More than a decade after “RuPaul’s Drag Race” catapulted her onto the global stage, Jinkx Monsoon is happily embracing her Broadway era.
This spring, the actor, singer and drag icon originated the role of Ruth in Broadway’s “Pirates! The Penzance Musical,” Rupert Holmes’ New Orleans-set reimagining of the 1879 comic opera “The Pirates of Penzance,” which also starred Ramin Karimloo and David Hyde Pierce. A month after her “Pirates!” run concluded, she joined the smash comedy “Oh, Mary!,” succeeding Tony Award winner Cole Escola as first lady Mary Todd Lincoln.
Monsoon has been honing her theatrical chops for some time, having made her Broadway debut two years ago in “Chicago” and, later, joining the off-Broadway company of “Little Shop of Horrors.” As a transgender performer, however, she’s hopeful that young actors and singers who are trans or nonbinary will be encouraged by her recent success.
“This was exactly what I wanted to do and exactly how I wanted to do it,” she told HuffPost. “It was always knowing what roles I would be best at, and [knowing] it was going to be unlikely that people were going to cast me in those roles. But I let go of that idea, and now I am playing those roles.”
She went on to note, “I’ve kind of realized this whole year, I’ve played female characters who thrive under extenuating circumstances and limited agency. And I am witnessing my agency being taken away every other day as a trans woman in America right now.”
Though “Pirates! The Penzance Musical” completed its Broadway run in July, Monsoon’s portrayal of Ruth has been captured for posterity on the show’s official cast album, released this fall on Center Stage Records. And fans will soon get another opportunity to catch her performance in “Oh, Mary!” when she returns to the show in January for 30 performances.
Describing her “Pirates!” experience as “very affirming,” Monsoon is happy to tout the talents and welcoming presence of her co-stars.
“Ramin said, ‘I’m a Virgo, you’re a Virgo. Michelle Visage loves you, so I love you. Let’s do this’ ― every trans woman should be so lucky,” she recalled. As for Pierce, she added, “He was truly someone I’d looked up to as a young person, when he delivered a Tonys speech [in 2007] thanking his husband. I don’t want to say he’s ‘fatherly’ because I don’t think of him as old, but he felt like a lifelong friend from day one.”
Monsoon has a number of projects in the works for 2026 and is eager to continue appearing on Broadway, listing Mame Dennis in the musical “Mame” as a dream role. She and fellow “Drag Race” veteran BenDeLaCreme will spend the last weeks of 2025 on the road with the latest installment of “The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show,” now in its eighth year.
The pair kicked off their annual tour this month in Atlanta, with additional performances slated for New York, Los Angeles and Seattle, among other cities.
This year’s show draws inspiration from “The Twilight Zone” and “Tales From the Crypt,” among other horror and science fiction franchises, with a campy yuletide twist. As for performing the show in Kentucky, North Carolina and other conservative regions in the current political climate, Monsoon explained, “Our whole fucking world’s a mess, but when you zoom in, you can find the hope.”
“The silver lining is that queer people are used to adversity, and this isn’t the first time we’ve had to take care of one another,” she said. “Even in our best moments, there were still hate crimes performed against us. So we’re doing the best we can, given the adversity.”