Ru Girls in Musical Theatre

The recent casting news of Andrew Levitt, Nina West in season 11 of RuPaul’s Drag Race inspired me to look into other Ru Girls who delved in various extent of musical theatre, be it community, regional, tour, or Broadway. I’m sure this will not be an extensive list but here they are:

Pandora Boxx (Season 2 and All Stars 6)
Psycho: The Musical Parody (Oasis Theater, San Francisco, CA)

Milan as Dwayne Cooper (Season 4)
Hairspray (Neil Simon Theater, New York and Las Vegas Production at the Luxor)
Motown the Musical (Lunt-Fontanne Theater, New York)
Smoky Joe’s Cafe (Off-Broadway Revival, Stage 42, New York)

Dwayne Cooper (Milan); 3rd from left in Smoky Joe’s Cafe; Photo by Julia Russell

Phi Phi O’ Hara as Jaremi Carey (Season 4 and All Stars 2)
The Rocky Horror Show (Josephine Theatre, San Antonio, TX)

Jinkx Monsoon as Jerick Hoffer (Season 5)
Rent (5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle, WA)
Spring Awakening (Balagan Theatre, Seattle, WA)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Moore Theatre, Seattle, WA)
Hairspray (5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle, WA)

Jerick Hoffer (Jinkx Monsoon) as Amber VonTussle in the 5th Avenue Theatre;s Hairspray;
Photo by John Pai

Alaska (Season 5 and All Stars 2)
The Rocky Horror Show (Woodlawn Theatre, San Antonio, TX)

Bianca del Rio as Roy Haylock (Season 6)
Grease (Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre, New Orleans, LA)
Rent (Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre, New Orleans, LA)
Cabaret (Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre, New Orleans, LA)
Everybody’s Talking About Jaime (Apollo Theatre, London and upcoming UK Tour)

Roy Haylock (Bianca del Rio) as Loco Chanel in Everybody’s Talking About Jaime

Ginger Minj as Joshua Eads (Season 7; All Stars 1 and 6)
The Wiz (Theatre Downtown, Orlando, FL)
Evil Dead: The Musical (Theater Downtown, Orlando, FL)
Chicago (Jake Theater Downtown, Orlando, FL)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch Hedwig (The Abbey, Orlando, FL)
Sweeney Todd Mrs. Lovett (The Venue, Orlando, FL)
The Rocky Horror Show (Woodlawn Theatre, San Antonio, TX)
Avenue Q (State Theater, Eustis, FL)
Into the Woods Giant (Mathis Ellis Performing Arts Center, Orlando, FL)

Joshua Eads (Ginger Minj) in Avenue Q; Photo from Clandestine Arts

Max as Max Malanaphy (Season 7)
Beauty and the Beast (Unknown production)
Cabaret (Unknown production)

Peppermint (Season 9)
Head Over Heels (Original Broadway Cast, Hudson Theatre, New York)

Peppermint (Center) as Pytho in Head Over Heels; Photo by Joan Marcus

Honey Davenport (Season 11)
The Orion Experience (Original Off-Broadway Cast, XL Nightclub, New York)
The Electric Highway (Original Off-Broadway Cast, XL Nightclub, New York)
Trinkets (Gene Frankel Theatre, New York)

Shuga Cain as Jesus Martinez (Season 11)
Xanadu (New Conservatory Theatre Centre, San Francisco, CA)

Jesus Martinez (Shuga Cain) as Sonny Malone in Xanadu the Musical; Photo by Kitsch Classic

Nina West as Andrew Levitt (Season 11)
Hairspray (2021 North American National Tour)

Andrew Levitt (Nina West), left, will play Edna Turnblad in the upcoming Hairspray National Tour; Photo by Marc J. Franklin

Brita Filter as Jesse Havea (Season 12)
Shows: Forever Plaid (Fine Arts Centre Theatre Company, Denver, CO)

This list does not include other queens who have done theatrical shows such as Scarlet Envy, and Kelly Mantle, who has an extensive theatre resume, though on straight act plays, nor ones that appeared in international editions but we will save that for another post.