Soho theatre, London
The star’s stage presence is impressive as she charts the journey from her religious upbringing to her first sexual encounters and becoming an adored icon
“Premium ticketholders will get a post-show meet and greet opportunity.” That’s not just a ticket offer, it’s an indication of the show in store: not so much standup, not even drag, more celebrity opening up to her adoring fans. Monét X Change is “the first double-crown winner in RuPaul’s Drag Race herstory”, and Life Be Lifein’ traces her journey – from closeted Kevin singing in the middle-school chorus, via tentative queer experiences as a teen, to her apotheosis singing Bellini to a worldwide audience of drag fans.
It starts as an extended digression: Monét is about to sing us a song, but keeps interrupting herself, with this or that bit of essential backstory. The backstory becomes the show, flashing us back to a homophobic, religious upbringing in Brooklyn, her first sexual encounters – jerking off in a basement with a macho classmate – and the foothills of her musical career, peeing herself on stage while singing Flying Without Wings. Later sections lead us through her years of vocal training in alarmingly white Princeton, where Kevin finds his voice in a karaoke club, and through a passionate but doomed romance while finding fame as Monét X Change.
At Soho theatre, London, until 23 March
