One of the greatest things to come out of the Pandemic for me was re-discovering the joys of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I had been crazy about the Series when it first came out. The competition pits a talented slate of Drag Queens together in a series of performance challenges which test their show-womanship, sense of fashion and makeup together in a race for the crown. Its legacy speaks for itself with an incredible 24 Emmy wins, plus various spinoffs having been spawned around the globe including Canada’s Drag Race, which had its Season Two premiere just this week. But above this, it has helped a wide spectrum of under-seen people feel seen! The definition of “Drag Queen” even has been expanded to include women or maybe those who don’t identify with any specific gender as well.
While life happened, I completely lost track of the Series, but being home over the past 19 months has helped me rediscover how much it is I love it! I’m actually proud how versed I am in the world of Drag Race!
Many of the stars from the Series arrived in Toronto for the completely sold-out Night of the Living Drag at Meridian Hall tonight, fresh-off their first show in Boston! The Show is a dazzling Halloween spectacle!
We are over the moon meeting these bright stars including:
Kim Chi (S8), Plastique Tiara (S11), Rosé (S13), Gottmik (S13), Kandy Muse (S13), Jaida Essence Hall (S12 winner), Aquaria (S10 winner) and Hostess Violet Chachki (S7 winner).
It was amazing seeing these Queens on their Starbucks coffee runs this morning, after navigating Covid-19 protocols and requirements when landing. We appreciate they were running on little rest and still so lovely to stop for pics! We hope the success of this Tour, which stops next in Vancouver, leads to these being a more regular thing here!
While we love them all, we were so stoked meeting Gottmik, the Series’ first Trans-Man Drag Queen whom we were so mesmerized by week after week with her sense of style, makeup and just how dramatically she improved as a performer. Of course, there’s the amazingly-talented triple threat Rosé and the charismatic Kandy Muse whom after meeting we are an even bigger fan of!
See our Snaps:
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
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