RuPaul’s Drag Race star Peppermint becomes first transgender woman to star in leading Broadway role
(getty)
Drag performer Miss Peppermint is set to make history on Broadway.
The RuPaul’s Drag Race season nine star will become the first out transgender woman to take up a leading role in New York’s famous theatre district.
She will be starring in Head Over Heels, which will feature the iconic songs of The Go-Go’s and Belinda Carlisle’s solo hits.
And the show will be directed by none other than Gwyneth Paltrow.
Peppermint (Getty)
Head over Heels will play at the Hudson Theatre, with previews beginning on 23 June.
The new show, described as an “Elizabethan love story turned on its head”, also features Rachel York (Disaster!), Jeremy Kushnier (Cirque Du Soleil), Alexandra Socha (Spring Awakening) and Ricardo Zayas (Hamilton).
Peppermint came out as trans part-way through her series of Drag Race.
Miss Peppermint, the semi-finalist of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9
Miss Peppermint revealed her gender identity when the discussion of gender came up between the group of Drag Race hopefuls.
Peppermint came out publicly after the episodes were filmed in a moving interview where that she used drag as a disguise for her transition.
On the show, she explained that doing drag helped her come to terms with her trans identity.
“It was actually though my drag that I realised my transness,” she explained. “I’m trans. I’m a trans woman.”
Contestant Peppermint attends “RuPaul’s Drag Race”- Season Premiere party on March 7, 2017 in New York City. / AFP PHOTO / ANGELA WEISS (Photo ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images)
Peppermint went on to explain that she faced discrimination from some people who believed that drag queens and trans people shouldn’t cross over.
“There’s a lot of people who think drag queens are not trans and shouldn’t be,” she said.
“And there’s a lot of trans people who think that drag queens have no place in the trans community. I wanted to really get to know the girls before I came out to them. I was afraid.”
She added that it took her journey had been long, and was still ongoing.
Peppermint attends RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9 finale party on June 23, 2017 in New York. / AFP PHOTO / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images)
“It took me a long time to really sort out gender and at a really early age, I was able to latch on to drag, and that was how I was able to express my femininity.
“But I kind of evolved to realise that all the drag things that I wanted to do, it always led back to the realisation that I’m a trans woman.”
The other contestants on the show were incredibly positive about her coming out, which Peppermint was overjoyed at.
“It feels so good to feel fully accepted. I’m so happy right now,” she said.
Monica Beverly Hillz from season five of the show and Carmen Carrera of season three have also since come out as transgender. More recently, Gia Gunn also revealed her trans status on transgender day of awareness.
