If during a season premiere episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, you held your breath until one of the new queens said, “New York City has the best drag in the world,” you probably wouldn’t asphyxiate. That seems to be a line almost every season, with the New York queens declaring their city to be superior. The Los Angeles or Texas crews always stand offended and fire back, but right now, at this very moment, it’s difficult to put the kibosh on that bold statement. Why? Because blocks away from some of the best drag shows in New York, the crowned “Queen of all Queens” Jinkx Monsoon is giving a world-class performance as Matron “Mama” Morton in the long-running Broadway production of Chicago.
Monsoon’s performance transcends drag at this point. It is an incredible Broadway debut, filled with the Jinkx Monsoon mannerisms and professionalism loyal fans have come to know. Monsoon doesn’t just play Mama, they inhabit Mama, a part played by many greats like Queen Latifah, Jennifer Holliday, and Patti LaBelle. “I am a drag performer, and drag is all about over the top. I’m also a trained actor, and acting is all about authenticity and being genuine,” Monsoon says. “It’s not just about saying the lines in a funny, captivating way. It’s about making them read true, and if I had one strength as an actor that I could point out myself, I think it’s that I have learned how to make really big choices read true.”
Set in the 1920s, Chicago focuses on Roxie Hart (currently played by Charlotte d’Amboise), who, in a fit of rage, shoots her husband and finds herself embroiled in a battle for acquittal. While waiting for trial, she meets Velma Kelly (currently played by Lana Gordon), a vaudevillian accused of her own, similar crime, and Mama, the warden who takes bribes from prisoners in exchange for favors. With music from John Kander and Fred Ebb and a book by Ebb and Bob Fosse, this revival of the production, directed by Walter Robbie, holds the record for the longest-running revival in Broadway history.
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It would be easy for the 26-year-old production to feel stale, but with its energetic dance numbers, rousing performances, and yes, Monsoon, it feels fresh. That comes as no surprise either, especially after Monsoon’s two stellar runs—and wins—on RuPaul’s Drag Race. They first appeared on season 5 and stole the show with their comedic timing, singing, and acting chops. In their most recent go in RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: All Winners, Monsoon broke the internet during Snatch Game, the Hollywood Squares-esque challenge, when they cosplayed as both Natasha Lyonne and Judy Garland.
Beyond starring in the Emmy Award-winning series, Monsoon has built an empire for themselves. They have their Christmas special with Drag Race alum BenDeLaCreme and even just announced their biggest concert tour yet, Jinkx Monsoon: Everything at Stake. However, Broadway has always been a dream. “It’s just been more than I could have imagined or dreamed for. This is something I’ve kind of been aspiring to, for so long in my life, and lots of times when I build up something in my head, there’s no way that the actual experience can ever live up to the fantasy that I've created in my mind,” Monsoon says. “In this case, it not only lives up to the fantasy, but it surpasses it.”
ELLE.com sat down with Monsoon on Zoom to discuss their turn as Matron “Mama” Morton, their grandmother, and playing the role of a lifetime.
How did this role of Mama come to you? And what was your reaction when you learned you got it?
I auditioned for it. I was called in specifically to audition for Mama. This happened around the same time that DeLa [BenDeLaCreme] and I were beginning to write the holiday show this [last] year. So, all throughout our writing process I was getting calls saying we’re still talking, but things are looking good. It was two months of anticipation before they told me I had the role.
But, as far as auditions go, it was a damn good audition. I don’t know who in the Chicago production team first had the idea to reach out to me, but I do know that [producers] Barry and Fran Weissler were at my audition, and Barry and Fran have been wonderful to me. They came to see The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show. They had a blast. The entire production has taken me like family. A wardrobe person said to me like on the first day that when you become part of the Chicago family, you’re always part of the Chicago family. It’s this beautiful, beautiful thing, because I really really love this show and it hasn’t stopped being relevant, and it is so incredibly entertaining. How did I get this lucky? I’m fulfilling a life aspiration, and it’s one of my favorite shows, and everyone’s a fucking delight, you know?
Do you relate to your character of Matron “Mama” Morton in any way?
I find myself actually quite different from this character. I relate to her in the matriarch aspects. I relate to her in the fact that she does actually care about the people that she is looking after. She exploits them, but she also genuinely cares about them. I think she’s very pragmatic and very direct. She sets up a very clear set of rules: If you take care of me, I’ll take care of you. It’s that simple. Those are the ways in which I relate to her, but I just see so many different things in this character.
I found ways to just fully throw myself into this character by finding inspirations from my real life. I put aspects of my grandma into this character. I put aspects of strong female personas that I admire. I think Natasha Lyonne, not just because of the Snatch Game stuff or because she’s a lovely human being, but because this character is queer coded. She has very feminine attributes but also very masculine attributes. She requires a little gender fluidity. There’s just something so charming about the way that Natasha Lyonne is both extremely feminine and extremely butch interchangeably. And, as Jesse Tyler Ferguson felt when he saw it, it is an homage to the Broadway broads of the golden era, the women who originated this role like Mary McCarty and Marcia Lewis. I really wanted to showcase what I love about strong female personas in this character and what I love about Broadway.
How did you put your grandma into this part?
It’s all about the physicality. My physicality is very different from my Mama Morton. I really took inspiration from the way my grandma would hold herself at the dinner table and how she would hold herself in conversations. There’s only one other person who has ever held themselves in the exact same way as my grandmother. You know who? [Drag Race alum] Latrice Royale. My grandma and Latrice were similar body types, and they hold themselves the same way.
Because the show has run for such a long time, there are a lot of people who’ve been in this cast for years. What was it like to walk into a group that’s already a family, and how have they welcomed you?
Well, it’s a daunting task, and it doesn’t happen immediately. We had this amazing opening night, and when you have an amazing opening night, sometimes an amazing opening night means everything’s good and everything’s gonna go off without a hitch for the rest of the run. Sometimes, you have an amazing opening night, and then you still have a little bit more work to do. Right? That was the case [here], I had this amazing opening night. Then I had to settle into being in a Broadway production and doing eight shows a week. This isn’t the first time I’ve done eight shows a week. I’ve done regional theater in Seattle that runs very similarly to Broadway, but Broadway is Broadway for a reason. It’s not just the amount of shows. You give your all on stage, every time we perform the show.
This cast is so generous. No one holds back. We give each other so much. When you perform a show enough times, it’s really easy to go into autopilot and go through the motions. Not a single performer on this stage does that. It’s so easy to stay engaged and stay present in the show, because every other actor on stage with me is doing the same. That is a huge gift as an actor.
I mean, that’s what’s great about Chicago, it brings the razzle-dazzle through the cast.
I think that’s what is so great about it. It hasn’t stopped being relevant. It is all about the performers and the story. Chicago has a certain specific aesthetic and magic that is specifically Chicago. This is a living homage to Fosse, to Ann Reinking [choreographer and former Roxie Hart star], and to what I believe to be the golden era of Broadway.
Bebe Neuwirth, who originated the role of Velma Kelly in this revival of Chicago, came to the show a couple of weeks ago. How was that for you?
She is the personification of class and everything someone obsessed with Broadway would want in a Broadway diva. Classy, funny, intimidating in the most charming way. I saw her, I met her, I talked to her, and I’m in love with her. I was pretty in awe.
What have the audiences been like? How have they made an impression on you?
The audiences that have come have been so incredible, so generous. They’re the audiences I’ve always known, drag audiences. They love us. They bring the party, they bring the enthusiasm. So, now, drag audiences are coming to Broadway. These Broadway pros are like, “What is this?” They’re not used to people coming to see a show with the atmosphere of [a party]. That’s probably the thing that’s made me feel the most amazing about all of this. I feel good about my work. I feel so proud of my community. These Broadway pros, who’ve been doing it for decades, are getting to experience what it’s like to be a drag queen performing for the LGBTQ+ community. I keep telling that to Charlotte and Lana. I’m like, “You do realize you’re gay icons, right?”
Your role as Mama has helped to increase queer representation on Broadway. What does that mean for you, and what do you hope is next for queer performers on Broadway?
I really just feel like I’m paying it forward, because there have been countless performers before me. I feel honored to get to be someone to push for this representation and to represent this step forward. I also love knowing that Alexandra Billings, who took over Madame Morrible [in Wicked], or Peppermint, [in Head Over Heels], who was the first trans, drag performer to originate a role on Broadway, led me to even be considered to take over such an iconic cis-female role. I really just feel like the torch has been handed to me, and I’m excited to hand it to the next person, and then maybe get it handed back to me at some point. It’s an honor to be part of this legacy of people pushing for this inclusivity.
As far as the turmoil that we’re dealing with on Broadway and in this country, as far as people trying to police other people’s genders or people failing to update practices, my thoughts are people need to stop worrying about what other people are doing when it has no bearing in their life. If there’s a problem with representation and inclusivity on Broadway, I just wished it would get solved faster. You’d think it would get solved faster. We already made it clear that [the lack of representation and inclusivity] is an issue, and I would have thought about places that Broadway would have found a solution a little quicker.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Jinkx Monsoon stars as Matron “Mama” Morton in Chicago at the Ambassador Theatre through March 12. Tickets are available for purchase here.
Samuel is the Assistant to the Editor-in-Chief at ELLE Magazine. His interests include music, theater, books, video games, and anything to do with Taylor Swift. He famously broke both his arms at the same time in fourth grade.
