Plastique Tiara: Werq the World 2019 Tour is ‘the greatest drag show in our country right now’
Drag Race's Plastique, Yvie Oddly, Aquaria, Monet X Change, Detox, and more come to The Anthem on Oct. 27
As RuPaul’s Drag Race takes a well-deserved hiatus before returning in early 2020, D.C. fans of the Emmy-winning show’s constellation of superstars can get their live fix this week, when the RuPaul’s Drag Race Werq the World 2019 Tour hits The Anthem on Sunday, October 27.
According to Season 11 contestant Plastique Tiara, the tour — with a lineup boasting Drag Race winners Yvie Oddly, Aquaria, and Violet Chachki, alongside faves and all-stars Monet X Change, Detox, Asia O’Hara, Naomi Smalls, and Plastique — represents the highest caliber of live drag. “I think Werq The World is the greatest drag show in our country right now, because it involves such high production,” she says. “The queens get their full vision realized by the boss team. I mean, you can just go in and be like, ‘Hey, I want snow in my number.’ ‘I want this light flashing.’ ‘I want a fan machine.’ With Werq The World, we get to shine the way that we want to shine.”
Born Duc Tran Nguyen in Vietnam, the Dallas-based Plastique has kept her considerable light shining since season 11 by releasing dance single “Irresistible” (over 1.5 million views and counting on YouTube), tending to her fervent social media fanbase (over 1.3 million followers on Instagram), and touring nonstop. “It’s all just a blur for sure,” she says. “Usually, I just spend a good two days at home in two months. This is kind of my journey for right now.”
That drive, and her talent for self-marketing, helped land Plastique in the upper tier of Vulture‘s recent list of America’s 100 most powerful drag queens. Not that she really appreciated being ranked against her fellow drag artists. “I was like, ‘What the hell is this?'” she says. “I think they based it off the show and not our real-life accomplishments, which is very unsettling for me because the real race starts after the show, not when you do it. When you’re in the real world, and have to rely on yourself, and rely on your talents to make it in this business, it’s a lot different.”
Plastique’s whirlwind journey will continue with the upcoming Latin American leg of Werq the World, followed by a second leg of Plastique and Yvie Oddly’s aptly-named Pretty Weird Tour. Then, Werq the World ventures to Australia, New Zealand, and Asia — although the tour isn’t scheduled to stop in Plastique’s native Vietnam. Still, that hasn’t dampened the performer’s enthusiasm. “I’ve never got to explore different parts of Asia before. For this tour to be my opportunity to visit different countries in my homeland, I’m so, so, so excited to be a part of it. I can’t wait.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race Werq the World 2019 Tour is Sunday, Oct. 27 at The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. Tickets are $52 to $62. The tour continues throughout the U.S. and Canada, including dates in Toronto (10/28), Boston (10/29), Miami (11/3), and Dallas (11/11), then travels to Latin America, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Visit www.vossevents.com.
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