VideoKick Off Pride With Drag Race’s Alexis Michelle, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, and the ‘Gayest Duet Possible’The two University of Michigan alums reunited to sing “Happy Days Are Here Again”/“Get Happy.”
By
Ryan McPhee
May 30, 2017
Alexis Michelle, who can currently be seen on season nine of RuPaul's Drag Race, partnered with Broadway's Andrew Keenan-Bolger to celebrate the beginning of Pride Month. The two University of Michigan alums sing “Happy Days Are Here Again”/“Get Happy”—the duet originally performed by Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland—in the video above.
Michelle, a New York-based drag queen with a musical theatre sensibility, will return to Feinstein's/54 Below June 13 with her solo show, It Takes a Woman (after the Hello, Dolly! tune of the same name). The evening will feature a handful of numbers and surprises in honor of Pride, and Keenan-Bolger will make a special appearance.
Playbill spoke with Michelle earlier this year at the Drag Race season nine premiere party, during which she performed a live rendition of Chicago's “All That Jazz” with former cast members from the musical. “I’m truly being my most authentic self if I’m being theatrical,” Michelle said at the event. “I have a male side and female side, and drag is the fullest expression of my female side … It’s been a huge surprise to me that being my most authentic self—including honoring my drag life—has brought me back into theatre.”
It Takes a Woman is produced and directed by James Will McBride and features musical direction by Brandon James Gwinn. For tickets and more information, click here.
The production will include Bernstein’s incidental music for Lillian Hellman’s adaptation of The Lark, and Menotti’s The Unicorn, The Gorgon, and The Manticore.