roles in theater but I’ve also played a lot of female roles. I see myself bringing drag to a lot of my work outside of drag. Because of the show and its notoriety and the skill that I’ve gained as a performer, I think that’s what led to me playing Velma Von Tussle in ‘Hairspray’ in Seattle, and I think it will lead to other female roles where I’m combining legitimate theater and drag know-how together. That is what I’d ultimately like to do.”
In the meantime, on top of all of the performances, Monsoon is working on making music with her “Vaudevillians” partner.
“We’re working on an album right now, which will feature original music by Major Scales,” she said. “Then I just plan on taking on as much legitimate theater work that allows me to bring drag into theater. I hope to one day play Hedwig again. It’s my personal dream to be Neil Patrick Harris’ understudy when he works on ‘Hedwig’ on Broadway. I’m keeping an open mind to the type of projects I can do this year.”
The Vaudevillians perform 9 p.m. Aug. 23 at Voyeur Nightclub, 1221 St. James St. For more information or tickets, call 215-735-5772 or visit www.jinkxmonsoon.com.