Nina West dishes on her love of Christmas, John Waters, Broadway and the milestone holiday drag show heading to Dallas
STEVEN LINDSEY | Contributing writer
StevenCraigLindsey@gmail.com
For years, Mary Tyler Moore turned the world on with her smile. But it’s worth arguing that Nina West has taken over the role of cheer spreader to millions of fans. The moment her out-of-drag alter ego, Andrew Robert Levitt, popped on the Zoom screen for this interview, that infectious grin lit up the laptop screen and set the stage for a fun half-hour of banter.
Voted “Miss Congeniality” by her peers on the 11th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nina West deserves her reputation for kindness and positivity. They’d certainly be the first to pop over with a cheese-laden casserole the moment she heard someone had a sniffle.
So, who better to host the epic 10th anniversary tour of A Drag Queen Christmas when it makes its Dallas stop next week at the Music Hall at Fair Park?
Tickets for this always-hilarious holiday extravaganza start at only $45, quite the bargain for a lineup of eight beloved queens, including several past Drag Race winners. Next week’s scheduled cast includes Roxxxy Andrews, Sasha Colby, Sapphira Cristál, Plane Jane, Jimbo, Crystal Methyd and Angeria Paris VanMichaels.
To get in the festive spirit for the show, Nina West chatted with Dallas Voice just before Thanksgiving about career high points leading up to today.
Dallas Voice: To get in the proper frame of mind for our interview, I listened to “Cha Cha Heels” again, and now I have a new earworm I can’t get rid of. So thank you. Thank you, and f**k you! Nina West: (laughs) You’re welcome!
I fell in love with that song when you first released it in 2019, and it’s such a great tribute to all of John Waters’ great movie characters. I am a super fan. I love him so very, very much. And he’s, like, the nicest person in the entire world.
I think many people would be surprised to know that he’s also a massive fan of Christmas. It
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Sapphira Cristál