Drag

Drag Race: The queens fight back against anti-drag rhetoric in Wigloose the Rusical

By Jordan Robledo

18th March 2023

MTV
MTV

The queens tapped into their inner Broadway star on the latest episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15.

Spoilers ahead.

For this week’s maxi-challenge, Ru tasked the final six contestants to tap into their inner Broadway queens for the “all dancing, all prancing” Rusical, Wigloose.

“Set in the 80s, Wigloose takes place in a small town, where drag has been outlawed,” Ru explained. 

“The characters include Heaven Bacon, a teenage drag queen ready to shake things up; Mama Bacon, Heaven Bacon’s wise drag mother; Preacher Teacher, the narrow-minded town leader; and there’s Carl, Preacher Teacher’s obedient husband.”

After Ru exited the workroom, the ladies formed a huddle to listen to the music and assign the Wigloose parts.

While Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Anetra, Salina EsTitties, and Sasha Colby landed on their roles without any pushback, Loosey La Duca and Luxx Noir London clashed over the Rusical’s lead character of Heaven. 

“The character of Heaven is someone who I think I can put a lot of myself into,” Luxx argued. 

In response, Loosey said: “I feel like I have the energy of Heaven. Heaven is very like bright-eyed, super positive.”

Things got even tenser when Luxx called out Loosey for wanting the part of Heaven because it’s the lead role. 

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MTV

Mistress seemingly agreed with the New Jersey-based queen before claiming that Loosey was not being real – which did not go well with latter. 

“You think I’m not being real right now? This is the most real that I can be,” the Connecticut queen replied. 

“Just be honest, you want Heaven because it’s the lead role. It would be a lie to say that you wouldn’t fit the description of [Christian] Tuck,” Mistress added. 

After Loosey begrudgingly accepted the role of Christian, she shared her final thoughts on Mistress’ accusations.

“You saying that I’m putting on a facade is telling me that I am a liar and that I am not a genuine person. I have not done anything to let anyone here know that I’m not being genuine with you,” she added.

However, in one final turn of events, Luxx forfeited the role of Heaven to Loosey before stating that she could “shine in anything.” 

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MTV

Following the Heavengate drama, Ru returned to the workroom to gain further insight into why they chose their characters.

During Sasha and Anetra’s meet-ups, the two queens opened up about how their respective parts and the Rusical as a whole resonated with them – especially regarding their strained relationship with their families. 

While Ru gave the ladies notes, Loosey opened up to Salina about her defensive nature during her recent tussle with Luxx and Mistress.

“When they laugh at me, when I open my mouth to talk like I dealt with that in high school so much because every time I open my mouth to talk, people would make fun of me,” she explained. “And so I didn’t allow myself to be my genuine self.”

After an emotional time in the workroom, the queens headed to the main stage to learn choreography from Miguel Zarate. 

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MTV

While Luxx and Salina grasped their specific dance moves, Mistress and Anetra struggled to learn the choreography. 

The next day, the queens returned to their respective vanities to prepare for their Rusical debut. 

While painting their faces, Sasha asked Mistress how she navigates life in Texas due to their anti-LGBTQ+ laws and protests regarding family-friendly drag shows. 

“Yeah, at my home bar, we have kids all the time. It is family-friendly, and of course, we have restrictions,” Mistress responded. 

“They can’t come to the Saturday night shows because it gets a little rowdy. I think they just have crazy thoughts of what drag is… it’s very scary at times.” 

Loosey also chimed in and discussed her own experience with the pushback she faced for her family-friendly drag events. 

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MTV

“I’ve done a couple [Drag Queen Story Hours], and I will say the thing that you have to deal with is that there’s always a lot of community backlash,” she said. 

“The whole thing is, ‘We don’t want our kids exposed to this because drag queens are going to be a bad influence on them’, but then you have people protesting at drag queen story hours and being extremely violent, but someone dressed as princess telling a story about a mermaid is offensive to them.” 

After their impactful discussion, the queens hit the main stage to make their Wigloose debuts. 

Throughout the hilarious and inspirational musical, each queen delivered sickening looks, solid choreography, and expert-level lip-syncing skills. 

After the ladies laid it all out on stage, the queens headed down the runway in their jaw-dropping “Everybody Say Glove” ensembles.

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MTV

During the critiques, the judges’ panel – which included GAY TIMES cover star Orville Peck – praised the queens for their equally stellar Rusical performances.

Once the critiques were completed, RuPaul asked the queens who should go home.

Loosey and Anetra voted for Salina due to the queen’s history of being in the bottom multiple times. 

Mistress chose Sasha because she considered her the biggest competition. 

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MTV

However, things took a jaw-dropping turn when Luxx praised Anetra, Sasha, Salina, and Mistress for their unique drag before selecting Loosey as the queen that should go home.

Salina also landed on Loosey after calling out the Connecticut queen and Anetra for selecting her. 

Lastly, Sasha chose Loosey and Luxx because of their double challenge wins. 

After the judges’ final deliberations, Ru named Anetra the winner of the maxi-challenge, resulting in Loosey and Salina in the bottom two. 

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MTV

The two queens then performed to Kate Bush’s iconic track Running Up That Hill. 

Even though they both delivered sickening performances full of drama and passion, Loosey was announced as the winner of the lip-sync.

“I let myself dim my light here because of bitches, and don’t let no bitch dim your light, hoe. I also didn’t win any f**king money here, so I need all the cointadas, f**k those hoes. You bring it over to EsTitties, okay?” Salina said during her exit confessional. 

On next week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, the queens give dragtastic family makeovers to educators. Pop sensation Hayley Kiyoko will also be stepping in as guest judge.

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MTV

Here’s how fans reacted to the latest episode of Drag Race:

New episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15, along with Untucked, air weekly and exclusively on the streamer of all things drag, WOW Presents Plus, in the UK and internationally on Saturdays at 2:00am.