The Brightest Light On Broadway: Jinkx Monsoon

by Natasha Wolff | April 25, 2025 3:26 pm

She broke box office records in Chicago and played Audrey opposite Corbin Bleu in Little Shop of Horrors. Now Jinkx Monsoon, a two-time winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race[1], plans to conquer Gilbert and Sullivan in the Roundabout Theatre’s new Pirates! The Penzance Musical[2]. She plays Ruth, the dotty, nearly deaf maid most famously played by Angela Lansbury in the 1983 film adaptation of The Pirates of Penzance. The operetta is known for its brisk patter songs, and, says Monsoon, “as a comedian, patter songs are my bread and butter.” As for the character, Ruth is “like me in that she’s funny without trying,” says Monsoon. “She cares for others, but not without a helping of sass and wordplay. I don’t know how many trans actresses have portrayed Ruth before, but I know I play one hell of a kooky, desperate, middle-aged woman.”

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