For the last two weeks, drag star The Vivienne has been donning the green make-up, styling out huge, glam gowns and perfecting her best witchy cackle in the Wizard of Oz at the Palace Theatre.
Starring as the Wicked Witch of the West alongside Jason Manford’s Cowardly Lion and Aston Merrygold’s Tin Man, the musical has received huge praise with The Vivienne’s ‘delicious vigour’ being particularly heralded.
For the star, originally from Colwyn Bay in Wales and having emerged her drag persona through the Liverpool LGBTQ+ scene, it’s a role she says she has been dreaming of performing since first watching the film on television as a child.
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“I loved The Wizard of Oz growing up,” The Vivienne tells the M.E.N “It’s one of the first things I remember ever watching - just that whole scene where it went from black-and-white into technicolour just captured my attention. It’s an amazing story of finding your tribe and growing up knowing that there’s bigger and better things out there, it’s an inspiring story.”
And whilst many actors and performers would perhaps long to be able to click the glittery red heels on stage and belt out Somewhere Over The Rainbow, The Vivienne always had her eyes on the green witch.
“She’s one of the most iconic characters ever really,” she explains. “She was my first ever introduction to evil, I suppose. I always fell in love with the villains. The heroes are good, but the villains always have the most fun, don’t they?”
In fact, The Vivienne, who won the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and also participated in last year's Dancing on Ice, is such a big fan of the character that she now has a tattoo of her permanently inked on her thigh.
The Vivienne’s perfected portrayal of the villain, with martini glass in hand, has now also led her to be cast in the forthcoming West End run of the musical - set to take place this summer. It’s something that she says she could never have imagined for herself.
“It’s going to be my West End acting debut - it’s crazy,” she says as she admits she still ‘can’t believe’ it. “I’m really honoured to know that I’ve done the producers proud because they took a chance on me. I’ve never been in a musical before, so it really is nice to see that it’s been so well-received and that they want me to take me to the West End with them.”
But before the West End run, The Vivienne will continue the UK tour of The Wizard of Oz, alongside fitting in drag shows around the world and bringing her first ever one-woman show to Manchester. An Evening With The Vivienne will take place at New Century on May 23 and will feature comedy and music in an ‘intimate setting’ where she is able to connect with her fans through audience participation.
“I wanted to take it back to those ‘An Audience with…’ shows that used to be on ITV,” she explained. “There will be lots of audience questions, a few songs here and there and some little surprises. It’s basically going to be my story up to now from when I started in Liverpool - I’ve been doing drag for 16 years now and I’ve never really had a chance to stop and look back at everything I’ve achieved.
“I think it’s going to be really interesting for me. It’s going to kind of be like a bit of a therapy session, I reckon. It’s going to be different to anything I’ve done before - there’s still going to be elements of your typical drag show to it with impressions, songs and jokes, but I really wanted to create something really intimate and have that old ITV show feel.”
Since appearing on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, The Vivienne has appeared on a number of shows including The Great British Sewing Bee, The Weakest Link, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway, Celebrity Mastermind and even made an appearance on Emmerdale as herself. She even got to return to the Drag Race franchise by featuring in the All Winners edition of the drag queen reality TV show’s All Stars format in America.
“My feet haven’t hit the floor since winning Drag Race,” The Vivienne explains. “But I’m happy I get to have my fingers in many pies. I work in TV and I never saw a musical theatre career on the horizon so I’m very grateful I can work and not just rely on drag gigs. Even though you can say the Wicked Witch is a drag queen, I don’t feel like a drag queen when I’m playing her, I feel like a serious theatre actress!”
Further explaining how she feels lucky to be able to take part in so many opportunities, The Vivienne does admit she doesn’t think she would be able to make it as a drag queen nowadays.
“When I started, there were about ten drag queens in each city and you all knew each other,” she explains. “There’s so many drag queens now. Everybody is a drag queen, which is great, but it has slightly saturated the market for drag.
“I don’t think I could be a local drag queen today - trying to make it for myself. The competition makes it hard, people undercut each other just to get a gig. I don’t know if I’d be able to cope.”
Yet with so many shows and experiences already under her belt, The Vivienne says she is always open to whatever other opportunities are thrown her way. “I’ll do any reality show they offer me,” she laughs.
“But what I’d really love is to have my own talk show at some point - something like Saturday Night Live meets Chatty Man. With Saturday Night Takeaway now finished, I think the UK is really missing that big Saturday night TV show. I think I could do something really special with that."
The Wizard of Oz is at the Palace Theatre until May 5 - tickets here. Meanwhile, An Evening With The Vivienne will be at New Century on May 23, with tickets available to buy here.
