Get ready, folks. Monsoon season is coming to Broadway!
Two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon will make her Broadway debut in the Tony-winning revival of Chicago next year at the Ambassador Theatre. She will step into the role of Matron “Mama” Morton beginning January 16, 2023, for an eight-week limited engagement through March 12.
This is the first time a drag queen will play the role on Broadway.
“I cannot stress enough that this has been a lifelong dream of mine,” Monsoon says in a exclusive interview with EW. “To be making my Broadway debut, as my favorite role, in one of my favorite shows – that lifelong dream is coming true and then some. The first number I performed in drag was ‘All That Jazz,’ so this feels almost too serendipitous. But I never question my blessings, I just thank Hecate for them.”
Monsoon currently on tour with the critically acclaimed theatrical spectacular, The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show, co-starring alongside her best friend and fellow drag icon, BenDeLaCreme.
Chicago is currently the second-longest running show in Broadway history (after The Phantom of the Opera), and follows Roxie Hart, a nightclub dancer who murders her lover and subsequently embarks on a redemptive journey alongside a criminal lawyer, who helps her turn the criminal affair into a sensational, headline-grabbing narrative.
Mama Morton plays a supporting role in Roxie’s tale, presiding over the women’s block at the Cook County Jail. Queen Latifah earned an Oscar nomination for portraying the character in the 2002 film adaptation, starring Renée Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Monsoon’s casting comes after a landmark year for the drag superstar, who became the first contestant in RuPaul’s Drag Race herstory to win the competition twice. She initially snatched the crown during Season 5, and then again in All Stars 7, the show’s all-winners edition that reunited eight prior victors to compete for the title of “Queen of All Queens.”
