Interview: How Drag Superstars Jinkx Monsoon & BenDeLaCreme Brought Holiday Magic from Stage to Screen

Last summer, when live entertainment everywhere came to a screeching halt, two of the world's most beloved drag queens were looking ahead... to the holidays.

Since 2018, BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon, known individually for their incredible work on (and off) RuPaul's Drag Race, have created a new holiday tradition for fans with their wildly popular live shows- first with To Jesus, Thanks For Everything! in 2018, and All I Want For Christmas Is Attention the following year. When COVID struck, the duo flipped the script -literally- turning the live stage experience into a high-camp television special.

The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Special, which is available to stream on Hulu, is a product of both of their creative genius. Both wrote and star in the special, while DeLa also produced and directed the piece. Now the film is eligible for nominations at the 73rd Annual Emmy Awards and Jinkx and Dela are reflecting on the experience with BroadwayWorld.

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It's been such a weird year, especially for live entertainers, and yet you two created this wonderful piece of art. Have you had the time to sit back and really put that into perspective?

B: It's funny- it was such a breakneck thing- to try to shift so quickly into what we wanted to be a fully fleshed out film experience, rather than just a recording of something live. It was such an intense process that for me, I have only fully been able to look back and see what it is maybe in the past month [Laughs].

J: We had this moment of watching the industry shut down, and I felt terrified by that. Then when it hit us that we wouldn't be able to do our holiday tour, it was a mix of being worried about the industry, but also about our audiences, who started building this as a tradition! I think that through sheer willpower and tenacity, DeLa was like 'We're gonna give them something they weren't even expecting and it's gonna fill the void of live entertainment for the holidays this year!" But since we are both Type-A personalities, we wanted to make sure it was absolutely perfect.

B: And I do feel incredibly proud of what we were able to pull off. There's no real reason that we should have succeeded at an endeavor this insane, but somehow we did.

How fast did it all happen?

B: It was six months from inception to delivery. We shot in Seattle, and fortunately, over many years of both of us working together, we have made a lot of wonderful connections with people who bridge the theatre and film world. So we were able to collect an incredible group of people who were able to help us shape this thing, despite it being our first foray into film.

J: And even though it was our first time creating a movie, I think about it like... this is what we do as entertainers. DeLa has been a producer for the entire time that I have known DeLa and has quickly stepped into the role of director, which is kinda the role that DeLa always does on the tour. We write the show together and DeLa produces, but there has never been a concrete director for our live shows... but it's DeLa.

B: You heard it here first!

J: The whole act of assembling performers and artists and all of the people who put in the work and the passion, and pulling something together and making it fabulous... that's just what we do as drag queens! So even though this might have been the hardest way we have ever done it, we've been preparing for this for a decade.

Material-wise, what was the biggest challenge in adapting the show for the New Medium?

B: I think it was about delivery- creating something that could only be done through film. We really wanted to lean into the form. What we do onstage is so about the presence of the audience and about the relationship that's shared from stage and audience, but we really didn't want a watered down version of that. So we leaned into the idea of "What can we accomplish through film that cannot be done onstage?"

In terms of the actual material... I think the mission statement of the holidays has always been the same for us- despite the fact that this is a time of year that is supposed to be about joy and belonging, we are inundated with images of a perfect family unit, which is not something that many of us have access to... certainly those in the queer community. We've been doing these shows that in the live experience, have always been about creating a sense of community. With the special, it was so important to us to be able to bring that into people's homes at a time when it was more true than ever. People were feeling isolated, cut off from community and family. The mission remained the same, but the need for it felt more pressing.

J: I think it was very freeing, for the first time as drag entertainers, to be able to whisper in a scene! We are so used to being in front of an audience and sometimes in these huge houses, everything has to be done for the back row. When we took our performance style and put it on film, it opened up this whole new realm of subtlety and nuance that we both incorporate in our work... but usually have to turn the dial up on. To me, that's the magic of film!

I know that drag performers feed off of their audience... Was is difficult playing to an empty space?

B: The reality is that Jinkx and I are both performers who tightly script, whether it feels that way or not. I've written plays in the past and we've both dealt in curating the full journey and experience. I think it also helps that there is a basis in television and film reference for us! This has always been a variety show that we are inviting the audience into. It tells a story and has character arcs, but it's really based in things like the Judy Garland Christmas special- all of those shows we love that are familiar. It's an age-old form. The stage work was already based on that, so translating that into speaking to an at-home audience was actually pretty fluid.

Having seen the show on stage previously, I really loved watching how the music evolved for year to year. What was that process like?

J: We worked with some really amazing and talented musicians. Starting with the live shows, we worked with my music partner, Major Scales, who collaborated with us in writing much of the original music that ended up in the film as well. So he composed many of the original songs and DeLa and I would often get our fingers in there too. Then we brought on Keith Harrison for the film, who did writing and the production of the arrangements. You know, drag queens work a lot in parody, so we had the challenge in wanting to make sure that everything in the film was by us. So we even had to take some parody songs that we use do and use them as inspiration to write something new. When I listen to the soundtrack now, I cant believe we actually created all of these brand new songs! So on top of writing and producing and acting and directing... we also created an entire musical score! [Laughs]

You two clearly work well together... what is it about you collaborative process that you think makes it work?

B: I think it's really a rare blessing to have somebody who you artistically share such a sensibility with, who also has the same insane work ethic as you, but who also is someone who you have cultivated a friendship with. When Jinkx and I met, it was through performance, but it was instantaneous that we felt a real connection to each other. We've had a lot of shared experiences and a lot of parallel experiences. When we met, we were both soft shoein' for dimes in the clubs of Seattle [Laughs]. We were doing anything we could to make a name for ourselves. Now we are both blessed in that we have fans around the world and we get to travel the globe doing what we do. To share that experience with someone - from the point of nothing to everything- is a very special bond. It has brought us so close.

We're at a point that we can write for each other. I look back at the screenplay and half of the stuff, I can't even attribute it to one of us. Our sense of development is so shared.

J: We both create a lot of solo work and we have our independent careers, but I feel like something really clicked into place when we started writing the holiday tour, because it was the first time that we wrote a show together. Now, I think that collaborating with DeLa is when I do my best work. Our performance styles and writing styles are very different, but complimentary. I can see throughout the last three years leading up to this film how we have informed each other so that our characters have been fleshed out more. That came from us challenging each other and asking the questions that don't get asked when it's just one of us alone.

How did performing becoming a part of your life as a kid and when did you know that being on stage was it for you?

B: I think we have this in common. I feel very much that drag straddles a line between art form and identity. For me, I did not have the language that I wanted to be a "drag queen"- I was a drag queen from a very, very young age... before I knew what it was. I was always drawn to a performance of femininity that said something about who I was and expressed something deep in me. Over the course of time, as I discovered drag performance, it wasn't so much "Oh, this is what I wanna do!" It was, "Oh, there's a container for what I already am!" For me, all of it just feels like it's in the blood.

J: I always wanted to be onstage for my entire life. From my kindergarten play on, I always knew I wanted to be a performer. It was similar to what DeLa is describing though. When I found drag, I was like, "Oh, that's the way I am meant to be performing!" Now when I look back in retrospect, the reason that drag appealed to me so much is that I was already acting and dancing and singing, but because I was assigned male at birth... I didn't fit many male roles, but we weren't at a place that we were doing gender-blind casting. Drag allowed me to create work for myself that fit who I was. We're seeing more representation in mainstream entertainment now, but for me to be able to be a trans, femme, non-binary person, performing the roles that I think I'm best at- I had to create them for myself.

Is there a show or performer that particularly inspired you as a young person?

You can watch The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Special in full on Hulu.

Photo Credit: Matt Baume