Sasha Velour is in San Diego rehearsing for “Velour: A Drag Spectacular,” her new autobiographical stage show at the La Jolla Playhouse.
The season 9 winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and co-host of “We’re Here” not only stars in the project, but also co-wrote it with director Moises Kaufman. “Velour” tells Sasha’s story, from growing up as a transgender child in the Midwest to becoming a global drag star. It is a co-production with the Tectonic Theater Project.
Velour got her start in drag by watching “Some Like It Hot” with her grandmother. “The movie was shot in San Diego, where I live now,” Sasha tells me on the Just for Variety podcast this week. “And I learned… when I was researching my book [“The Big Reveal: An Illustrated Manifesto of Drag”] “The person who trained them to do the stunts in this movie was Barbet, a very famous stuntwoman who had toured Europe. She had retired by the time I helped them on the movie, but I loved having a world-famous stuntwoman who did their makeup and taught them how to do the stunts. So of course there was a little bit of authenticity to it.”
“Velour” features many of Sasha’s lip-sync skills as well as some of her newly acquired wire skills (pictured below). “I’m learning to fly,” she says.
While Sasha has spoken openly on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” about her struggles with an eating disorder, the issue will be explored more in depth on “Velour.” “We’re really going there with the show,” she says.
There are 14 costume changes, all of which take place on stage. “I've never been fully clothed or naked on stage before,” says Sasha.
Sasha believes the show will resonate even more now that the presidential election is heating up. “I feel like everything we do is political, because when you’re openly gay, you can’t even wear a nice dress without it becoming political,” she says. “I feel like the hate against trans people, especially the hate against trans people or the entire trans community, definitely comes from a place of ignorance and fear.”
Our conversation turns to the repeated transphobic statements made by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. “She’s a very dangerous person because she spreads misinformation as if it were the truth,” Sasha says. “When I was interacting with people, I was talking about them, and they were spreading misinformation.” [while filming ‘We’re Here’] “And people who share these views in Tennessee and Oklahoma, I was really shocked at how little they cared about the truth or even listening to people who wanted to completely demonize them.”
“It is tragic that someone whose writing swept me into a world of possibilities as a child has now become a troll and a hate-filled figure,” she adds.
More colorfully, Sasha recalls meeting Lady Gaga and being asked to interview her as part of the promotion for her upcoming HBO film, “Gaga Chromatica Ball.” “Meeting her in that backstage space and talking to her as a person was a moment I’ll never forget,” she says. “It felt like we had a real conversation. I just looked into her eyes and thought, ‘I just want to spend hours here talking to you.’”
Listen to the full interview with Velour above or search for “Just for Variety” wherever you download your favorite podcasts.
“Velour: A Drag Spectacular” runs at the La Jolla Playhouse in La Jolla, California, from August 13 to September 15.
