Halloween is for the gays. It is known. So naturally, there’s no better way to kick off the holiday than with a spectacular Dragstravaganza starring our beloved drag queens.
“[Halloween is] the gay high holy day. It’s that one night of the year where all new drag queens are born,” Ginger Minj tells PRIDE. “ Like Manila has said in the past... it’s a safe space for you to put on a wig and heels and try drag for the first time. And honestly, I mean, that’s where most of our new drag babies come from.”
“I was born on Halloween — or at least conceived on Halloween,” Ginger’s co-star Manila Luzon chimes in. “We look forward to getting to have a little Dragstravaganza on Halloween and hopefully inspire some people to challenge how they express themselves,” she tells PRIDE.
The Huluween special is hosted by Ginger and Monét X Change, and features Manila, Mo Heart, Jujubee, Lady Bunny, Jackie Beat, Selene Luna, Landon Cider, and Mario Diaz in a series of campy sketches and catchy dance numbers.
Courtesy of Hulu
In the special, Ginger and Monét find themselves trapped in a haunted TV and forced to host the special if they ever hope to escape its diabolical clutches. It’s absurd and utterly charming.
The dance numbers in particular are full of Easter eggs for long-time fans of both performers, who share that they were able to get involved with the creative process. “The writers, director, and producers were very open to ‘maybe we try it this way’ or ‘maybe we could do something like this that kind of harkens back to our fan base where they’ll really kind of attached to it,’” shares Ginger, praising the creative team’s willingness to collaborate.
For the music numbers, Manila says the writers clearly worked hard to personalize them so that they were both authentic and referential to the queens. “They definitely kept us in mind with all the little jokes and little, you know, innuendos and the Easter eggs about our careers and everything. And we really ran with it for sure,” she explains.
Huluween Dragstravaganza | The Next American Slasher | Music Video | Hulu
The special is brimming with talent, which naturally leads to a little misbehavior on set. Ginger and Manila affectionately share who the biggest divas were in the bunch. “It was Jackie Beat and Lady Bunny, for sure,” laughs Ginger. “I don’t even know that they were the biggest divas, but they were the most fun to watch when we were doing the group number.”
“The whole process is very, very fast. And they were teaching us this number very quickly,” Ginger explains. “I won’t say any of us aren’t dancers per se. But we had this amazing choreographer, Monica, and she would take us by the hand — literally — and lead us through what we had to do.”
“As soon as we’d learned it, she went ‘alright, now you’re going to do that while you’re coming down the stairs.’ And Lady Bunny goes, ‘Coming down the stairs? You never said we’d have to move and do it!’ Ginger continues. “So then she and Jackie would take each other’s hands and they’d go off behind the bookshelf somewhere and you’d hear them bitchin’ for five minutes. Then they’d come back up and go ‘OK, which staircase?’ They weren’t necessarily being divas, but it took them a lot to get through that dance number.”
Courtesy of Hulu
“Yeah, it’s our drag legends, they’re our divas,” Manila agrees. “Lady Bunny and Jackie Beat are legends in the drag community. And I learned so much from them. So they weren’t acting like divas but we were definitely treating them like divas.”
That doesn’t mean Ginger and Manila were above committing a few little petty crimes on set. Or did they? “I want to publicly state for the record, for Hulu, for all the executives that are there: We did not steal the makeup wipes,” Ginger stresses. “That was Jackie Beat. She stole them.”
Dragstravaganza is streaming now on Hulu. Watch PRIDE’s interview with Ginger Minj and Manila Luzon below.
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