As you can imagine, Broadway has been hit hard by the pandemic with shows closed for months and likely to remain so until next summer at the earliest. So how did this show come to be? The host, Tiny Fey, certainly had a lot to do with it.

Not only has she starred in two hit shows for NBC (Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock), she is also the writer of the book for the musical, Mean Girls, based on the 2004 film she wrote and starred in along with Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams. The musical was still running when Broadway was shut down.

Amongst the musicals being represented in One Night Only are Ain’t Too Proud–The Life and Times of The Temptations, Chicago, Jagged Little Pill, Diana: The Musical, Jersey Boys, Mean Girls and Rent.

Diana: The Musical has yet to open on Broadway. Rent hasn’t been on Broadway since 2008. Jersey Boys is off-Broadway after concluding its Broadway run. The latter two shows remain amongst the most popular shows of all-time.

Cast members from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will also appear.

Joining Fey in the two-hour broadcast are Annaleigh Ashford (Sunday in the Park with George), Antonio Banderas (A Chorus Line in Spain), Lance Bass (Hairspray), Kristen Bell (The Crucible), Kelly Clarkson, Brett Eldredge, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), Sutton Foster (Anything Goes), Peter Gallagher (On the Twentieth Century), Josh Groban (Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812), Jake Gyllenhaal (Sunday in the Park with George), Sean Hayes (Promises, Promises), Ron Cephas Jones (Of Mice and Men), Patti LaBelle, Nathan Lane (The Producers), Camryn Manheim (Spring Awakening), Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire), Alanis Morissette (Jagged Little Pill), Jerry O’Connell (A Soldier’s Play), Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton), Mary-Louise Parker (The Sound Inside), Billy Porter (Kinky Boots), John Stamos (Bye Bye Birdie), Barbra Streisand (Funny Girl), Aaron Tveit (Moulin Rouge – The Musical), Blair Underwood (A Soldier’s Play), Vanessa Williams (Into the Woods) and Susan Kelechi Watson (A Naked Girl on the Appian Way).

The show will raise funds for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

One Night Only: The Best of Broadway airs at 8:00 PM local times.

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A student from South Korea (Kimmi Chi played by Kim Chi – RuPaul’s Drag Race  Season 8) transfers to an American school and runs afoul a “The Plastics,” a drag-queen girl gang featuring Willam (recently in A Star Is Born), Laganja Estranja (RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 6) and Peaches Christ.

I recently spoke by phone with Peaches, who had just arrived in Denver as part of a small tour of Mean Gays. We talked about finding a home in Los Angeles for her shows, how chaos is a natural part of them and how she responds to the popularity of drag today.

You’ve been doing film parodies in San Francisco for years. What made you decide the time was right to starting bringing them not just to Los Angeles, but other parts of the country?

I had been traveling with them for a while, but really not consistently. I needed to find the right venues and the right producers and the cities where I felt we had the most potential for a market. I set my sights on Seattle and Portland first and then Los Angeles. LA, while close, was a big challenge in terms of finding the right home for us. I was blown away by the Montalban. It’s right in Hollywood and it’s so theatrical. Once those connections were made, we were able to plan ahead and make the Peaches shows more of a regular thing.

Do you think Hollywood takes itself too seriously and wouldn’t respond to parodies of movies?

I was really expecting us to have to warm them up. My impression was Hollywood would turn their noses up on my mess of a theatrical production, which in San Francisco is what makes it charming. San Francisco really embraces the struggle of trying to put on these big shows without much rehearsal and limited resources. 

But it was just the opposite. LA was so supportive. I wondered if the audience is full of people who have to be flawless every day that to come to see a really messy, irreverent, the walls are falling over, but these drag queens keep going show wouldn’t fit. I find they actually love it.

Mean Girls has spawned a musical and now your show, Mean Gays. What makes that property ripe for both a musical telling and your own parody?

It wasn’t popular when it came out. [North America gross of just over $86 million.] Many movies came out the year Mean Girls did, but few have been seen as many times as it has. Being the age that I am, I have to go to my younger friends and ask “what are your favorite films you watch all the time, that you quote?” I grew up in the 70s and 80s. My nostalgia films are Poltergeist and Goonies. It’s interesting to go to young people, but it does frustrate me that young queers aren’t being mentored the way I was. I was mentored about Judy Garland and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, in that way I’m an old queen. That being said, I don’t know what some of the more contemporary movies are. But when I get told over 100 times, it’s clear people are obsessed with Mean Girls.

When you write these parodies, do you have specific queens in mind?

I won’t pursue a show until I have an idea that I am inspired enough. I was a fan of Kim Chi’s makeup and a fan of her on the show. But I didn’t feel she was a theatre queen. She was doing a roast and she got up there and killed it. She was such a viciously funny witty bitch. This girl knows comedy and she knows how to play an audience. If Kim Chi wouldn’t have done the show, I would have had another idea. For me casting is crucial.

Has the success of Drag Race opened up more doors for you and your shows?

Absolutely. The popularity of drag is unprecedented. I’m not naive enough to think it will last forever. I remember going to DragCon the first year and it was massive. I was walking around with Coco Peru, we were featured as legends, which is a hilarious way of not calling us old. I asked her if she was bitter seeing all these girls have lines down the street.  Both of us agreed that if you told us there would someday be a convention for drag fans, we would have never believed it. We’re glad we lasted long enough to see this happen and we’ve all reaped the rewards in some way.

Looking at lists of the most important or famous drag queens, it seems as though if you weren’t on Drag Race you don’t find a place in the top 25-30 queens. Is that good for drag to only be focused on the young and the new?

I think that will change. We’ve already started to see that in a way. It’s all going to come down to what you can actually produce. A lot of the queens became successful on the show and if they aren’t able to produce or have something to offer they fade. As far as my legacy, I don’t worry too much about it. When history is laid out I think we’ll be properly respected. Coco Peru is on Will & Grace. What drag race gal is on that show? I made a feature film with Natasha Lyonne. [All About Evil (2010) – Peaches wrote, directed and produced the film in addition to acting in it.] To stay alive in this business they are going to have to be pretty amazing or they aren’t going to last. I’ve lasted.

If you’re in San Francisco this weekend, Peaches Christ will debut a new show, First Wives Fight Club starring Raja, Brook Lynn Hytes, Ginger Minj and, of course, Peaches Christ. The show will come to Los Angeles. Dates have yet to be announced.

All photos courtesy of Peaches Christ Productions.

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