Review: JINKX MONSOON & MAJOR SCALES TOGETHER AGAIN, AGAIN! at The Seattle Rep

Just like Cher, Dear Readers, Jinkx Monsoon and Major Scales just keep coming back over and over, as the title of their current incarnation at the Seattle Rep “Jinkx Monsoon & Major Scales Together Again, Again!” might suggest.  Having seen their other two major local shows, “The Vaudevillians” and “Unwrapped”, I was excited for this one.  And if the show had been 30 minutes, it would have been great.  At an hour, it would have been good.  But at 90 plus minutes, the dead horse was severely beaten, and I found myself repeatedly looking at my watch.

Created by Monsoon and Scales and with some original music from Scales, the conceit is that we’re in the year 2065 and after many cataclysmic events, some successes, and one alien invasion, Jinkx and Major have decided to put aside their differences and reunite on stage one more time.  But their disdain for each other quickly shows through, and their happy reunion looks more like a scene from “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” 

Sadly, that’s about as far as the show goes.  They rely on two main jokes for the evening.  They’re both really old, and Jinkx has had sex with lots of men.  And while those bits were funny to start, the repetition of them became even older than they were.  It’s like that friend who repeats the same schtick to you.  If it’s funny, at first you guffaw.  Then you giggle.  Then it becomes a courtesy chuckle.  But before long it becomes a dead stare as you wish they would move on.  That’s what my evening felt like.

The other main issue I ran up against is that they tended to lean heavily on their own reputations.  Both Jinkx and Major have had successes locally and internationally, especially Jinkx with her winning “RuPaul’s Drag Race” twice (something she brought up over and over), acclaimed stints on Broadway, and even a major role in the latest season of “Doctor Who”.  But I felt they leaned too heavily on that notoriety rather than putting in the effort for something as clever as they had given us in the past.  Plus, the show kept using references to her time with “Drag Race” including references to other contestants.  Now I personally have never watched “Drag Race”, but I know enough from pop culture and friends to get it.  But that may not be the case for other Seattle Rep patrons.  And while there were certainly some “Drag Race” fans in the audience, I’m sure many of the jokes went right over some heads.

Don’t get me wrong, Monsoon and Scales are talented performers.  Great musicians and singers and both manage some brilliant physical comedy.  And when they were doing variations on other’s songs, it was a good time.  But their original stuff was entirely too repetitious, which can be part of the joke, but then their constant repeating of that repetition made for much monotony.

The whole show just felt very niche, and that niche got old quickly.  But it was still Jinkx and Major, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.  And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give “Jinkx Monsoon & Major Scales Together Again, Again!” at the Seattle Rep a somewhat disappointed MEH+.  It was still fun and funny but there are only so many times I can listen to them talk about Jinkx’s sexploits. 

“Jinkx Monsoon & Major Scales Together Again, Again!” performs at the Seattle Rep through June 23rd.  For tickets or information visit them online at www.seattlerep.org.

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