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She’s come a long way from Portland State University’s annual Welcome Week drag show.
Jinkx Monsoon returned to the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on Wednesday, Sept. 10, this time accompanied by the Oregon Symphony and longtime collaborator Major Scales and his band, the Badlings. Taking a break from her critically acclaimed Broadway run in fellow Oregonian Cole Escola’s Oh, Mary!, Monsoon’s two-act concerto was a little bit loungy, a little bit rock ’n’ roll. The Grant High School alumna said onstage that being “backed by the motherfucking Oregon Symphony” was another Portland dream come true.
Before her self-described “ADH-Demon” took over, Monsoon serenaded with selections like Sweet Charity’s “If My Friends Could See Me Now” and Little Shop of Horrors’ “Somewhere That’s Green.” But the veneer of perfection cracked when Monsoon flubbed the words to Cody Fry’s TikTok-viral song “I Hear a Symphony.” She delivered an endearing (if long-winded) explanation of her error while peering at Scales’ sheet music (the symphony patiently paused for her to find her place). Act 2 went off without a hitch as Monsoon covered Death Cab for Cutie’s “I Will Follow You Into the Dark” and brought out “Time & Space,” a song from her 2022 EP The Virgo Odyssey: Prologue. She dusted off cultural deep cuts, including the 1920 German cabaret number “The Lavender Song” and “Never Turn Your Back on Mother Earth” by Sparks.
The Oregon Symphony show was the most technically flawed performance I’ve witnessed after a decade of seeing Monsoon live, but it was also one of her best-sounding at the same time. She’s learned a lot after just a few years on Broadway, but her signature candor and cockamamie mad scientist-style mashup of comedy, singing and theatrical dance remained transfixing as ever. She’s sold out Carnegie Hall, but Monsoon’s not above popping off a press-on nail to toss into the audience. She’s not perfect, but Monsoon has also never pretended she is. Who else could get the Oregon Symphony to cover Katy Perry’s “Swish, Swish,” complete with Nicki Minaj’s rap verse?
