Interview: BenDeLaCreme & Jinkx Monsoon Bring THE JINKX & DELA HOLIDAY SHOW to the Kings Theater

Another holiday season brings another year of fabulous spectacle, whip-smart comedy, brand new songs, and annual favorites. Join the sugary DeLa and spicy Jinkx for an evening of raucous holiday fun. BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon will play the Kings Theater in Brooklyn on December 5th – and they’re currently in the midst of a national tour – check out their website for dates.

We spoke to Jinkx and DeLa a few weeks ago, before the election. Read our conversation below.

What are you most looking forward to about your holiday show this year?

DeLa: We just love touring. We're so deep in the creative process right now. These are the final few weeks before hitting the road and it's so fun to be able to be in the throes of the way that we collaborate both with each other and with our other performers, with our choreographer. The reward for that is then we get to be on the road, we get to go to all these different cities and share this with so many different communities.

And that's just the rewards of the tour itself. And then, you know, within the show, I think there's a lot we're excited about this year.

JM: Oh, yeah. So, traditionally the Jinkx and DeLa Holiday show is about Jinkx and DeLa putting on a holiday show, and then you can pick up on certain themes and tropes that might be recognizable from Christmas stories or your favorite films.

In the past, this has been things like a mash up between Back to the Future and A Christmas Carol. So, this year, we are doing our take on a classical ballet that's popular during the holiday time.

DeLa: We're not saying which one.

JM: Yeah, you have to figure out which ballet we're talking about, but it's a very popular ballet. And we're doing it by taking all the ballet out of it. [laughs]

The show is going to be coming up pretty soon after the election. How have you been approaching writing that with not knowing which way that's going to go?

DeLa: It's a big task. But from the get-go, Jinkx and I knew that it was our duty not to shy away from what's happening, and that it's our responsibility to our audience to be there with them when we are in whatever unknown world we are about to be in.

And so, in order to kind of do justice to that experience, it was important that we found the truths that we will be living in regardless. And so we've thought very hard about that while creating this show and that no matter what world we are living in, we are going to have a lot of work ahead of us.

And we also will have done a lot of work that reflecting upon everything we've fought for and appreciating it and celebrating that our work that has been done is what is necessary in order to continue it. And so, you know, those are just some of the core thoughts that we've been working with, but we've really been making sure that what we're saying is speaking to where people will be at in any given future.

Yeah, that's my answer to that. [laughs]

JM: I mean, we're all in this world right now together, and there's plenty going on just now. And so, with the election coming up, things could be worse, or we could have a moment of levity, you know? But like you were saying, there's certain truths that are going to still be true after the election either way. And our community still is fighting an uphill battle. If we weren't, we wouldn't be scapegoated in this election. We wouldn't be fighting for our right to exist in our country if we were there. If we were already living in an optimistic, utopian future, this election wouldn't be so damning.

DeLa: And one of the common themes, no matter what that's going to be important is sort of one of the core values of this show and what drives us to create it, which is chosen family, community, space, the support, love and hope that we feel when we as queer people, as other people in disenfranchised communities come together and feel the positive vibes that are possible when we gather in numbers. And that is either going to be a way that we celebrate or it is going to be a way that we hold each other in a difficult time, but it is going to be important regardless.

What kind of response are you expecting for the tour that you're preparing for down South?

JM: Well, in my experience, the people who are being oppressed actively are the people who party the hardest. So again, I talk a lot about a future I'm trying to prevent for this country. You know, there are people who are very pointedly saying that they want to make fascist moves to take us back a century, and that's terrifying.

But there are people in this country already living under that. Laws have passed in parts of this country where trans people are currently living in that fear that I'm scared for our future. So, these people need us because they have been living under this oppressive rule already. And they will need the reassurance that they're part of a global community and that there is strength in our numbers and that they are being taken into consideration by the people experiencing safety in other parts of this country. You know, like I have lived a relatively safe life as a transfeminine person. It hasn't been perfect. It's been scary the whole time. But compared to people in different parts of this country, it's been rather privileged. And my way of sharing that privilege is creating art and safe spaces for our community at large.

You're both collaborating on Jinkx’s solo show at Carnegie Hall. How does it feel to be performing at an iconic venue like that?

JM: I kind of just put it out of my mind because every time I think about it, it kind of makes me dizzy because it doesn't seem real.

You know, I grew up listening to live recordings of Bernadette Peters and Patti LuPone and other feminine icons who inspired me to take this route in life. And now I'm getting to perform in the same venue as these legends. And the only thing that makes it feel doable is the fact that DeLa agreed to direct and co-write the show with me because I know that I do my best work in collaboration with others, and I did not want to fly solo on such a big evening. I definitely wanted to both share it with other collaborators, but also I didn't want it all on me alone. You know, like drag queens don't get asked to do Carnegie Hall often. I want to make sure that's not true anymore. I want to make sure there's drag queens at Carnegie Hall every season. You know? [laughs]

DeLa: It's so amazing to see Jinkx have this really well-earned opportunity. It's really cool to see her poster next to Bernadette Peter’s poster outside the venue as somebody she's been talking to me about since I met her 15 years ago. It's a big honor that she trusts me to help shape this evening, and I'm really excited. We obviously work on our collaborative work together a lot, but this time around I really get to be behind the scenes, helping to elevate and craft the best Jinkx Monsoon concert evening that the world will ever know.

Is there anything else that either of you would like to add?
You can get tickets at JinkxandDeLa.com. If you saw the show last year, I cannot stress enough that we write a brand new show every year, and I bring that up as much as possible because it's not easy, and I don't think people realize that it's a new show every year, because we always get people saying, “I can't wait to see this number or that number.”

And it's like, I love that you have favorite numbers. You won't see them tonight, but we've got something just as cool planned. [laughs]

DeLa: But you will have a new favorite number when the evening is done. And for anybody who hasn't seen the show before, we obviously are passionate about a lot of social and political issues, and that is something that drives us. But we are also tried and true award-winning comedians, writers, performers, and we really bring an evening of joy and spectacle. We have incredible dance, incredible original music and comedy and incredible production value. I hope that people who haven't seen this before, will come out and check it out because I truly feel proud of that. I think what we're putting on stage is unlike anything you can see anywhere else.

JM: Yeah. And you don't have to be a fan of either of us. Drag, theater music... you can hate everything and come see our show and still have a good time. We work hard at that. We are trying to make sure that even the straight boyfriend who is dragged along by his girlfriend's family is having a great time that night. I mean, the show is not for him, but we want him to laugh too.

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Learn more about the Jinkx and DeLa Holiday show and upcoming tour dates at www.jinkxanddela.com. Catch them at the Kings Theater in Brooklyn on December 5, 2024.

Header photo credit: Santiago Felipe

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