“DRAG: The Musical.” An exclusive interview with Alaska Thunderfuck

One of the main achievements of DRAG: The Musical, which premiered at the New World Stages in New York, is that it redefined the place of drag queens in the narrative. If in the famous Broadway shows La Cage Aux Folles, Kinky Boots, and Priscilla the Queen of Desert drag queens are only part of the ensemble, then now we finally have a musical where drag queens have rightfully become the main characters! “Two Drag Houses, both alike in indignity,” The Cathouse and The Fish Tank, are passionate rivals, however in order to survive the hard times they must come together, forgive and forget, and make each other stronger in the process, forming the Catfish!

Without Alaska Thunderfuck (Justin Andrew Honard), who was not only part of the creative team that wrote the book, but was also directly involved in the creation of the musical material alongside Tomas Costanza and Ashley Gordon, there would be no DRAG… She is the heart and soul of the musical. The show raises current issues of the formation and survival of drag culture and its acceptance by modern society.

In an exclusive interview, Alaska Thunderfuck shares some information about the creation of the musical, her vision of its future and discusses the issues that the drag and queer cultures are facing.

Lisa Monde:  What inspired you to write DRAG: The Musical? How did this story come together?

Alaska Thunderfuck:  About seven years ago Tomas [Tomas Costanza] and Ash [Ashley Gordon] approached me and asked me if I wanted to write a musical with them. And I was like: “Sure, why not?!” I wanted the show to be on the drag queens’ turf. I didn’t want to write a story about straight people that happens to have drag queens in it, I wanted to reflect the drag queens’ world. Where, of course, you have the glitz and the glamour and feathers and rhinestones, but you also have the bar that smells bad, the sticky floor, the toilet that doesn’t work – we wanted to show all of those real elements from the world of drag as well. And I think we achieved that.

Drag: The Musical, New World Stages NYC, 2024/ (C)- Nick Adams as Alexis Gillmore/ Photo credit by Genevieve Marie Adams

LM: You were definitely able to achieve that. I was wondering…I am not a stranger to the world of drag and drag clubs, and in the show so many jokes, words, “drag slang” and the movements – special dramatic falls and things like that – are present. I recognized it all and it was so fun, but I had a friend with me who has never been to a drag club before so a lot went over her head. You have to be a part of that world to understand DRAG: the Musical. When you were writing the show, with all of the drag culture in it – was that one of your goals, to introduce more people to the drag culture, to educate them? To urge more people to go to drag shows?

AТ: Yes, we wanted it to be something that was accessible to everyone. I mean, I am deep in the world of drag, I live and breathe it, it’s the ocean and I’m a fish in it. But Tomas, who is one of the three writers, is a straight man, and Ash is a straight woman who does drag, so we all sort of have our own relationship to drag. We were walking the line in finding the proper balance – we wanted the show to be full of drag stuff that people who love drag will get and appreciate but we also wanted it to be accessible to someone who doesn’t know anything about drag… For example, Tomas asked us: “What the hell is spirit gum?”… (laughs) We always had his perspective to use – we realized that “an outsider coming in will have no idea what we’re talking about if we say this, this and this…” So we wanted to find that balance and make a show that would be accessible and fun for everybody, no matter if you know drag or not…

LM: Talking about the characters in the show – you’ve already mentioned the character who is a woman in drag but not a drag king, which is rare. Did you want to present all the different types of drag queens out there in the musical?

AТ: Yes, we wanted to reflect the reality of what it’s like to be a drag queen, and anyone who’s shared a dressing room with drag queens, has shared a dressing room with so many different types of performers. With the rise of Drag Race and with drag becoming this mainstream thing that people are aware of, it seems like something groundbreaking that women do drag too but honestly, there have been women who do drag all along and they are also a part of the culture of drag. Surely, we wanted to showcase that too. So, the Dixie Coxworth character, having the song about being the AFAB [Assigned Female At Birth] queen and being a woman in this world of drag (One of the Boys)  – in a way, it’s the first of its kind, it is a brand new introduction of that idea to the public. It may not be some revolutionary act, but this is what it’s really like in the world of drag.

LM: It’s fun! I remember when I did La Cage Aux Folles and played Jacqueline, I shared the dressing room with all the drag queens – they taught me how to do makeup properly, better than I could ever do it myself, one of the cagelles said: “Jacqueline is basically the drag mama!”

Now, tell me a bit about the character of Kitty Galloway – the owner and THE Queen of Сathouse. You’ve created the character of Alaska – who is such a bright character that a lot of us know, love, and recognize. Between Kitty and Alaska – how similar are they and how different are they?

AT: Well, I wanted Kitty to not be Alaska, and it’s very apparent – she’s got this black hair and this sort of severe bang, in the look I wanted to make sure it’s clearly not Alaska, in the writing also – it’s not like she’s firing off these sort of catchphrases that people would recognize from Drag Race. Kitty has her own thing; she is the drag queen who runs her drag club like the Navy. Everyone follows her lead and if they’re out of line, if one of their steps is off, Kitty lets them know right away. I’ve always respected drag queens like that, who are so good at drag, and so aware of the rules and traditions of drag… So Kitty comes from that. And that’s not me, not Alaska. I don’t speak as eloquently as Kitty does, and I’m not as good at drag as she is!

Drag: The Musical New World Stages, NYC, 2024/ (L)- Nick Laughlin as PussPuss DuBois, (C)- Alaska Thunderfuck as Kitty Galloway, (R)- Jan Sport as Savannah St.James, and Jujubee as The Tigress/ Photo credit by Genevieve Marie Adams

LM: It’s always interesting to see how when drag queens go into theatre, sometimes they are their drag queen personas on stage and sometimes they go against that notion and create a whole new character. It opens new doors for drag queens to be able to create new and fresh characters in theatre so that they are not perceived just as their drag personas. Would you agree?

AT:  Yes, totally.

LM: You are a very talented person: you are an amazing performer and singer, and you’re also a very talented creator and writer of shows. What’s next for you? What else do you want to write, what kind of a story do you want to share next with the world?

AT: I don’t know, it’s hard to think about what’s next because I’m living and breathing DRAG: The Musical right now and it’s all-consuming, but I would love to write a sitcom, a fictional novel! Being a drag queen, you get to do a little of everything and do whatever you want, so I’m lucky that way!

LM: For the show itself – for DRAG: the Musical, it’s running Off-Broadway now, would you want it to come to Broadway? The reason I ask is some shows do better when performed in smaller spaces, turning it into more of an intimate experience for the audience. How do you feel about that? Do you think DRAG: The Musical is meant for a smaller, more intimate space or would you want it to go onto a bigger stage sometime?

AT: Why not?! Going to Broadway would be amazing and we always talk about it and in our daydreaming, we discuss: “Oh, if the show were to go to Broadway, we would add this, or change this…” I don’t know what convergence of factors must occur for that to happen, but Broadway is sickening and I’m so open to it!

LM: My next question is about the Drag Moms… Sharing a dressing room with the drag queens, they told me they all had a Drag Mom, so who would you say is your Drag Mom? And who is the ultimate Drag Mom to you?

AT: I have a few, I mean, it takes a village. I have always considered Jer Ber Jones to be kind of my Drag Mom, she was one of the first people in LA to give me and my best friend Jeremy a chance to be on a stage and play live music, and sing. To be in a cabaret space. She was one of the first people who saw me and understood what was going on and gave us a chance. Chi Chi LaRue was also kind of in there because her drag contest was the first drag show I did and won. So that was the spark for me and from then on I got bitten by the bug of drag – there was no going back after that. And of course, RuPaul – my life consists of two parts – before Drag Race and after Drag Race. She has such an impact on my life and the world of drag, and the entire world. So, I do consider her a Drag Mother figure as well. And Jackie Beat. She is one of my dearest friends, I don’t think she would ever say she was my Drag Mom, but she was someone that I looked up to when I was learning drag. She had a website – so I got a website, she was selling t-shirts at her shows – and so I did it too. She was the type of drag queen that I wanted to be.

LM: I think this connection between drag queens and Drag Moms is so important! Within the community, you help each other out, you are very close. Have you considered using that as an inspiration for the next story you put out on stage? You could call it “Drag Mother’s Day”!

AT: We love mothers and daughters, so maybe. They fight a lot too so there’s plenty of drama there.

LM: There were so many storylines happening at the same time on stage in DRAG: the Musical: the survival in tough times, not being able to pay the rent – to mention a few…  What would be the most relevant themes to share with the world through the shows where drag queens perform do you think?

AT: I think it’s all relevant. I don’t think that seven years ago we saw into the future when we were starting this project, that rent would be climbing, and people would be getting kicked out of businesses because of developers, and also children being in proximity to drag would become this hot button issue. We never predicted any of that but it’s all more relevant now than it was when we wrote the musical because those issues are timeless. Drag and queer cultures have always been in danger of being pushed out for the next thing. The gay neighborhoods get taken over, and suddenly they’ve got to find somewhere else to go – this is the kind of thing that has happened a lot in history. Young people finding out who they are, and not feeling understood by their parents – that’s timeless too. It is all relevant now, but I think it’s also nothing new.

LM: The plotline with the kid, Brendan, discovering drag, discovering himself, and his dad accepting it was extremely powerful – we all want to see that acceptance. Talking about the shows where drag queens could participate, there are playwrights out there in dramatic theatre, not just musical theatre, who wrote for male performers in drag: there’s Shakespearian theatre, but also Jean Genet, among many others, who noted that they wanted men to be playing the female parts in the shows. And those directors who didn’t follow that rule – ended up with shows that were not as great as they could have been. How do you feel about drag queens in dramatic theatre? Do you think there is a way for drag performers to enter the world of theatre and claim those roles anytime soon?

AT: That would be great! One of the first roles I got to do was in college and at the time it was unheard of for someone who was a man to play a woman role, because first of all, in shows there are so few good female roles in traditional theatre…It was a lot of fun! I got to really go crazy with it. Those were my first dabblings in drag.

LM: More and more drag queens are appearing in musicals and on bigger stages, which is so important, there are so many talented and strong performers among drag queens! What are some of the roles that you would still like to play?

AT: Well, my favorite costume for Halloween has always been a vampire. So, Dracula – is the ultimate drag queen! The white makeup and the red lip, fancy jewelry, slicked back hair… Dracula has always been a gateway to drag. I wish there were more roles on my bucket list, but there are just not too many roles to choose from. That’s kind of why I had to write a role for myself that was a drag queen. I mean, I guess, in La Cage Aux Folles I would have loved to play Georges or Albin because they are drag queens that are in drag and out of drag – and that’s very interesting to me. Because it’s very real.

LM: I think that drag queens playing more roles in theatre these days opens new perspectives. I just recently did a show about Salvador Dali and my leading performer [Dyllan Vallier] was a drag queen, on stage they were Salvador with the proper mustache and all, but I think no one else could have brought that feminine side to the role as they did. And it was crucial to the character of Salvador Dali.

AT: That is interesting! Fabulous.

LM: You are an amazing singer, obviously you are very well trained. Do you come from a musical theatre background at all?

AT:  A little bit, when I started it was in theatre and I studied it since college. It has always been a part of me. And I always sing when I’m in drag, but even though I can’t do splits or flips, so I just have to use the mic and make noises. (laughs) I’ve taken a few voice lessons here and there, learning more about the anatomy of what’s going on when you’re singing is eye-opening. And it has helped me to sing in a more healthy and versatile way.

LM: Your cast is full of very strong singers and amazing performers! And I’m going to come see DRAG: the Musical again! Break a heel!

Drag: The Musical, New World Stages, NYC, 2024/ (L)- Nick Adams as Alexis Gillmore, (C)- Teddy Wilson Jr as Popcorn, (R)- Lagoona Bloo as Tuna Turner/ Photo credit by Genevieve Marie Adams

Nick Adams as Alexis Gillmore and Alaska Thunderfuck as Kitty Galloway created a beautiful duet on stage, both dramatically and vocally. The musical features three of their fabulous duets: It’s a Drag, The Showdown, and Two Bitches Are Better Than One.

Lagoona Bloo, Luxx Noir London, Liisi LaFontaine, Jan Sport, Jujubee, Nick Laughlin – form a very strong ensemble, in which the voice of each performer is recognizable and unique. The solo arias are few, and as conceived by the authors, emphasize the importance of these characters.  In order of appearance, we have One of the Boys performed by Dixie (Liisi LaFontaine) – a straight woman in drag, AFAB,  Straight Man sung by Tom Hutchinson (Joey McIntyre) – the straight brother of Alexis and I’m Just Brendan – the song of Tom’s son Brendan – the teenager, who gradually develops a positive attitude towards drag and drag performers and discovers his true self.

The musical extravaganza (pop, rock, disco), beautiful expensive costumes (because let’s not forget: “Drag is Expensive!”), and the uniform aesthetics of all components make the show elegant and attractive to the viewer, regardless of gender identity and level of familiarity with drag culture in its stage embodiment.