Jinkx Monsoon on Achieving Her Broadway Dreams with 'Oh, Mary!'

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00:00I basically told Cole that evening take this role and this show as far as you

00:06absolutely can win a Tony take it a Broadway do everything and only then

00:12call me because I'd love to play her as something hey what makes a good hoop

00:22skirt durability durability flexibility this one has airbags built into it so that when you go to

00:32the ground it perfectly balloons up around you like in the movies it is a stellar piece of costumery

00:40I feel like the internet has been fan casting you in this role for quite some time I've been

00:45fan casting myself in this role for a while have you been manifesting how did this sort of

00:51all come together well it started years ago when I saw Cole and the entire original cast at the

01:00Lord Tell Theater and I basically told Cole that evening I was like take this role and this show

01:10as far as you absolutely can win a Tony take it a Broadway do everything and only then call me

01:18because I'd love to play her as something and I told Cole that night like that's good writing

01:24you know like when I watched the first five minutes I was like no one but Cole right but then I got

01:3110 minutes into the show and I'm like that's not giving the writing its due credit this is a well

01:37written show this wasn't someone writing a show for themselves this was someone writing a show for

01:43our community and I think it's beautiful where were you and when was it when you found out that

01:48you were going to be taking it over I was in the dressing room at Pirates in my Ruth costume

01:55and it was act one and I was going to be off stage for a bit so I called my manager and my agent

02:04it was the same week of the Tony nominations and I found out and I had to keep it a big secret

02:12and the only person I told that I wasn't supposed to tell was Nick Barish my my Frederick at the time

02:20because we were just you know we were telling each other everything

02:23what was it like performing the rest of that show that night then with all that

02:29oh Ruth was levitating that evening I think I I don't I the rest of the evening seems blurry to me

02:40because all I remember is that phone call you know but I did have to I think I told Nick pretty

02:45much immediately so I could get it out because if I didn't say it to someone it was going to explode

02:52I was going to scream it at my curtain call you know I was going to take a bow and go I'm going to

02:57play Mary I'm sure the audience would have loved that and I started working on my Mary playlist like

03:06that day because I was so excited and so I make a personalized playlist for every character and it

03:12helps me get into the mindset of the character and Mary's playlist has over 400 songs and I've been

03:19listening to it like yeah pretty much daily what kind of music is on there what kind of vibes

03:27it's it's very it's a smattering it's esoteric to say the least um it it spans all the songs that

03:38would have been popular at the time so I have when Johnny goes marching on um but then I also have

03:46every song that I think applies to her circumstances like I'm breaking down Stephanie J Block singing it

03:53from falsettos you've been on quite the uh Broadway run what have I is this sort of like what the dream

04:03looked like for you growing up like is this like you made it how does that feel yeah it's exactly what

04:09the dream looked like and I had given up on this dream only because I told myself to you know

04:16it wasn't all it's so hard to even think about the fact that this is all happening at the same time

04:25that's also happening things are also happening um

04:29I told myself at some point you can't be too much or you'll never get to work

04:38and it turns out being too much was how you get the work or you make the work and make everyone

04:49realize that too much is not too much it's it's just right

04:54you just finished Pirates and now you're about to start this and the rehearsal process has been

05:02overlapping what has that all been like imagining no um it it was here's what I've been saying I don't

05:11recommend it but I did it and it's done and I'm glad I did it because there was no other way

05:15and I basically said whatever it takes you know we'll figure this out and we did and it was a very

05:24exhausting week but it was also a very fulfilling week because it absolutely affirmed what you mentioned

05:31that like my childhood dream not only came true but came true with me in the version of myself

05:41I always wanted to be and I was convinced I didn't get to be both I didn't think I was going to get to

05:49have my career dream and my personal self dream both come true but it's performers like Cole

05:58and the trans performers who inspire me daily you know it's my friendship with Lady J my friendship

06:07with Peppermint you know it's all these other people also doing it that reminds me yeah I can do

06:14it and then I see that it reminds other people that they can do it I had a moment the opening night of

06:20Little Shop when I was playing Audrey where I told Hari Neff how how much she inspired me and

06:27made me feel comfortable to take steps forward in my transition and then she told me that I had

06:34inspired her in college when I was on drag race to take similar steps for herself in her journey a lot

06:43of people come to see your shows who has been the the sort of coolest person you've met or the the

06:49most memorable sort of experience of somebody showing up it would be so hard to qualify it would

06:56be so hard to qualify anyone special guest in the audience recently it was very significant because

07:05I just did an interview with Z-Way who's one of my favorite people on the planet and then she came

07:10to see pirates and you know I have admired what she does she invited me into it and then I got to

07:18show her what I do all in a matter of days and it was really special but I can also say that I had a

07:26very very significant conversation with Melissa McCarthy backstage with Ben de la Creme at our holiday show

07:33where I just I thanked Melissa for what she's done to inspire me as an actress and then she basically

07:42said well I'm not doing anything different from what you two are doing really and that was when she

07:48was playing Ursula when and she paid so much homage and she didn't need to do that so I get to meet

07:57people who are the real deal and that's a beautiful thing what Broadway shows are sort of like on your

08:05bucket list or what roles of like oh I'll talk about this until I'm blue in the face I have two roles that

08:11compete for first but it always first place always goes to Mrs. Lovett and Sweeney Todd I just have to play

08:17that role in a big production it's just it has to happen I've known it since the second I saw the first

08:24iteration of anything Sweeney Todd I was like oh I have to play this role and I also feel that way about

08:32The Witch and Into the Woods and it's barely second place because I love both those shows so much

08:41those shows are those shows plus Chicago and Little Shop are what made me fall in love with musical theater

08:48I saw this span in these shows where I was like oh you can do all of this through song and I want to do it

08:56that way

08:56The role of Mary is such a fun one and it's been played by a few people now who is someone who you would love

09:06to see take this on oh well oh gosh there's so many people I said to Z-Way you doing anything

09:18please oh Mary it's oh Mary well you know you're just correcting okay well sorry I got I got white

09:28about it also Melissa McCarthy I'm just gonna say the same two people you know it's a brilliant role

09:34you could put so many people um Cole said Miss Piggy I don't know that I can come up with a better

09:40answer for for that than Miss Piggy that's just perfect I mean I don't know I I think she's a role

09:50that requires a lot of guts Billy Porter hey that Billy could play Mary and then Lincoln hey hey

10:06y'all listen

10:08and then finally I guess you know this has been such like a long run that you've had

10:20do you have a vacation plan for once this is done

10:23very

10:242026

10:26listen I sacrificed my vacation I was very public about that I talked about it on morning television

10:34um I if I were to sacrifice downtime this is this is what it would be for you know it feels like it

10:45was cosmic and it feels like if I didn't do it now who knows what what the future holds and I have

10:53the opportunity now and I couldn't let it pass and Dayla felt the same way so you know I'm uh I'm

10:59letting this run into my usual holiday show schedule but we're all we're all just shifting a

11:06little bit and we're all really excited that I'm doing this like my everyone in my life is excited

11:12that I'm doing this so there was no question

11:14you

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