Review: Ginger Minj Spills the 'Sweet T' in Album Premiere at the Laurie Beechman Theatre

A good drag queen is ready for anything, and with a dash of Southern charm and a whole lot of hairspray, RuPaul's Drag Race alum Ginger Minj gave a performance at the Laurie Beechman Theatre on September 25 that was as gleefully unpolished as it was raucously funny.

Instead of a band, for GINGER MINJ: THE ALBUM PREMIERE, the star joked that all her accompaniment cost her "was the price of a CD." And with her set design, she was serving up PowerPoint realness, with slides to introduce each song and stock footage of rolling clouds Ginger was especially proud of.

Above all else, despite it being labeled an album release party, Ginger's debut album, Sweet T, actually got pushed to late October. But she didn't just roll with the punches, she seemed to delight in them, stopping at nothing to give audience members a taste of the real Ginger Minj. Donning a flaming red wig and more severe makeup than she traditionally wore on Drag Race (natural by drag standards, with a pop of lip color and a killer cat eye), Ginger looked what can best be described as the result of throwing Ronald McDonald into a blender with Kirstie Alley in Drop Dead Gorgeous, in the best way possible.

Previewing six of Sweet T's 15 songs Sunday evening, Minj first explained what its title means to her. For those with a limited drag vocabulary, "T" means truth, and as she noted, "This is my truth, my story." But it was actually more of an interweaving tapestry of two stories: one for Ginger and one for Joshua Eads-Brown, the man behind the queen.

In many ways, the event was deceptive, transitioning from an album release party for Ginger to a coming out party for Eads-Brown, who opened up about trying to work through crippling social anxiety. If Joshua is the introverted songwriter, Ginger loves nothing more than to engage with the audience, and the audience loved her back.

Channeling old-school show queens, she worked her way to the stage from the back of the room, lending a bluesy twang to her first single, "Ooh Lala Lala," penned about her Drag Race experience of ignoring the social media chatter. The crowd was never livelier than when Minj was dishing about Drag Race Season 7 and, most recently, RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race 2, making jokes about getting "that Kandy Ho edit" this time around.

That extended to Ginger's unexpected special guest and unofficial sidekick of the night, All Stars 2 villain-slash-punching bag Phi Phi O'Hara. Though Phi Phi never made it onstage or even spoke for that matter, Minj lobbed half a dozen loving jabs her way ("I see so many wonderful people out there... and Phi Phi O'Hara") before revealing that they're true friends.

And with a story about her drag sister coming to her rescue following a bloody hairpin fiasco---drag, after all, isn't for the faint of heart---Minj helped Phi Phi earn something she never quite achieved during All Stars 2: redemption (and a round of applause).

Of the night's two covers, Minj's take on R.E.M.'s "Losing My Religion" couldn't hold a candle to her gravelly homage to Divine's "You Think You're a Man," which serves as the leadoff track to the album. Though Ginger is a solid belter, crowd work is clearly what she lives for. In an incredible bit of timing, a pair of latecomers moved their way to the front of the room during the performance. Never missing an opportunity to throw a bit of shade, Ginger verbally accosted one of the men with the lyrics, "You've got a nerve to walk away/ Mark the words I'm gonna say/ Mister, you just made a big mistake."

Throughout the night, that was Ginger: gloriously unrestrained but with far more bark than bite. In fact, she seemed intent on pushing boundaries all night long, spending a significant chunk of the performance breaking down the fourth wall of Drag Race and, later, drag in general. That involved the clearly painful removal of Ginger's wig and glittery ensemble, leaving Joshua in a nude full-body Spanx and nothing else. Answering fan questions while removing his makeup, he eventually left the stage for a costume change, finally making Joshua Eads-Brown's official debut in a pair of shorts and a tank top.

Yet the night was as revealing emotionally as it was physically. Before launching into "Father's Song," Ginger, turning the mic over to Eads-Brown, revealed the lyrics to were transcribed directly from a letter to his estranged father. When he broke down in tears recounting his experience coming out to his late grandfather, it was a stunning moment of honesty.

The production was decidedly lo-fi. At times, the effect was charming, as it was when Minj insisted upon a mulligan following a botched lighting cue or joked that the missing display monitor had been repossessed." However, it was less charming in the moments when the instrumental track overpowered her voice, though fortunately, those moments were few and far between.

Still, the evening perfectly encapsulated what made Ginger Minj a fan favorite on Drag Race. She was never the edgiest queen or the most glamorous, but she was always herself. And now, thanks to the moment that's rarer than rare---a drag queen happily agreeing to share the stage---Joshua has a chance to shine, too.

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