The reality competition series “RuPaul’s Drag Race” has enjoyed 16 regular seasons and a constellation of spin-offs since it premiered in 2009. Each season chronicles famous drag diva RuPaul’s search for “the next drag superstar.” If the regular seasons uplift one superstar, each season of “All Stars” produces supernovas. And seven of those season nine supernovas came to the Benedum Center on Tuesday night to work.
The seven performers — Shannel, Jorgeous, Gottmik, Plastique Tiara, Vanessa Vanjie, Roxxxy Andrews and Angeria Paris VanMichaels — showed off their moves and their looks for an excited, bedazzled audience. It was a night of fan service that brought the small screen to bright, glittering life.
Shannel, a veteran of the very first season of “Drag Race,” acted as a host for the program, which allowed each of the seven queens their own time to shimmer under the stage’s spotlight.
“I think we’re on the 16th show now,” Shannel said, talking about the tour. “We have been on the ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’ bus. We get to Albuquerque and the bus breaks down in an Olive Garden parking lot.” The crowd roared with laughter.
“On a scale of one to 10, each city has been at least a 50,” she added.
The evening included a series of lip sync numbers, including Plastique Tiara’s ponytail-flip-filled dance to LISA’s “Rockstar,” ending in a burst of pyrotechnics. Gottmik, backdropped by a giant inflatable skull, even presented a couple of her own original songs.
This is only the third show Gottmik has been on the tour. “If you’re in showbiz at all, you know the first one is like a dress rehearsal, and then for me the second one was also like … kind of a dress rehearsal,” Gottmik said.
Gottmik got serious for a minute. “It’s just such an honor to be in a cast that has literally some of the most amazing queer icons I’ve ever met in my entire life.”
The songs rocked surprisingly hard, even incorporating some of Britney Spears’s hit “Toxic.”
After some quick-fire performances to songs including En Vogue’s “My Lovin’” and Dead or Alive’s “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record),” Roxxxy Andrews brought down the house with a lip sync to Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out For A Hero” in a sequin-covered Wonder Woman costume.
Perhaps the night’s best individual number came from winner of season nine of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars,” Angeria Paris VanMichaels, who performed to Peggy Lee’s “Fever” and Lesley Gore’s “You Don’t Own Me,” among others, in a glittery ruby body suit. Vanessa Vanjie did her lip sync in a metallic flame-inspired outfit with the four male backup dancers dressed as firefighters.
In between all of the songs, the performers talked to the audience about their experiences and did a bit of crowd work, even taking a few selfies here and there with attendees.
In the midst of all of the flashing lights, smoke machines and rhinestones, Shannel emceed a mini-“Drag Race” competition between three selected audience members. Each of the contestants had one minute to get into “quick drag,” using provided makeup, wigs and other accessories. Then they had a “lip sync for your life”-style contest to Diana Ross’s classic “I’m Coming Out,” to the roaring approval of the audience.
“You have got to be in the top 16 best audiences!” Shannel said as the cast prepared for a few final numbers. “Each and every one of you out there, you love it, support it and appreciate it, the art form of what is drag. … You are all here because you love.”
To wrap up the night, each of the seven queens showed off some of their most popular runway looks from season nine of “All Stars,” from full-length gowns covered in a rainbow of sequins to spiky bodysuits and boots. There was a last lip sync-off with songs from the season, including Whitney Houston’s “Million Dollar Bill” and La Bouche’s “Be My Lover,” culminating in a three-way battle between Angeria Paris VanMichaels, Roxxxy Andrews and Vanessa Vanjie to Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation,” a rematch from the on-the-air show’s finale.
The positive party vibes under colorful spotlights and covered in glitter didn’t stop for the show’s two-plus-hour runtime, and these performers did splits and death drops all over the stage.
“Did you have an amazing time?” Shannel asked the crowd as all seven drag queens took their curtain call. The audience responded with a resounding, chandelier-shaking cheer.