Interview: Monét X Change on Opera, Touring, and Monetizing Trauma

Monét X Change is everywhere. The three-time contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race and classically trained opera singer recently completed a run of Donizetti’s Daughter of the Regiment at Opera Colorado, in which she played the Duchess of Krakenthorp. She has a new R&B album, Grey Rainbow, Vol. 1. Starting next month, she will host The Pit Stop, the official after show of Drag Race season 17.

She will simultaneously go on tour with her new solo show Life Be Lifin’, which kicked off at Joe’s Pub in New York last month, but is slated to play Seattle, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, DC, among other cities (click here for a full tour schedule).

Initially taking the form of a standard cabaret act, Life Be Lifin’ very quickly enters the real of the candid and hilarious as Monét takes to the mic to reveal some of her deepest, darkest secrets.

I spoke with Monét about the show, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival over the summer under the direction of Monét’s fellow Drag Race alum, BenDeLaCreme.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Where did this show come from?

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival wanted me to come and do stand-up and I didn’t want to do that, but I thought, “Maybe a one-woman show.” I had already done a one-woman show, Call Me by Monet. But that was really a drag show I was already doing in New York. It was just some lipstick numbers and I threw a video wall behind me and I was like, “It’s the one-woman show!” But this time I wanted it to be fully realized with a narrative. I wanted a beautifully crafted show, and not just throw up something I did at Hardware Bar.

You say you didn’t want to do stand-up, but there’s a lot of stand-up comedy in this show. Are you uncomfortable with that label?

I have friends who are stand-up comedians: Matteo Lane, Nicole Byer, Sydnee Washington, and they spent years going to four or five clubs a night and putting in their time. And I wasn’t doing that. But now that I think about it, I was doing time. I was doing stand-up at these drag shows and just not calling it that. I think it was the label that scared me. But I’ve realized that I have been doing this hard work for 14 years now. So now I’m fully comfortable calling myself a stand-up comedian.

How did BenDeLaCreme get involved as director?

When I began writing I had recently seen her show Ready to Be Committed, which was brilliant and hilarious. So I messaged her to say, “Hey girl, I’d love to pick your brain about your process.” So we had lunch and she gave me some pointers and I got to work. Then she hit me up to say that she would love to be a part of the show, and I immediately said yes. I would do all these hours and days and weeks of writing, and she was very good at focusing on certain things and helping me find the thread to weave all these stories together. So she ended up directing and doing the lighting. That was super helpful.

I’ve never actually been to the Edinburgh Fringe. What’s that like?

The Fringe is wild. There are thousands of shows and there’s such a range of different performances. Some people are there for a day, some people there for the full month. I was there for two weeks, and it was really great to just be in this space with all these artists doing their art. I was lucky enough to be at McEwen Hall, which is about 1,000 seats. I had a great time, even though it was too freakin’ cold. When I heard August, I thought it was going to be tank tops and flipflops. No, no, no … not in Scotland.  It was like 40 degrees and cloudy the entire time, but I still had a blast.

You tell a very candid story about an early sexual relationship you had with another boy named Ricardo. Did you ever expect to be sharing that with a room full of strangers?

I never thought my life would be evolved to a place where I’d be doing that, but I’m also someone that doesn’t feel a lot of shame — which is both good and bad because I do think shame is a useful tool. But I don’t really feel it all that often, so telling that story in front of 1,000 people at McEwan Hall was insane, but also delicious. I really love to see people’s reactions, when they gasp and ooh and ahh — I eat it up.

Does it take the edge off the trauma? That story seems like one of those things that might haunt you, but now that it’s a bit in your show, you’re making money off it.

Honestly, monetizing a trauma is something I am really good at, and I will probably do it until the day I die.

You’re about to hit the road with the show. Do you have any tour rituals?

Not necessarily on tour, but before being gone that long I will sit on my couch and play Super Smash Brothers for hours on end. I also have costumes made. I like to have three different costumes in the same vein, like they’re part of the same designer’s collection. This time we’re doing swirly patterns. But, plot twist: I recent got foot surgery and I asked my doctor if I would be able to wear heels by January 9. And he was like, “Yeah, sure ….” Cut to after surgery and he was like, “Yeah, you should probably wait until the end of January.” So I’m going to have to find a creative way to wear these costumes I had made, but with a soft shoe. If I have to do this tour in Crocs, I will do it.

You just finished a run of Daughter of the Regiment with Opera Colorado. Do you have a dream opera role? 

Yes, I would love, love, love to do Sarastro in The Magic Flute in full drag, like in a world where it’s the Queen of the Sun versus the Queen of the Night. They can make it ballroom — house versus house. It’ll be brilliant and I think some opera company needs to take that on.