Between performances as Matron “Mama” Morton in Broadway’s Chicago, A Bite Of sat down to chat with Jinkx Monsoon - her experiences from the set of Doctor Who, where she focuses her rage, the importance of a global community for personal empathy & compassion, and where she goes from here.
Watch/listen to the full interview here.
“Art has to continue to tell the truth,” Jinkx Monsoon shared over a Zoom call from her hotel room in New York on a Friday afternoon. “Art has to continue to be honest. Art has to continue to mean something. And be a window into the rest of the world especially when we've been programmed to get so much of our understanding of the world through our entertainment.”
In 2013, the window into the world of Jinkx Monsoon was first thrown wide open when she appeared on the fifth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, snatching the crown and the world’s attention. “I just encourage people to watch the stuff that shows them things they don't normally get to see.”
Over the last decade, Monsoon has continued to dominate in several areas of entertainment showing what it means to be an entertainer. Recently, she has been breaking Broadway box office records first in Chicago then in Little Shop of Horrors, and currently in Chicago again. Between her appearances on the Great White Way she crawled out of a piano and onto our television screens in her scene-stealing role as Maestro on the worldwide favorite, Doctor Who. “I mean, it was all very surreal,” she said in regards to officially getting the role from friend and showrunner Russel T. Davies.
“I've never gotten to play a role in TV or film with so much to it, you know? To get to play a role that not only is so integral to the overarching plot of the season, but also a role that is just… I mean, there are only so many characters that are written where the actor can really just go nuts with it, right? And it works. And I really had just so much fun because I think that character was so perfect for me to show everyone the kind of performance that I like to do and do well.”
“Do well” is an understatement. In A Bite Of’s original coverage of the episode “The Devil’s Chord”, a spoiler free review, we couldn’t help but gush over Monsoon’s performance. The authenticity that Monsoon brought to the character, who could be seen as “just a villain” with their piano-detailed frocks and orange locks, was given soul by her tenacious take on the physicality, dialogue, and music that was performed in the episode. Bringing Maestro to life was a collaborative effort.
“It was such an ongoing conversation between myself and the director, Ben Chessell. Everyone else on set working together, we would kind of walk through what needs to happen and kind of choreograph it.” Ideas like using her large ring to ping the tuning fork happened in the moment as an idea from Chessell. Other moments, like Maestro spinning during the climactic music battle, were all Monsoon.
“I can't even remember how many days it took to shoot that scene, but it was a lot because everything in that music room was so much happening at once. One of my favorite aspects of the dance, the music battle, is that I started spinning with the violin and I was like, that's fun. And then the director, Ben, was like, ‘Do you think you could actually do that?’ and I was like, ‘Sure!’ The next thing I know, I'm faking playing the violin while doing chaîné turns around the piano. That wasn't in the script. [The] music battle was in the script, but we were really built that music battle together.”
At the end of the music battle, Maestro is banished back into a piano from where we first saw them appear. Upon first meeting Maestro they tell the other characters and the viewers at home their pronouns. The importance of this moment is not lost on Monsoon.
“We don't spend a lot of time talking about this character's gender. This character just comes in, says what it is, and that's that. I fucking love that that's how that was written, you know? And so I'm getting this like really fabulous, amazing moment at the piano where I'm not only like scary and powerful, but I look amazing, right?"
"I love that I've been invited to be so queer on screen and no one's telling me to tone it down. No one's telling me to pull it back or that I'm being too much. And then Russell was like, you know, they're really letting us do it all.” She goes on to say, “They okayed it. The BBC okayed it. I know that the vitriol from the far right is a response to the progress we've made. We know that our freedom threatens them. Our freedom frightens them. They're jealous.”
“I think there's a lot of jealousy here. I think a lot of people look at people who have defined gender for themselves and made their own rules around gender, regardless of what society tells you your gender has to be. People who follow those rules, I think whether they know it or not, they look at us and think, ‘Well, why do they get to decide? Why do I have to dress like the way I've been programmed to dress if they get to decide for themselves?’ They don't realize you don't have to be trans, you don't have to identify as trans, you don't have to be queer for gender to be shitty."
"Gender's shitty for everyone. Even the people gender norms seem to benefit. Those people - I mean, think of straight men being cut off from their empathy because that's what they were programmed to be. It's like, do men act this way because that's the only option they're given or are they only given this option because they act this way?”
With Doctor Who having one of its most inclusive and diverse seasons yet, the conversation of truth and expression in entertainment continues to evolve. “The art that is excelling right now [is] because audiences are connecting with authenticity and honesty. And when they go see something that's just a bunch of bullshit, even if they're entertained, they're going to forget about it in a second because their own life is so much more interesting than that boring bullshit. Because we're living in a fucking apocalypse right now and we're in a culture war. And I don't want to watch stories that ignore that fact.”
That is why Monsoon’s journey has been so important. Even when things are scary and feel overwhelming she still walks through the world living authentically as herself. “I'm putting on a brave face because I know that that's how I can help right now, but I am terrified and I don't know how to stop feeling terrified. So I'm walking down the street every day in this duality of trying to live my goddamn life the way I've always done. [I] keep being authentic and keep that strong persona for my community and keep receiving the love and giving it back out there.”
“I have a lot of rage. But I get through it with the support of my community, truly. When I go do a show and the stage door is buzzing with people afterward, people who are like me, who just want to know that there's a place in the world for them [...] And then creating your own work allows me to talk about what's happening [...]. It allows me to talk about what's happening in our community. When I create my own work, that's where all my rage goes. Like, I take all my rage and I push it through the funny filter and it becomes comedy. And the message is clear, but instead of yelling into the void, I make my audiences laugh and think.”
As for what might be next for the star, when asked if she would take on another villainous role she shared, “My favorite book is called, Cersei by Madeline Miller, and I've heard whispers that it's going to be made into a series. So I’d play a villain, I’d play anything in Cersei. [...] I'd be a villain on Bridgerton hands down. Get me in a period piece. That's what I want to do. I play a fop in Bridgerton. Maybe like a rich fop who does drag privately, you know, because that's what rich people have always been doing.”
Whether it’s a villain on Bridgerton or a character in the MCU (anyone else think there’s a missed opportunity to have her on Agatha All Along?), we’ll be seated for another chance to see Monsoon on our screens. If all the world’s a stage, we’re giving a standing ovation to Jinkx Monsoon.
To hear the entire interview including who Jinkx calls “Daddy”, how she built the character of Maestro, the upcoming election, and the answers to our listener-submitted lightning round questions, be sure to visit wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube!
