Interview: Justin Vivian Bond Talks THE BIPOLAR EXPRESS, Queer Role Models, and Why the Holidays Are a Nightmare

Mx Justin Vivian Bond is a force of nature with more than a quarter century onstage under v's (Bond's preferred pronoun) belt.

A singular performer with an endless supply of bon mots, Bond has been celebrated with an Obie Award, a Bessie, a Tony nod, and the Ethyl Eichelberger Award, among other accolades.

Fresh off a year-long career retrospective culminating in September's THE GOLDEN AGE OF JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND, v returns to Joe's Pub on December 12 at 9:30pm with a new holiday show, THE BIPOLAR EXPRESS. Ahead of the first show, we spoke over the phone about the show, v's enduring career, and the holidays themselves.

This interview has been edited for length and content.

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TF: What can you tell me about the concept for THE BIPOLAR EXPRESS?

JVB: Every song, even the ones [that aren't Christmas songs], all have Christmas references in them. And there are different sections: a political section, a "red state" section, and a "girl in trouble" section.

TF: Where did the title for THE BIPOLAR EXPRESS come from?

JVB: Because I think at least I ping and pong between all kinds of emotions and feelings during the holiday season. Although, I was talking to my mother, and she said, "And why is that any different from the rest of the year?" I was like, "Oh yeah, that's pretty regular." And she's like, "Well, I didn't want to say anything."

But I also was a little worried because I didn't want anyone to think that calling the show THE BIPOLAR EXPRESS meant that I was being insensitive to people that really do struggle with bipolar disorder. But my very best girlfriend, who's been my best friend since I was 10 and she was 11, she's bipolar and schizophrenic and she said she thought it was a great title. And I think, you know, for being bipolar and schizophrenic, she's one of the most steady relationships of my life. I think that it's a good title for the holiday season. And then the election came along, and now everybody's on the same train. It seems like everybody's just up and down with their emotions and hopes and fears and all of these things. I thought it would be a great time to just channel all of that and just focus it.

TF: On Instagram, you posted a Catherine Deneuve quote ["I am frivolous. Then I feel guilty."], and then you said, "I love the holidays, they're a nightmare!" Why do you love the holidays, and why are they a nightmare?

JVB: I love the holidays because you get presents (laughs)! And I love the holidays because everybody's kind of engaged in the same tasks. When you have people sort of on the same page, even if you don't agree and you feel like you're a freak, you still fit in with somebody. And I usually have just a motley crew of people over in my apartment who don't generally go home for the holidays. I will be going home for the holidays this year because my father passed away, and for the last few years, I just simply wasn't allowed in the house because he couldn't deal with my being trans. So I was one of those Christmas orphans, and I usually have meals here, but this year, I'm gonna go home.

TF: What do you think of the terms "orphans' Thanksgiving" and "orphans' Christmas?" I read an essay this year suggesting some people who have "Friendsgivings" have the ability to go home, and not everyone does, arguing that calling it that if that's the case is a little insensitive. I don't know if you had any thought on that.

JVB: I don't mind an orphans' thing because basically it's for people that don't feel like they can go home and that it is a safe space for them. Basically, if you don't feel safe going home for Christmas, then I don't think you should feel so bad about calling it an orphans' Christmas, because obviously your family's not that great.

TF: And then, the holidays, why are they a nightmare?

JVB: Oh, because you just have to do all this stuff that you don't want to do. And, also, you have to confront all of these issues that we just were talking about. Like, I am excited to go home and see my family. I don't particularly want to do it the day after my show closes. I don't want to get in the car and drive for five hours. I don't want to leave my kitty. I'd rather be here with the people I've been having Christmas with for the past five years.

TF: I also wanted to talk a little bit about your EP [CHRISTMAS SPELLS], which I was just listening to. I wanted to know why you picked the two covers and about [the song] "Christmas Spells" as well.

JVB: Well, I wrote "Christmas Spells," so that one's obvious. And "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," I love that Christmas song because it's secular. It was written for the movies! It wasn't written about Jesus. So that's good.

And, also, one of my first early memories of really loving a movie is MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS. It was showing on New Year's Eve when I was really young. And my parents went out for New Year's Eve, and my grandfather, who was just the greatest guy, and he always let me dress up in my grandmother's clothes and would tell me how pretty I was and was just totally accepting of me in that way. And he was my babysitter one New Year's Eve, and it wasn't too long after my grandmother had died, and he sat in the kitchen smoking Tiparillos and drinking beer and let me stay up late and watch MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS. So that song has a lot of meaning for me on many levels.

TF: And what about Harry Nilsson's "Remember (Christmas)"?

JVB: I love that one because the word "Christmas" is in parentheses.

TF: And not actually in the song.

JVB: (Laughs) And it's not in the song at all. But it has this lovely nostalgia feel.

TF: I think it's a great song. And then "Christmas Spells" you wrote.

JVB: I wrote that song because I was performing at Carnegie Hall with Rufus and Martha Wainwright and the McGarrigles at their Christmas concert. They said, "Oh, what are you going to sing?" and I said, "Oh, I'll just write something," which is the most ridiculous thing I ever did. So I sang it for the very first time in Carnegie Hall. And it was around the time of the... I don't remember what was going on. It was some sort of political scenario with those religious right people, and I just had had it. So I wrote that song as a reaction to... Oh, it was when they were all talking about the "war on Christmas." I was like, "Are you kidding me?"

TF: I read that when you were growing up, you wanted to be a TV star because you loved Carol Burnett and the musical performers on television and that was sort of your entry point. Is that true?

JVB: That is true. I like those kooky sitcom and especially variety show actresses and performers.

TF: I was wondering what your take is on this sort of resurgence on the "live TV musical spectacular," with HAIRSPRAY.

JVB: I think it's great. I enjoy it. I'm looking forward to seeing HAIRSPRAY because I love Marc [Shaiman] and Scott [Wittman]... Scott has directed me in a few shows, so he has a special place in my heart.

TF: Growing up, Harvey Fierstein in particular was a huge influence for me. John Waters I didn't know about so much about when I was, like, eight.

JVB: I saw Harvey Fierstein in TORCH SONG TRILOGY on Broadway, so that was very important for me to see. And then, being from Maryland, I was in high school and I didn't really know anything about John Waters. I went to the Long Meadow Shopping Center to the movies one day to see POLYESTER, and I had no idea that Divine was a drag queen. I was like, "Well, why do I want to see a movie starring someone who reminds me of my Aunt Sandra? That's what I go to the movies to get away from." I didn't see any of the irony in it whatsoever, because it was very realistic. It was one of the most realistic films I'd ever seen, and I didn't go to the movies to see anything about my reality.

TF: I was wondering if there were other queer or trans icons that were role models for you, whether they were in your own life or seeing them in pop culture.

JVB: Well, I was terrified of trans people when I was a kid because I knew I was one, and I didn't see any happy ones. And I knew from, you know, the way that my family and especially my mother and my father talked about it that it was just a terrible thing to be. That was what I was taught, and it took a long time for me to get past that. It wasn't until I was in my 20s, that I met Kate Bornstein, and she cast me in her show, HIDDEN: A GENDER, and that was my sort of way of finding out what I needed to know about how I could be myself comfortably and in a beautiful and empowered way. I owe that to her.

And then, of course, when I moved to San Francisco, I saw all kinds of people. I mean, I thought I just flat-out hated men until I moved to San Francisco and realized, "Oh no! I actually just hate straight men." (Laughs) And some gay ones, but that's just because they're a**holes, not because they're men.

TF: How did you break into performing? How did that begin for you?

JVB: My first real major role, if you don't include all the parts and songs I sang in church and day camp, was the local community theater production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC, and I was cast as Kurt. And then I studied acting in college.

TF: I was able to see to THE GOLDEN AGE OF JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND for, I think it was the second to last show before the end of the year-long celebration of your 25 years [in cabaret]. I was wondering how you've changed in the past 25 years as a performer.

JVB: Well, that's an interesting question. I don't know! I think I have a lot more confidence. I feel like the ironic thing is... Or the unexpected thing, I guess you could say, is that many of the same things that were what inspired me at the very beginning of my career and my life are the same things that inspire me today. I was born in the '60s, so I was surrounded by the social anxieties of feminism and the Vietnam War, and then in the '70s, gay rights and the murder of Harvey Milk and all of that.

So I've always been particularly interested in political and social justice movements and being queer and being trans. I have always been aware of the importance and the imperative of those things and of speaking out in those ways. And so there's that element, and then there's the kind of writers, like Joan Didion and Lillian Hellman and Tom Spanbauer, that have always inspired me. The inspiration that compels me to do the work that I do remains very much the same, which I think is a surprise. But my skill and my technique and my abilities have definitely gotten better because I love what I do, and I work very hard to own it.

TF: Are there things that are still on the career bucket list? You've done so much in your career, but are there major milestones that you're hoping to achieve?

JVB: (Laughs) No, not really. I love what I do, so I just hope I get to keep doing it. I like working with people, and I meet people who I have never known before and then I want to work with them. Or there are certain things that come along, like TV shows. I don't really love the idea of being famous, so the bucket list things are usually things that have to do with that kind of thing. I don't need awards or rewards or validation from other places, but I do like performing, and I'm grateful that I have an audience who shows up for it, you know, as I try to show up for them.

But doing the part that I just did in [HBO's] HIGH MAINTENANCE was a real eye-opener for me because I really enjoyed it and that was fun. I would like to do more parts on film and TV, but only if they're with great people. I don't want to do it just for the sake of doing it.

TF: That was such a great episode, and you were really great in it.

JVB: I loved it, and I was so lucky I got to work with Michael [Cyril Creighton]. It's just so heartbreaking and beautiful and sweet. I loved the show when it was on the web, and when I got the script and I realized that my scenes were with him, I was just like, "Oh my god. How lucky am I?" I was thrilled. And he didn't know that I was playing Pam. I was his surprise. He told them to surprise him with who was playing Pam. I guess he was happy about it, so that was nice, too.

TF: Do you have big ideas for what you want to do next year?

JVB: I'm doing this festival at New York Live Arts called the Live Ideas Festival, which is happening in March. It's called Mx'd Messages. And it's an exploration of non-binary philosophies and strategies in not only gender but religion and race and social justice. So we're having panels on trans theology, Afrofuturism, we're having a UN conference of women--- there's going to be a side panel from that. And then there's going to be films in the afternoon curated by Dirty Looks. Then at night, we're having performances, which I haven't confirmed all of yet.

But it's going to be an amazing festival that's about thoughts and ideas and ways of living that aren't based on extremist ways of living. Because there's all this crazy extremism and all this polarization that's just got this world so twisted right now. Hopefully, we can start to look at new ways of doing things. Of course, it's always the trans people who lead the way. I'm not gonna be onstage very much because I have a lot I want to learn. I'm booking a lot of people I want to learn from, so I'm excited.

TF: It seems like, throughout your career, you've surrounded yourself with so many great people. Just look at the people throughout the run of THE GOLDEN AGE OF JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND. The show that I saw was with Molly Ringwald and Darren Criss and Julian Fleisher. But you've had so many great collaborators. Obviously, having people come to your show and work with you is different from being in a duo, but I was wondering how the role of collaboration has changed for you.

JVB: During the years of Kiki and Herb, on one hand, it was wonderful because we trusted each other, we knew each other in a way that very few people get to work on that intimate and ongoing of a level--- with somebody that you respect and love---and achieved a tremendous amount of success. But on the other hand, one of the frustrations was, because it was just the two of us and because we were so specific, we would have guests sing with us sometimes, but it didn't really feed into the show in a way. So having the freedom to collaborate with a lot of interesting people was one of the benefits and joys of moving past that act into another phase of my career.

And after having done that for all these years, it's very exciting to go back and work with Kenny [Mellman] again, which we did in the spring and that was absolutely wonderful. I loved it. I adore him.

TF: I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of quick rapid-fires.

JVB: (Laughs) Good luck! I talk a lot.

TF: So these are just some quick holiday-themed questions. Favorite Christmas song that's not on the EP?

JVB: "White Christmas."

TF: Favorite Christmas movie?

JVB: WHITE CHRISTMAS.

TF: If you were in your own real-life version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and you were Scrooge, who would be your Marley?

JVB: Oh, I guess it would have to be Kenny.

TF: Red or green?

JVB: Well, we banned red from the stage for this particular Christmas show. We've had enough of the red lately, so I'd have to say green.

TF: Is there going to be a dress code?

JVB: I'm just gonna throw green paint on anyone who's wearing red.

TF: (Laughs) Well, that'll be lively.

JVB: It'll be fun.

TF: Favorite Christmas tradition?

JVB: Drinking? No, my favorite holiday tradition has always been trimming my tree. I love going out and getting my tree. No, I like all of it. I just put on music, and sometimes I'll have someone come over, but I love it even when it's just me and the cat.

TF: If you had your own Judy Garland-style TV holiday special, and you could populate it with whatever guests you wanted, who would you have?

JVB: I'd have the same people there that I have in my own show--- you know, Rufus, Molly, Julian. Look at that list, Bridget Everett, Taylor Mac, my band that I have now. I mean, Martha Wainwright, my pals.

TF: Are there going to be some holiday surprises at THE BIPOLAR EXPRESS?

JVB: I'm sure there will, but I wouldn't expect them to have marquee names. I haven't been organized. Everybody's doing to their own shows. Murray Hill, I'd have him on my Judy Garland special, but he's in Australia.

TF: Well, in this scenario, you can have whoever you want.

JVB: Okay, then Murray can come.

TF: Is there anything else you want to add about THE BIPOLAR EXPRESS?

JVB: Just show up! That's my philosophy for 2016 and going forward. And my next tour is gonna be JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND SHOWS UP. Just show up. That's really the most people should ever ask.

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Justin Vivian Bond: THE BIPOLAR EXPRESS runs December 12 to December 23 at Joe's Pub. For tickets and information, go to www.publictheater.org.

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