RuPaul’s Drag Race star Alaska Thunderf— and Broadway veteran Nick Adams play dueling queens in the Dear: Musicalplaying at New World Stages in New York, but offstage they are each other’s biggest fans.
Written by Alaska, Ashley Gordon and Tomas Costanza, Dear: Musicalwhich originally opened in Los Angeles in 2022, revolves around two drag houses, each run by two drag queens (Adams’ Alexis Gillmore and Alaska’s Miss Kitty), who share a mysterious past. During the hilarious show — with supporting performances by New Kids on the Block singers Joey McIntyre, Liisa LaFontaine, Eddie Korbich, J. Elaine Marcos, Jan Sport, Jujubee, Lagonne Blu, Luxx Noir London, Nick Laughlin, Remi Tuckman and Yair Keydar — the feuding divas they are forced to band together when their clubs are in danger.
Joey McIntyre jokes about being the “stereotypical heterosexual” Off-Broadway Dear: Musical (Exclusive)
During a fun chat with PEOPLE, Adams and Alaska talk about becoming fast friends, Adams finding her own journey with a cast of seasoned queens, producer Liza Minnelli’s involvement and more.
Alaska Thunderf— and Nick Adams in Drag: The Musical.
Matthew Murphy
PEOPLE: Take me back to when you two first met.
Nick Adams: We met, I think, on the first day of a reading three or four years ago in LA when I got there. But I, of course, knew about Alaska because she was a famous, iconic drag queen, but also because we are from the same hometown. For me, it was just another layer of amazement that we share the same ancestry and never met at home. But I just love that we have that connection and we joke about it a lot and we mention Erie, Pennsylvania a lot.
Alaska Thunderf—: Yeah, how lucky are we that you took on this role from the start? It’s so important, I can’t even imagine anyone else doing it, because you were there from the beginning, and we started to hear it in your voice, and you are that character to me. We were really lucky with the choice of actors. I don’t know how it all worked and who found you, and I don’t know how it all happened, but I’m thankful that it did. And also very wild that we both grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, not a very big city, never knew each other, and now here we are.
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Dear: Musical.
Matthew Murphy
PEOPLE: Nick is a bit of a Broadway veteran. Alaska, did Nick give you any guidance on navigating the New York theater scene before the show debuted off-Broadway?
Alaska Thunderf—: No, I’ve never heard of her. [Laughs] No, just kidding. No, it’s like New York is something else. I don’t know I was very scared and intimidated because I feel like New Yorkers are really … they have Broadway right down the street so I can see the best of the best stages in the world right outside my door. New Yorkers, they know their shit– and they’re like, “That’s shit. That’s good.” And in my opinion, it is impossible to impress them. It scared me. But then, at the heart of it, I think the show was just the show and all we can do is the best version of what it is. I don’t know What advice did you give me, Nick? I don’t fucking know.
Nick Adams: I think I’ve gotten more advice from you than I’ve given you, which continues on a daily basis. The position I’m in, playing a drag queen in the company of titans in that art form, is the scariest, but also the best position I could be in because, of course, it’s like I’m going to be right next to the greatest, but I’m also learning from the greatest. And what better way to really get down to the nitty gritty than to actually do it with the people at the top of the industry? And so it was so informative for me. I’m no stranger to drag, in the Broadway drag sense [Adams starred in Broadway’s original production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert]what it represents, and I was proud to be a part of that legacy and to be able to do it a few times, but this is a different experience for me. He’s taken it to the next level and it’s with the real thing.
Every day in the dressing room they still help me with my makeup, just little details that you don’t know unless you know if you don’t know and you’re surrounded by these amazing creatures who are just … I’ve never looked forward to going to work more than with this production because the friendship, the connection, the family we have created, that is the perfect recipe for human beings. For the two hours we prepare for the show, it’s the most joyful work environment I’ve ever had.
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Dear: Musical.
Matthew Murphy
PEOPLE: The series obviously hinges on the two of you being equal. Alaska, were you surprised by Nick’s drag trip? He had big heels!
Alaska Thunderf—: Yeah, totally, but overall I’m in awe of Nick as an actor, singer and performer, really someone who can do it all and still somehow go to the gym. I don’t know how that’s possible. But you’re a freaking machine, and you’re really, really great at doing the really hard work that’s required for this role, but just doing these kinds of shows, it’s really f*cking — hard. I am very impressed with it. And then to throw you in the deep end and be like, well… because in LA, Nick had a makeup artist, so every night he would sit in a chair like RuPaul and it was put together by Aurora Sexton… who is a legend. But here it was like, “No, you’re going to have to do your own makeup. Ready, set, go,” and Aurora taught Nick the basics and how to do it. And then it was, “Okay, your training wheels are off and you have to do it yourself, and we have a show tonight.” And I’m really, really blown away and impressed by how amazing you look on stage, because it’s hard. Removing makeup is hard. I had years before there were cell phone cameras where I looked like shit, and that’s part of the resistance. But you really look great and you did a very good job.
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PEOPLE: Was writing a musical always your goal, Alaska?
Alaska Thunderf—: No, it wasn’t on my bingo card when I first started dating, that’s for sure. When I was in my early 20s, when I was in college, I studied theater, so I was around all that, but I had friends who acted Lease soundtrack and play Wicked soundtrack, and I said, “This is fucking annoying. Can you turn it off, please?” Now, that was me as an ignorant student. Now I’m obsessed and I get it, and I love it all. But I’ve always been drawn to the weirder, wackier musicals. I loved Rocky Horrorand I loved it Hairand I loved it God’s magic. I love rock and roll musicals and that was my starting point.
But then fast forward to seven years ago, or eight years anyway, Tomas [Costanza] and Ashley [Gordon]who I’d been making music with for a while, they said, “Do you want to work on this musical with us?” and I said, “Sure. Why not?” And then it became a thing, and I often just do things and see if it becomes a thing or not. I could never have predicted that it would become the amazing, wonderful thing that it has.
PEOPLE: How did Liza Minnelli get involved?
Alaska Thunderf—: Well, it started with the voice. We had that voice part, like the opening narrator, and we wanted it to be a voice that was iconic and recognizable, and we didn’t know who it was going to be or who was going to say yes or anything. Somehow we got in touch with Liza Minnelli’s people. They said, “She’s interested, but she wants to do more. She wants to do another voice role, and she doesn’t just want to do a voice role, she also wants to be a producing partner.”
It was like, “Sure. Okay, yeah, we can do that.” It was like I really didn’t believe it until it was fully signed, sealed and delivered, because I was like, “This is too good to be true.”
PEOPLE: It’s very moving to see all these drag queens on such a big stage off-Broadway. What does it mean to offer them that platform?
Alaska Thunderf—: It’s a great feeling and mostly I feel gratitude, and I’m grateful to them for coming and doing this thing. I’m so grateful to my friends who are multi-talented drag goddesses who believed in this thing enough in its infancy to come and make it for real shit– pay, honestly, and to just come in and breathe life into it and make it what it is. I feel very grateful and it wouldn’t exist without them. I’m really grateful for that.
PEOPLE: What’s next Dear: Musical? Do you want to take him to London…Broadway?
Alaska Thunderf—: Yeah, all those things would be great. Sure, let’s do it. I’m just taking it as it comes and enjoying this process now, and whatever the next iteration is, I’m sure it’s going to be great.
Nick Adams: I personally think what’s been amazing about this project is that over the years…my last show in New York was…I closed 12 years ago. It was Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It’s been a while since I’ve done a show here, and it’s really emotional. I feel like I’ve been a part of a lot of things that almost got here and then didn’t, or were in the pot for many years and then lost funding, all that stuff. In this show, I just wanted to enjoy every step without expectations.
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Source: HIS Education