Famed New York City drag queen and winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars season 4 makes her debut at Edinburgh Fringe in an unexpected show. Comedy, yes. Music, yes. Heartfelt moments, yes. But altogether in a surprising format.
The best way to describe Life Be Lifein would be a ‘one woman show’: the lines, though frequently comedic, are too well-rehearsed for the appearance of improvisation that accompanies stand-up. Fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race and/or Monét X Change will know to expect some live singing – maybe even opera. And Monét knows just how to utilise this expectation from the get-go through a series of false starts of performing operato which take us on a journey of her life: being closeted as a child in her family, church and middle-school choir; hiding herself in her first relationship; undergoing classical training as a baritone at a music college but discovering her true voice in a karaoke bar singing Jennifer Hudson renditions from Dream Girls (in the original key, mind you); and of course her time in three seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race (she promises us she will never return).
The false starts reach a level of absurdity that make us wonder if the singing will ever occur. But no one’s complaining. We sit with grins on our faces, we laugh, we hoot, we feel her pain. The special touch of including a few local British references go over well with the audience too. Finally, over an hour into the show, the DJ cues the music yet again and we hear Monét’s silky baritone – which modulates along with the medley that touches upon each story she’s told us – till she has us waving our arms and singing and dancing along. The songs hold weight now. We understand their roots, what they mean to her, and they mean something to us too.
Life Be Lifein is a clever act in combining Monét X Change’s key skills – drag, comedy and song – to share her story with us in a heartfelt way. That’s branding done right, and Mama Ru would be proud.