Working on Priscilla, the Musical
After being a drag queen for about 8 or 9 years, I grew very tired of putting on make up and working in clubs and bars. As impossible as it sounds, I actually started to see drag like an office job. The monotony of doing the same thing day in day out, even though it was all sex, drugs and rock n roll, just bored me.
I started drinking more and partying more just to feel inspired. But nothing worked. I began to hate drag. Spiralling further and further down, with a real risk of being what I always feared most, I realized that nothing would change if I didn't change. I could either keep doing exactly what I was doing and be miserable or I could get my shit together and change my life.
So I trimmed the fat off my gigs. Let go of the ones I didn't love and only kept the few that I did. I stopped drinking and partying, and cleaned myself up.
I didn't know what was coming next but I was enjoying feeling like a real person again. A normal member of society.
During this time, there was a lot of hype about a stage production of the movie Priscilla, Queen of the desert. It was all very exciting as they were wanting real drag queens to be in the cast, so a lot of people I knew auditioned. Of course they were looking for people with musical theatre skills so I didn't bother. And if you've ever heard me sing then you know why! No, I wanted to be backstage and do wigs and make up.
Months went by and I was back to full strength, feeling great and enjoying life again. And then I get a call from my good friend Trevor Ashley (who got a feature role in the show) to do a couple of drag faces for a photo shoot for Priscilla. And that was it. I went in for the shoot and never left.
I truly felt like the universe had guided me to that point, the planets aligned and I was put on the path that would lead to my future.
I travelled the world with Priscilla, rose through the ranks from a casual makeup artist to deputy to head to associate make up designer and wig supervisor. I worked on Broadway, and I lived in London for 2 years. I met the most wonderful and talented people and l learned a fucking shit load of new skills and life experience. I felt so blessed and I wouldn't be here right now if I hadn't gotten that call that day.
Working in that professional environment with such a high standard refined my skills to a whole new level. I felt like I had learned all the spells and I was creating magic with everything I touched. It was a life changing 5 years of my life. But like all good things, there has to be an end. 5 years was a long time to hear the same songs over and over. I did the show 1000's of times. I set the show up in 6 different countries and I was tired. But the real issue was that the repetition made me creatively barren. There was no new flow of inspiration. I was stagnant and for someone who is an extremely creative person, realizing that your magic has gone is a shocking thing.
So Priscilla wound down and I took about 6 months off working to go back to drag full time. I needed to let my juices flow and find my magic again. It worked!
Me and Kylie from when she visited the London production.