Three Queer Holiday Cabaret Shows That Make the Yuletide Really Gay

If your idea of the perfect holiday show involves dancing sugar plums and family-friendly carols, there’s no shortage of options. But if you’re looking for something a little different — say, a drag queen doing a pas de deux with a very sexy Krampus, set to “Santa Baby” — you’re in luck this holiday season.

You’ll find exactly that at the Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show, the sixth annual Christmas spectacular from RuPaul’s Drag Race vets Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme that kicked off in mid-November in the U.K. and takes them across 30 cities in Europe, Canada and the U.S. — landing in L.A. on Dec. 16 at the Dolby Theatre. They’re one of several drag and otherwise left-of-cis shows hitting the road that run the gamut, as Monsoon teases, “from the silly and wholesome to the sexy and blasphemous.” 

Cabaret legends Kiki & Herb (aka Justin Vivian Bond and Kenny Mellman) also are taking their holiday extravaganza to cities across the country. Their O Come Let Us Adore Them show has stops in New York, Chicago and L.A., on Dec. 16 at The Wiltern. “Our idea of a Christmas show has always been fluid,” quips Mellman, “and the fluids will be flowing this tour.” So … maybe leave Grandma at home for this one. 

And then there’s comedian, singer and actor Matt Rogers, who’s got both a new record and a holiday tour, which includes a Dec. 21 stop at L.A.’s Ace Hotel. His show is titled with a rhetorical question, Have You Heard of Christmas? Says Rogers, “I guarantee you will feel every emotion at my show ranging from euphoria to terror. I don’t know if Michael Bublé’s Christmas show is giving that. I assume, at his show, you’ll just have a lovely time. I also just assume he has a show.” (Editor’s note: He doesn’t.)

These theatrical events, which promise to put the “gay” back in “don we now our gay apparel,” aren’t just campy fun in a season that desperately needs it. Sure, there are bawdy songs and dance routines and jokes that you won’t want to repeat among certain family members. But they also send a “message of love and community in dark times,” says BenDeLaCreme. 

More specifically, they offer safe haven for those who find the holidays more trying than festive. “We tend to attract an audience that hasn’t been accepted by their families and who need a dose of alternative holiday vibes,” says Mellman.

Bond is aiming for something a bit more ambitious. “I’m pretty confident this show will be the thing to finally bring peace on Earth and good will to men, women and the rest of us,” she says. “Can you handle it?” 

This story first appeared in the Dec. 7 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.