AMERICAN THEATRE: Ginger Minj (she/her) was destined to play Albin in La Cage Aux Folles, the musical adaptation of the 1973 French play with the same name (which would later inspire the 1996 film The Birdcage). As a teenager growing up in Lake County, Fla., she would listen to the La Cage original cast album. She was even slated to perform the dual role of Albin and drag avatar Zaza at the young age of 18 in the early 2000s. Unfortunately, the production was shut down due to outrage and protests of local community members about the themes of the show. To this day, the show has not been performed in Lake County.
2 comments:
I forgot that Ginger Minj was a theatre maker! Her season was actually one of the only drag race seasons I watched all the way through. I thought her stage presence was really good. I’m so happy she can make it from her side passion to her dream role on stage! I think it’s really important that drag artists be let “out of their cage” as it were. Drag artists are often thrust into the role of nightclub performer, etc, etc but I think it’s so important to recognize drag artists as artists instead of using mainstream celebrities to portray them in movies/shows as if they cannot represent themselves. The show’s work to make the show about more than drag is also so important. The commodification of queer culture has lead to things like drag becoming very one dimensional in the public eye, which is exactly what drag aims to avoid. I’m really happy for her and I hope that her work in the role is all she ever dreamed of!
I really enjoyed Ginger Minj on RuPaul’s Drag Race, so I’m happy to learn more about her as a performer. I’m also a huge fan of Bob and knew he had done standup comedy, but his role in Angels in America was new to me. I appreciate articles like these that catch up on artists who many only know based on the reality show. It can be easy for many queens to get lost in the quick production of new Drag Race seasons, or not be able to show all their talents in the challenges on the show. Alaska 5000 was the most surprising to me, I know her as more of a comedy queen and never thought of her as so theatrical. This article does some confusing pronoun call-outs, some queens are just referred to with their in-drag pronouns, some with theirs when out of drag, I think more consistency would better convey the information.
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