RuPaul’s Drag Race Ending Las Vegas Stage Show After 6 Years

RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! will be sashaying away at the Flamingo on New Year’s Eve, concluding an impressive 1,500-show run on the Las Vegas Strip.

via: EW

After six years of performances including ensemble casts of queens from across the Drag Race franchise, Entertainment Weekly can exclusively report that the RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! residency show will end at the Flamingo resort on New Year’s Eve (tickets are available now).

“This is just the beginning, as we are in discussions to expand the RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! universe to other cities across the country and around the world,” production company World of Wonder co-founders Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato say in a statement. “We will be forever grateful for the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talents of our extraordinary cast and crew who took the art of drag to a whole new level.”

Launched in January 2020 at the Flamingo Showroom, RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! featured a rotating ensemble of queens from the Emmy-winning drag competition series, though, after several rounds of performances, the show was later postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The show’s plot followed a core group of queens as they prepared to fulfill their dreams on the RuPaul’s Drag Race reality show, with each cast member performing individual numbers as well as group musical performances throughout.

Among the alums who comprised the show’s elite, rotating casts were Aquaria, Coco Montrese, Derrick Barry, Eureka O’Hara, India Ferrah, Kahanna Montrese, Kameron Michaels, Kim Chi, Naomi Smalls, Shannel, Yvie Oddly, Jaida Essence Hall, Bosco, DeJa Skye, Aja, Latrice Royale, Kennedy Davenport, Lawrence Chaney, Nicky Doll, Plane Jane, Ginger Minj, Onya Nurve, Lady Camden, Kori King, Mirage, Kylie Sonique Love, Sapphira Cristál, and many more.

Season 10 alum Asia O’Hara had long served as the show’s emcee, appearing frequently to oversee the show, interact with the crowd, and perform.

Mama RuPaul directed the show alongside choreographer and Drag Race personality Jamal Sims, who previously worked with RuPaul on his Sahara Hotel show in 1994, also in Las Vegas.

World of Wonder (the same creative team behind RuPaul’s Drag Race) and Voss Events produced the project, while original music for the revue was written by RuPaul as well as World of Wonder’s Tom Campbell and composer/recording artist Leland.

In addition to Drag Race Live! on stage, VH1 launched its companion Vegas Revue docuseries that followed several of the queens as they prepared for — and performed — the Las Vegas stage show.

The Vegas show also inspired several challenges on the main RuPaul’s Drag Race show, particularly on seasons 12 and 17.

“I love drag queens. I always have. They are my heroes and seeing drag queens on stage is such a thrill for me,” RuPaul told EW of the show in 2020. “But seeing this show and seeing these drag queens on stage, it has been a long journey to get to opening night and I am so proud. I think it checks every box, from the girls who are on stage — the girls who were chosen to be in the debut — to the storyline, which is a narrative that the audience understands because it follows what our show does from beginning to end. And then on top of that, you know, I had never really seen the dancers take their pants off.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! also included original music, with songs like “Losing Is the New Winning” and “I Made It” becoming regular staples on Drag Race playlists outside of the Vegas stage.

The venue where the drag superstars took the stage was previously occupied by longtime icons Donny and Marie Osmond, who had a Vegas residency at the Flamingo Showroom before Drag Race Live! took over in 2020.