Drag Race Star Jinkx Monsoon to Play Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors Opposite Corbin Bleu

Jinkx Monsoon, the American drag queen, actor, singer and comedian, is set to play Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors at off-Broadway’s Westside Theatre. Jinkx will step into the role on April 2, replacing Evan Rachel Wood in the role. She joins the cast alongside returning star Corbin Bleu, who steps in for Darren Criss as Seymour, and James Carpinello, who takes over for Bryce Pinkham as Dr. Orin Scrivello, D.D.S. Wood, Criss and Pinkham all play their final performances on March 31. 

Jinkx won the fifth season of RuPaul's Drag Race as well as the seventh season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars—the show’s only two-time winner. Known for her pitch-perfect celebrity impersonations of Judy Garland, Natasha Lyonne, Jennifer Coolidge, Bernadette Peters and Little Edie, she was the first drag queen to play the role of "Mama" Morton on Broadway in Chicago, and she returns to the role this summer, performing from June 27 through July 12 at the Ambassador Theatre. Jinkx is not the first drag queen to step into a role in a major production of the Howard Ashman-Alan Menken musical about a carnivorous plant. In 2018, Vicky Vox starred as the plant Audrey II at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in London.

Bleu, who rose to fame through Disney's High School Musical film series, has performed on Broadway in Kiss Me Kate, Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn, Godspell and In the Heights. Also a Broadway veteran, Carpinello has been seen in Rock of Ages, Xanadu and Saturday Night Fever.

The current cast of Little Shop of Horrors features Stephen DeRosa as Mr. Mushnik, alongside Aaron Arnell Harrington as the Voice of Audrey II, Tiffany Renee Thompson as Ronnette, Morgan Ashley Bryant as Crystal, Khadija Sankoh as Chiffon, as well as Camryn Hampton, Michael Iannucci, Weston Chandler Long, Jeff Sears, Teddy Yudain, Zakiya Baptiste, Major Attaway, Noel MacNeal, Jon Hoche, Johnny Newcomb and Christine Wanda.

Now in its fifth year off-Broadway, Little Shop of Horrors  features a book and lyrics by Grammy and Academy Award winner Howard Ashman and music by Tony and Academy Award winner Alan Menken. Michael Mayer directs.