Jinkx Monsoon is living the dream she saw coming

Jinkx Monsoon is living the dream — one that she saw coming.

The only two-time “Drag Race” winner told RuPaul on her original season in 2013 she wanted to bring drag to Broadway. A decade later, she not only accomplished that, but brought Broadway back to “Drag Race” while performing a “Chicago” song during the show’s Season 15 finale.

“When you spend your whole life knowing who you’re supposed to be, and then you have to fight to be that person, and then you get there and you’re exactly where you’re supposed to be, it’s just an incredible feeling,” she tells TODAY.com.

Jinkx made her Great White Way debut last year as Matron “Mama” Morton in “Chicago”. Her run drew unprecedented attendance numbers, breaking the record for the highest-grossing non-holiday week in the production’s 26-year history, all while the rest of Broadway saw a slight downturn in ticket sales.

More recently, she’s bidding farewell to playing Audrey in “Little Shop of Horrors” in an off-Broadway production.

The Portland-based performer made a name for herself in the Seattle drag scene in the 2010s before becoming a self-described “Internationally tolerated” drag superstar via her winning run on the fifth season of “Drag Race”. Earning a BFA in theater, Jinkx has often included musical theater into her work, even performing “All That Jazz” from “Chicago” in one of her first drag performances as a teen.

Now, Jinkx is among a seeming sea change in stage performances as trans and nonbinary and drag performers have become headliners in recent years. Last year, Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee became the first nonbinary actors to win Tony Awards. Angelica Ross became the first openly trans woman to headline a Broadway show as Roxie Hart in Chicago in 2022, and Peppermint, also a “Drag Race” alum, became the first openly trans woman to originate a principal role on Broadway in 2018’s “Head Over Heels.”

“I feel like a lot of people are really, really ready for this shift in consciousness and understanding and empathy. And it starts in our arts and entertainment so to be trusted and invited into this production in this role is just really an honor,” Jinkx says.

But she also feels the common burden of being among the “firsts.”

“The anxiety that I came into this with, and really anytime I’ve performed with all eyes on me being a trans-feminine person, being a drag queen in this industry, I’m worried about messing up, because I’m like, if I mess up, is this going to be the last time that someone like me gets an opportunity? So, give the opportunity and allow for room to improve. The only way that we can become better artists is to be given the opportunity,” she says, adding, “it’s not just about trusting the artists, it’s about trusting your audience.”

She’s inspired by others also forging new ground, and says she was particularly moved by a clip of Michaela Jaé Rodrigeuz performing “Suddenly Seymour” to promote her own run as Audrey in a production of “Little Shop of Horrors” at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2020. That run made Rodriguez the first openly trans woman to play the role in a major production.

“She’s been on my mind a lot,” Jinkx says of Rodriguez. “I remember seeing (that clip) and feeling inspired. And feeling like, oh my gosh, are we getting there?”

Now, Jinkx is making her return to Broadway to reprise her “Chicago” role.

Although only a year has passed, Jinkx feels excited to bring a new sense of self to the role.

“I have made a lot of strides in being present in my life and that helps me be more present on stage. I feel like there’s a beautiful synchronicity in my life right now,” she says. “Cutting out alcohol, that was a big part of it.”

Staring at her face in the trailer for the new season of “Doctor Who,” where she plays the villain Maestro, is another reminder of change and a deepening of her sense of self.

“I said, wow, the last footage of my old face,” she says, laughing. It’s a cheeky reference to her recent facial feminization surgery, a common procedure done during medical transitions. She’s been providing fans with updates on the surgery, which she calls a “privilege.”

In a recent Instagram post, Jinkx reflected on a trans elder telling her, “It’s never too late.” She tells TODAY how much that sentiment applies to her life these days.

“It means a lot as a person who is a recovering alcoholic, as a person who’s 36 and just now beginning my medical transition. It took a trans elder saying, 'It’s never too late.' It took my mom making sure I knew that she absolutely supported me. It all just kind of coalesced. And I never imagined that I could be playing Audrey at the same time as I am transitioning into my femme-ness. I just feel like wow, this is really cool. People ask, ‘What are you going to do next?’ And lately I’ve been saying just more of what I’m doing because I’m really happy,” she says.

What does it feel like to be doing what you love, and feeling like yourself while doing it? Easy, Jinkx says: “I’m having the time of my life.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com