Ginger Minj, Manila Luzon: 'Dragstravaganza' goes beyond 'Drag Race'

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- Former RuPaul's Drag Race contestants Ginger Minj and Manila Luzon said their new special, Dragstravaganza, premiering Saturday on Hulu, allows them to expand on their Drag Race performances.

Minj hosts the special with Monet X Change, and Luzon is one of the performers in several variety acts.

"We get to go onto a show like [Drag Race] and just be ourselves, represent who we are and not play a scripted role," Luzon told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. "One of the greatest things about it is the representation of who we are."

Both Minj and Luzon appeared in various seasons of Drag Race, Drag Race: Untucked, Drag Race All Stars and Drag Race All Stars: Untucked. Minj said she is ready for the performance of Dragstravaganza without worrying about reality.

"Now that we've done that, it's fun to play the scripted version," Minj said. "You know who we are. Now, let us put some fake blood on and sing songs."

Minj and X Change participate in musical numbers with the entire cast. Luzon is one of many drag performers in the sketches the hosts introduce.

Minj said she had four days to prepare and perform her Dragstravaganza segments.

"The first day, we recorded the tracks," Minj said. "Then we learned the choreography. Two days were filming."

Luzon said she had one week of rehearsals and another week of filming.

"It was a lot of fun to get to spend those two weeks celebrating Halloween in the middle of summer," Luzon said. "It's like we get the VIP tickets. We get to celebrate early."

One of Luzon's songs is "The Next American Slasher," which she performs with Jujubee and Mo Heart.

"It was a lot of fun to go into that psycho killer part of my personality and bring that out in my drag," Luzon said.

Kesha performs one song in the special, too. Both Minj and Luzon said they fangirled over Kesha.

"She just stopped to be like, 'Oh, I just want to say you look so beautiful today,'" Minj said. "Then I turned around and went, 'You're Kesha. You think I'm beautiful? Thank you very much, but thank you even more.' She's so sweet."

Since Drag Race, Minj also filmed a role in Hocus Pocus 2. Luzon also appeared in the film God Save the Queens, and both continue to appear in music videos.

Both said they would return to Drag Race if asked, but Luzon praised the additional opportunities they have until then.

"We're really excited that there's a lot more opportunities for us drag queens on TV and in movies," Luzon said.

Minj added that filming scripted shows relieves the pressure of the reality TV eliminations.

"It's nice to be a part of something where we can't get sent home," Minj said.