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Alaska Thunderfuck 5000’s annual touring holiday special A Very Alaska Christmas Show served looks, slayed bops and ballads, and ate up the holiday hunties at the Aladdin Theater. A nearly sold-out crowd emerged on a rainy Dec. 6 to exalt Alaska (aka Justin Honard), the RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant-turned-All Stars winner known for her sharp style, library of pop culture references, and loose outer space backstory.
After educating the younger generations on Christmases Past with a full Golden Girls holiday episode, Alaska’s opener, local entertainer Nicole Onoscopi, sang live as she warmed and welcomed the crowd. Alaska started her set with her 2015 holiday single “Everyday Is Christmas,” followed by her iconic 2014 song “Your Makeup Is Terrible.” Though both songs are now 10-plus years old, Alaska used wit and candor to keep her hits fresh. Unlike last year’s revue, a dance pop show that felt a touch overproduced, this acoustic set amplified Alaska’s natural talents.
Her live cover of Counting Crow’s dad rock classic “A Long December” with pianist and longtime friend Jeremy Keller was gobsmackingly good. With many televised drag artists headed to Broadway, this ballad paired with the rest of Alaska’s holiday bonanza proved she could be next in line. Alaska’s dive into what she coined “the preposterous narrative of Christian Jesus and Christian Christmas” included irreverent covers of Amy Grant’s “Baby, Baby” and a more contemporary (and possibly litigious) choice: “Hard Fought Hallelujah,” which spent 20 weeks atop Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs. (“Don’t tell anyone I’m doing the song, the white Christians will sue me,” she hopefully joked.) But the number was an unironically heartfelt highlight, proving nothing is too out of the box for the Alien Glamotron.
Even though she is now very, very, very rich, Alaska took time to remind Portland that she was once a club kid. Her cover of Drowning Pool’s “Bodies,” followed later by an improvised medley of audience-chosen tunes, including Gayla Peevey’s “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas” and Drake’s “Rich Baby Daddy,” was delightfully eclectic and technically proficient, messy in all the best ways. Her ascent to RuPaul’s pantheon of drag legends didn’t make Alaska lose sight of who she is—a woman with the voice of an angel, the body of a model, and the spirit of Satan—thus inspiring us to stay in touch with our inner messy club kid.
