Entertainer Mimi Imfurst will be competing along with the country’s most celebrated drag queens on the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, premiering January 24 on LOGO. Mimi will also be bringing her musical stylings to Hartford, Connecticut’s Chez Est on January 21.
Mimi is a veteran of the stage, having appeared in several shows, such as Rhoda Heartbreak, The Diary of Anne Frankenstein, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and The Facts of Life: The Lost Episode.
Mimi was thrilled at the opportunity to work with the drag icon, for whom she has a lot of love and admiration: “Ru is genuinely one of the most beautiful people I have ever met in my entire life. She’s flawless. She has not aged a day. She really genuinely loves other drag queens.”
Mimi believes her unique style made her a standout among the competition on the show.
“What I do as a drag artist is very different from a lot of the girls,” Mimi explained. “My drag is a bit more theatrical-based than traditional drag. For me, it was an amazing experience to get to show the world what I do.”
Mimi, who grew up in Massachusetts and Maine, has been doing drag since she was 10 years old.
“The first time I ever did drag was for vacation Bible school,” Mimi recalled. “The theme was Jesus Undercover and my mother dressed me and my 10-year old brother up in drag. We were aging beauty queens.”
Mimi has a fun show prepared for Chez Est, and promises diversity: “I like to keep my shows eclectic. I really like to pull material from lots of different places.”
In addition to contemporary top 40 songs, the show will also feature references to movies and television shows, which Imfurst believes will appeal to audience members of all ages.
Recently, Mimi appeared as Cher in an off-Broadway production ofBoylesque, a spoof of Cher’s movie Burlesque.
Getting to play the beloved pop diva was a “dream come true,” Mimi explained.
By: Joe Siegel/TRT Reporter
“Whatever she does, she does the best,” Mimi said. “There’s nothing she can’t do. She’s had a number one song every decade for the last five decades. No one else has done that.”
Mimi said working on Boylesque was “a really fun experience.”
Mimi is also a member of girl group Xelle, featuring “real” girls JC Cassis and Rony G. The group’s debut single “Party Girl” unveils on January 1 on ITunes. A full-length album is in the works.
Party Girl is a “fun song”, Mimi said, noting the lyrics poke fun at infamous party girls such as Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton.
“We want everybody when they hear the song to forget their problems and to be able to have fun,” Mimi noted.
Mimi also appeared on stage in Thank You For Being a Friend, a spoof of the popular 1980s television comedy The Golden Girls.
“You can watch it today and it’s still really funny,” Mimi said. “The comedy (in the show) I think is still cutting edge.”
Mimi enjoys performing and intends to keep doing it for a long time to come: “What I love most is making people laugh.”
