Broadway’s New Pirate Queen: Jinkx Monsoon on Belonging, Becoming and Being Ruth

Jinkx Monsoon has never been one to do things the traditional way. But in Pirates!, the Roundabout Theatre Company’s joyously irreverent, jazz-infused adaptation of The Pirates of Penzance, the two-time RuPaul’s Drag Race winner may have found the most old-fashioned kind of theatrical magic: a true repertory company building something together from the ground up.

“When I was a kid dreaming of this, this is the show I was dreaming of,” Jinkx says with a grin. “It’s got everything you’ve ever heard of in a Broadway show, all in one Broadway show.” And she means everything: buoyant, colorful sets by David Rockwell, high-energy choreography by Warren Carlyle, bold new orchestrations of Gilbert and Sullivan’s music—plus thimbles, bike bells and a showstopping washboard routine.

But more than the spectacle, it’s the sense of community that has defined this experience for her. “We all chose to be here because we wanted to put on this show—not because anyone’s making a bucket of money,” she explains. “It’s a not-for-profit theater, which means we’re all getting paid more or less the same.” That setup, she says, keeps things grounded. “Let’s all push our egos aside. When we’re in this show, we’re just a bunch of silly pirates.”

And if you’re wondering where this all takes place, don’t ask her mom. “She keeps calling it the Round Table Theater,” Jinkx laughs. “She’s always so close.”

Broadway.com first interviewed Jinkx Monsoon in the summer of 2013, fresh off her first Drag Race win. She was riding high and already talking about how badly she wanted to get to the legit stage. A decade later, she made good on that dream with a triumphant Broadway debut as Mama Morton in Chicago. Her run boosted box-office sales and proved so popular she was invited back for another round.

That performance opened a door. But it was her starring role as Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors off-Broadway that reshaped her path in an even more personal way. The experience helped inspire Jinkx—who identifies as trans-femme—to begin undergoing medical transition. “It was such a pivotal moment,” she’s says of that time, and it deepened her connection to the kind of roles she could take on next.

Now, she’s not just stepping into a role—she’s helping shape one from the inside out.

With Pirates!, Jinkx wasn’t just dropped into a role—she was in the room from the start. “I feel like I’m in college again,” she says, recalling her training in developing new work. This time, her ideas actually made it to rehearsal. “I’d say, ‘I have this idea,’ and they would be like, ‘OK, let’s get this happening.’” Director Scott Ellis, along with choreographer Warren Carlyle and music supervisor Joseph Joubert, made space for her contributions from the start.

“Not every idea made it to the stage,” she adds, “but they let me try everything. And what we whittled away and what we have now is something I’m so proud of because I’m part of the DNA of my character.”

The show’s diverse and deeply collaborative company has created a unique backstage energy. “From day one, it was just easy,” she says. “And if I may say candidly—not that it’s important—it’s just refreshing: I believe the LGBTQIA+ company members outnumber the non.”

That detail may be coincidental, but to Jinkx, it’s emblematic of something deeper. “It’s not just saying something. It’s actually showing what it looks like when people come together and appreciate one another’s differences.”

Pirates! is a limited run, scheduled to sail off after July 27—but Jinkx hopes its spirit lingers. “I have no power,” she says, “but I am casting spells for a cast album, just so that it exists somewhere so we can look back on it, because the music is really divine.”

A self-proclaimed witch, she’s hoping this particular incantation sticks. “It’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of doing in one show,” she says. “It’s going to be hard to think of what to do next because this had it all.”

Still, she’s dreaming ahead. “Cabaret,” she teases. “Sometimes I want to play Fräulein Schneider. Sometimes Sally. Sometimes the Emcee. I could do it all, baby.”

And then there’s Mame—her long-time dream role. “I think it would be really interesting to see a kid being raised by a non-traditional household, and then that being the good thing,” she says, half-joking, half-pitching a revival.

Jinkx knows she’s part of a relatively new wave on Broadway, but she’s quick to tip her hat to the queer performers who helped open the door. “I didn’t do it on my own,” she says. “I just kept showing up.” She rattles off names like Peppermint, Varla Jean Merman, Charles Busch, Miss Coco Peru, Laverne Cox, Angelica Ross and Alexandra Billings—all out there making theater a more inclusive place long before it was trending.

She also wants to clarify something: “Drag is our medium, not our talent,” she explains. “Our talents are our talents and drag is the way we communicate them.”

To her, theater has always been drag anyway. “Everyone else is wearing a wig. Everyone else is wearing a full face of makeup. David Hyde Pierce is in drag. He just happens to stay in the same gender presentation. But it’s all f**king drag.”

After years of dreaming, Jinkx Monsoon is here—and she’s not taking it for granted. “When people say, ‘I’m so proud of you for getting here,’ I say, ‘Me too.’ Because this would’ve been a huge waste of time otherwise!”

But she’s not done yet. “We’ve just got to find the perfect Vera,” she says, circling back to Mame. “Because I’m obviously…”

Obviously.

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