With Halloween in the rearview mirror and Thanksgiving only a few days away, the holiday season is approaching with breakneck speed. And with the holidays comes a bounty of traditions that families and friends enjoy year after year. Perhaps you visit a local theater to see their annual rendition of A Christmas Carol or The Nutcracker. Maybe your family drives out to the nearest mega Christmas light display, put up by someone with too much holiday cheer (and free time).
Or maybe, you spend your time watching a dazzling lineup of nationally-known drag queens kick, dip, and duckwalk to a medley of pop tunes and holiday classics.
Put on by Murray & Peter Present, A Drag Queen Christmas is the company’s annual holiday-themed drag tour, making stops in 39 U.S. cities throughout the fall and winter. Each year features a new cast of acclaimed and talented drag queens from the mainstay RuPaul’s Drag Race (2009–present) franchise, and 2024 is no exception. And on Nov. 17, 2024, these queens brought their many talents and enormous personalities to D.C.’s Warner Theatre.
“[A Drag Queen Christmas] is going to allow you to come out and have a fabulous night out of fun and frivolity and celebration, and also give you a little bit of that seasonal joy as well. That’s exactly what this tour is about,” Nina West, performer and host of the show, said in an interview with the Voice. “We’re spreading joy. We’re spreading happiness, and of course, we’re giving you a lot of sass and all that drag queen camp people have come to expect.”
West is undoubtedly a powerhouse in the national drag scene. On top of her two runs on the Drag Race franchise, West has toured the U.S. for two years with Hairspray the musical and founded the Nina West Foundation, which has given over $3 million to date to the LGBTQ+ community in central Ohio. Combined with West’s larger-than-life drag character, it’s no wonder she was tapped to host this year’s tour.
After opening the show with a high-camp number set to a track from her original Christmas album, The West Christmas Ever (2019), West deftly introduced the other queens while keeping the audience engaged, a skill acquired from her 20-plus years of performing. Warmed by Christmas sweaters (and maybe a drink or two from the bar), audience members remained jolly and giggly at West’s quick wit and charisma. In particular, the catty back-and-forths between West and her castmates had everyone doubling over in their seats.
Speaking of her castmates, West said that the D.C. lineup was “completely stacked,” and she was not exaggerating. From elegant pageant queens to high energy dancers to raunchy comedians, the cast of the D.C. stop featured every flavor of the diverse drag queen community. Each queen performed twice throughout the night, and their respective numbers showcased their unique personas, reminding the audience why we loved these queens so much on their TV appearances.
Photo by Zachary Warren Plasma performs the final note in her “Jingle Bells” number.Photo by Zachary Warren
Fans of comedic drag howled at Plane Jane’s dramatic physical comedy and up-close-and-personal audience interaction, then cringed at Jimbo’s outrageous performance as an infamous Christmas character from South Park (1997–present), set to Chappell Roan’s “HOT TO GO” (2023). For the theater kids, Plasma channeled Broadway legend Barbra Streisand while West and Brooke Lynn Hytes became Glinda and Elphaba to perform Wicked’s iconic power ballad, “Defying Gravity.”
Since the days have gotten shorter and the air chillier, a bit of levity and happiness was very much due for most of the audience. The holidays, particularly this year, can be a challenging time of year for LGBTQ+ folks with strained relationships with family members. West spoke about the A Drag Queen Christmas’s potential as an outlet for queer joy during the season.
“LGBTQ people oftentimes may not have a family to go home to because they’ve been, you know, they’ve had some disassociation with their family because of their identity,” West said. “So this gives them an opportunity, I think, to go out with their chosen family and experience the holidays and define it in a new and fabulous way for them.”
Moreover, West underscored the importance of drag performance as an art form for the community. She blamed the recent surge in legislative attacks on drag queens on far-right individuals’ fear of the power that drag has to uplift queer communities.
“Drag is an art form that is a very powerful, powerful art form to LGBTQ folks,” West said. “We know that drag can transform and save and uplift, and that’s what scares people. That’s what terrifies people, is the fact that queer people are able to find agency and stand in their skin and to be honest with who they are and yell it to the world, and it terrifies people.”
That power was on clear display at A Drag Queen Christmas after an audience member heckled West in response to the queen’s jab at the incoming President. West quickly shut them down, confidently telling them that no matter what the next four years looked like she was still going to be here, proudly and defiantly queer. Uproarious applause followed.
Photo by Zachary Warren Lifted by her backup dancers, Brooke Lynn Hytes stuns in her first number set to Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me.”Photo by Zachary Warren
Despite the minor interruption, the show continued on without a hitch (aside from Plasma’s heel flying off the stage only to be caught by an audience member). In addition to comedy and theater, all of the queens showcased their talents as lip syncers—a fundamental skill in every drag queen’s repertoire. Each took on genres and music that suited their niche style of performance. Lady Camden displayed her ballet training with jumps and pirouettes while lip syncing to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” (1975), while Crystal Methyd donned an outfit inspired by Heat Miser of The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) fame as “Hot In Herre” (2002) by Nelly played. Sapphira Cristál, runner-up on the most recent regular season of Drag Race, danced to a medley of Lizzo songs, capping off her performance with an impressive series of consecutive high kicks. Finally, Roxxxy Andrews, another queen who’s been performing for decades, blinded the audience in awe with a sparkling golden gown as she delivered her number.
Spectacular outfits, raunchy comedy, jaw-dropping stunts, lively pop tracks, lighthearted shade, a lingerie-clad Santa—these are only a few of the many details that made A Drag Queen Christmas in D.C. such a phenomenal success. Ultimately, West and her castmates hope that audience members join the small-yet-growing group of attendees that have made the tour a part of their annual holiday traditions.
“A Drag Queen Christmas is a mainstay now in how people celebrate the holidays and how people come together during this time of year, and I think that’s really powerful,” West said. “If you’re reading this article, I would hope that you obviously opened up to the idea of welcoming a new tradition into your world.”
As far as holiday traditions go, A Drag Queen Christmas certainly made its case for me to add it to my list of seasonal shows to attend. Here’s to hoping that 2025’s tour will be something even better.
