75. “Defying Gravity Will Get Me Through This” (with Ginger Minj)

Summary

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Sentimental Men: “Defying Gravity Will Get Me Through This” (with Ginger Minj)

Podcast: Sentimental Men by Broadway Podcast Network
Hosts: Quincy Brown & Kevin Bianchi
Guest: Ginger Minj
Date: September 1, 2025
Episode: 75

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Episode Overview

This lively episode celebrates the intersection of drag, Broadway, and fandom as RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 10 winner, performer, and theater kid Ginger Minj joins hosts Quincy and Kevin. The main theme explores how Wicked has impacted Ginger’s life and career, her experience as a drag queen with deep musical theater roots, the evolving landscape of drag on Broadway, and her recent iconic Defying Gravity moment in front of Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Wicked: A Theater Kid’s Origin Story

• Ginger’s Oz Roots
  • Grew up obsessed with The Wizard of Oz books and film.
  • Read Gregory Maguire’s Wicked novel immediately upon release, before understanding its complexity.
• First Exposure to Wicked (the musical)
  • "I was obsessed from day one. I saw the performance right after the Tony Awards." – Ginger Minj [33:37]
  • Saw Kristin Chenoweth post-Tony loss: “You could tell…there was this air of ‘I just lost the Tony Award to Peter.’” [34:03]

Drag, Comedy, and Performing Identity

• The Influence of Kristin Chenoweth
  • “Glinda…just became so imbued with who I am as a performer and a drag queen. I strive to be that level of petty on stage.” – Ginger [34:32]
• Drag as a Pathway to Community
  • Ginger got into drag by passing as her cousin’s fiancée to get into bars and find a queer community: “I hadn’t really developed who I was as a character… But it was seeing people like Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda that made me go, oh, I can take the things I love…and just become this character.” [35:04]

The Dramaturgy of Wicked: Stage to Screen

• On the Show vs. the Movie
  • “The storytelling’s not there [on stage]. It’s so fast… You don’t have time to really just…sit in those moments with the characters and let them resonate with you. The films have given us a lot of breathing room.” [38:34]
  • Wishes for the stage version’s pacing: “Me, I would have sat 10 hours.” [39:14]
• On Division in Early Reception
  • Wicked initially polarized fans of the Oz books, the MGM movie, and Maguire’s novel, but Ginger believes the musical successfully merges the worlds.

The Evolving World of Drag and Broadway

• Movie Casting Reactions

  • “Cynthia Erivo, I’ve been obsessed with…Nobody can tell a story through song the way she can…Ariana, brilliant comedian and obsessive Oz fan, I knew she cared enough about it that she wasn’t going to screw it up.” [41:27]

• Who Should Play Madame Morrible?

  • Dream casting: “In my spirit, I just really, really, really wanted Bette Midler to do it… If not her, I really wanted Cheryl Lee Ralph…” [41:43]
  • Aspires to play Madam Morrible herself: “I want to play Madam Morrible. Like, that is my broad dream.” [42:24]

• On Drag Queens as Morrible

  • Hosts discuss Gloria Groove’s groundbreaking casting as the first drag queen Madame Morrible in Brazil.
  • “All those women have been in drag… It makes so much sense.” – Kevin [42:41]
  • “Let me play Rue McClanahan as Madame Morrible in Wicked.” – Ginger [43:16]
  • Ginger predicts, “It’s going to take one queen to do it once, and then that’s going to become the norm…It’s just always a drag queen as Madame Morrible.” – Quincy [43:53]

Drag Race, Broadway, and Legit Recognition

• Jinkx Monsoon’s ‘Bespoke’ Path
  • “She’s really like…not just opening doors, she’s kicking them off the hinges so that others of us…are starting to be taken a little more seriously.” – Ginger [46:27]
• Delayed Industry Acknowledgment
  • “It took me 25 years of doing drag, four seasons, over 10 years of RuPaul’s Drag Race…to get people to understand that this is who I have always been as an entertainer.” [47:58]
• Ultimate Broadway Aspiration
  • “I wanted to do Broadway. That was the ultimate goal. I never really saw much of a path for it...” [48:14]
  • Inspired by Harvey Fierstein’s Hairspray: “It made me so excited… I can also win the Tony Award for doing it.” [49:15]

Iconic Lip Sync: Defying Gravity in Front of the Movie Stars

• Filming the Lip Sync (with Diabetti)
  • “Cynthia Rivo stood up and did the whole battle cry as loud as could be. Sent chills through my spine, which is why I was crying before the song even started.” [51:49]
  • “I knew once I saw what the lip sync song was, there’s gonna be nothing that stops me from placing in the top… I need to do this song in front of those two people…this is the turning point for me.” [52:09]
  • “There’s those moments in life where something takes over and you blackout until it’s done…The other was singing I Am What I Am on the Trailblazers for Harvey [Fierstein].” [53:11]
• Honesty Over Trickery
  • On not doing stunts: “It’s one of those songs where you just need to be honest and vulnerable for two minutes. That’s it. And the ones who got it really got it.” [55:25]
  • “I just remember coming to and seeing Ariana just sobbing in the corner.” [54:09]

Ginger’s Studio Version of “Defying Gravity”

• Why Record It?

  • “The more I listened to Defying Gravity, the more it just sunk into my bones, like, oh, this is my anthem. This is my theme song. This is what’s going to get me through this season.” [57:08]

• A Song for the Outcasts

  • “Thank you for putting out a male key of Defying Gravity. As a little boy growing up, I always wanted to sing along to like a male version.” – Quincy [58:13]

Wicked Fandom, Merch, and the Movie Sequel Mania

• Movie 2 Anticipation

  • “I know that the movie is going to destroy me… I’m so invested in the merchandising…We have Gain laundry pod things that are wicked scented. The craziest shit.” [65:11]

• Hopes for Expanded Storytelling

  • “Act II has the most room to expand and build upon. So I’m excited to see what they do in the movie.” – Quincy [67:31]

• Dorothy’s Role in Movie 2

  • “I do [think she’ll have spoken lines]. They would not have kept her identity such a secret…It makes the most sense with setting up Dorothy.” [68:26]
  • On embracing remakes: “The original that you love will always be there… I think we should have as much Oz as often as possible.” [69:44]

• Wicked Converts

  • Ginger shares a heartwarming story of her Oz-resistant sister becoming obsessed with the franchise after seeing Wicked Movie 1. [72:23–74:43]

Career and Current Projects

• On the path ahead: “I’m in P-town right now…Six shows a week… I gotta get my stamina up for Broadway schedule. Broadway’s around the corner…We do have a couple offers on the table.” [75:05]
• Touring with “Hocus Pocus Live” and filming a new (unannounced) movie.
• Recommend’s Ginger’s book Southern Fried Sass: “Definitely a love story to my grandmother and all things Oz.” [77:40]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Glinda’s Post-Tony-Petty:

  • “[Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda]… That was rhetorical. And it struck me…and that’s when Glinda as a person just became so imbued with who I am as a performer and a drag queen.” – Ginger [34:05]

• On Drag Race’s Impact on Broadway

  • “It took me…four seasons…to get people to understand that this is who I have always been as an entertainer, and this is what my aspirations have always…built up to.” – Ginger [47:58]

• On the Defying Gravity Lip Sync

  • “There’s gonna be nothing that stops me from placing in the top on this challenge…to do this song in front of those two people…this is the turning point for me with drag and Drag Race. Like, marry all of the things that I love into one.” – Ginger [52:09]

• On Broadway Dream Roles

  • “I want to play Madam Morrible. Like, that is my broad dream.” – Ginger [42:24]
  • “Let me play Rue McClanahan as Madame Morrible in Wicked.” – Ginger [43:16]

• On Dorothy & the Future of Wicked

  • “I think we should have as much Oz as often as possible. Keep it alive for the next generation. And that’s what I’m so grateful for.” – Ginger [71:49]

• On Losing Weight, Winning Drag Race, and Merch Mania

  • “This $200,000 could not have hit at an inopportune time…The drag race prize money is your Wicked fund for part two.” – Ginger [67:02–67:06]

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Key Timestamps

• Wicked First Impressions & Glinda Petty – [32:26–34:32]
• Drag Race to Broadway Aspirations – [45:22–47:58]
• Defying Gravity Lip Sync Behind-the-Scenes – [51:21–54:09]
• On Recording “Defying Gravity” – [57:08–58:13]
• Movie 2 Merchandise & Fan Mania – [64:36–67:06]
• Dorothy in the Wicked Universe – [67:55–69:44]
• Ginger’s Sister Converts to Wicked Fandom – [72:23–74:43]
• Plans for Broadway, Hocus Pocus Live, Book – [75:05–77:40]

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Flow & Takeaways

This episode is a passionate, funny, and deeply affectionate ode to Wicked, queer Broadway fandom, and the resilience and creativity of drag and theater performers. Ginger Minj’s love for all things Oz shines through, as do her insights into the evolution of drag acceptance on Broadway, the impact of representation, and the joy of seeing once-niche fandoms become pop culture events.

Whether you love Wicked for its musical theater bombast, queer-coded storytelling, or its ever-expanding universe, this conversation will make you laugh, reflect, and possibly reach for your own scented Gain pods. Ginger’s dream to one day play Madame Morrible feels closer than ever—and you heard it here first.

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For more:

• Listen to Ginger’s cover of “Defying Gravity”
• Read Southern Fried Sass
• Petition for Ginger as Broadway’s first drag Madame Morrible!

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“We all live in the bubble.” – Ginger Minj [32:16]

Transcript

[Ginger Minj]

Hi, y'.

[Quincy]

All. This is Kristin Chenoweth.

[Ginger Minj]

Hi, I'm Gloria Stefan. This is Sara Bareilles. Hi, I'm Patti LuPone. This is Lin Manuel Miranda.

[Kevin]

You're listening to the Broadway Podcast Network.

[Ginger Minj]

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[Kevin]

From interactive seating charts and promo codes.

[Ginger Minj]

To abandoned cart reminders and automated emails on the stage keeps audiences engaged all the way to showtime. And when showtime comes, seamless ticket scanning keeps your line moving and your audience happy. Visit onthestage.com broadway and take the drama out of ticketing. Olivia loves a challenge.

[Quincy]

It's why she lifts heavy weights and likes complicated recipes. But for booking her trip to Paris, Olivia chose the easy way.

[Ginger Minj]

With Expedia.

[Quincy]

She bundled her flight with a hotel to save more. Of course, she still climbed all 674 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower. You were made to take the easy route. We were made to easily package your trip. Expedia made to travel flight inclusive packages are atoll protected.

[Ginger Minj]

And I think that's the most beautiful gift that the films have given us, is that it's giving it a lot of breathing room. I would have loved for the stage show to give us a little more time in there.

[Quincy]

Sure, it would have been four hours long.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah, but I mean, me, I would have sat 10 hours.

[Kevin]

They could have angels in America that separated it. Like, make me come on two nights.

[Ginger Minj]

Well, I say that to all the men. Make me come on two nights. Don't spit, Kevin. You'll never be popular.

[Quincy]

My name's Quincy.

[Kevin]

And my name's Kevin.

[Quincy]

And this is sentimental men.

[Kevin]

We're here to talk and maybe scream about our favorite women in musical theater.

[Quincy]

Try not to get worried. Try not to hold on to things that upset you all. Don't you know everything's all right? Yes, everything's fine. What's your Jesus Christ Superstar history?

[Kevin]

Um, I only really associate as a fan.

[Quincy]

Like, you know it well.

[Kevin]

Not like, as well as I know other shows, but as a casual but. But supportive fan. Like, I've never, like, sang anything from it. I was never in it.

[Quincy]

I had never seen it. I only knew the hits. And I love the opportunity to, like, see a show that, you know, you should know. I felt similarly about when I saw Hair at Signature Theater.

[Kevin]

Mm.

[Quincy]

I love Andrew Lloyd Webber is what I decided after seeing Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl.

[Kevin]

You decided that after seeing Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl. Got it. Okay, cool.

[Quincy]

Just such earworms and such melodies. I think of his Christian works, I might prefer Joseph a little more. But it was really cool to see this production. And it's a stellar production, kind of all around. Cynthia Ott obviously was incredible. Philippa I thought was amazing. Milo Manheim was great. Adam Lambert.

[Kevin]

Yeah, like a stacked cast.

[Quincy]

Yeah. Josh Gad.

[Kevin]

Did they do any kind of like, pro capture of it? Because it was so, like, starry and cool. And I'm so jealous of everyone like you who saw it live in person with your own.

[Quincy]

I mean, I'm sure it exists because they have to.

[Kevin]

I'm sure there's an archive.

[Quincy]

There's like a three camera setup at Hollywood bowl showing it all. Very well documented. I imagine it'll never be released, although I keep seeing rumors that it's going to play Radio City, which would be kind of slay. And then I think Angela Webber was hinting that there'll be an arena tour of it. I can't imagine it would be with that cast.

[Kevin]

Not with Cynthia Erivo. Yeah.

[Quincy]

But it was so nice to see Cynthia outside of Wicked Universe and be like, yeah, she's Alphabet. She is just a stellar, stellar musical theater performer though.

[Kevin]

Correct.

[Quincy]

Her Gethsemane was jaw dropping. There were just so many songs outside of the hits that I knew that I was like, this. This is good. It's also so campy. Like, I think I had always envisioned it as like a very serious, earnest kind of retelling of the story of Christ.

[Kevin]

I think that's like the time it was written and gives it that impression. But no, it is like tongue in cheek. Like, there's a tongue in cheekness to it.

[Quincy]

To the point where I was like, are Christians upset about this? Because I'm seeing so much on our clips of Cynthia. There's so much just mishigos of Jesus. Jesus wasn't black, Jesus wasn't a woman, blah, blah, blah.

[Kevin]

Jesus wasn't white either.

[Quincy]

Yeah, it's like one. What a bizarre and annoying hill to die on. But the level of, like, outrage. Because when Cynthia was announced, my initial reaction was slay. I didn't even think of the possibility of controversy around that. But there's a severe amount. So then I'm like, are those same Christians upset about how campy and just fun and over the top this retelling is as well?

[Kevin]

I don't know.

[Quincy]

I gotta look, when Jesus Christ Superstar first played, if it was like, no, people just loved it.

[Kevin]

It is a weird hill to die on. I agree with you there, because my initial reaction was it was just like, there are certain roles, and this is like. I even feel like in the last, like, five years that this has happened. There are certain roles that it just feels like it doesn't matter anymore the gender of the actor playing them. And I was like, oh, cool. Like, this is a perfect role to cast in that way because it is this godlike character, so there should be no limits on who can or cannot play it.

[Quincy]

And honestly, I think the show needs, like, that kind of a twist to be interesting. If that was just a white man.

[Kevin]

Also, it's a concert production.

[Quincy]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

I don't know. People need to direct their anger elsewhere.

[Quincy]

It's really crazy, the amount of comments.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Quincy]

Just across the board. That was my first time at the Hollywood Bowl. It was very, very cool.

[Kevin]

Yeah. I've never been.

[Quincy]

It also felt a little bit like New York. Like, I walked in and you're, like, running into all these people that you know and see. And I was like, where am right now? It was kind of. It was very cool. I would just love a cast recording out of this whole Jesus Christ Superstar endeavor. If this feels like a cast that warrants putting on record, that feels reasonable. Adam Lambert was so good.

[Kevin]

Oh, my God, I am obsessed with Adam. I am. He has one of my favorite voices of all time. Yeah, he has one of the sickest voices.

[Quincy]

And then I went back and, like, looked, listen to the OG cast recording for Jesus Christ Superstar. And I was like, oh. So they were adding, like, a ton of vocal pyrotechnics in this concert version.

[Kevin]

You know what popped up for me because of the algorithm is that old video of Adam Lambert in the, like, Ten Commandments musical.

[Quincy]

I don't think I've ever seen it.

[Kevin]

Oh, my God, Quincy, you're going to lose your fucking mind. Okay? I'm going to send it to you after this. It's insane. It's like it's at some, like, one of these, like, theaters that is, like, a religious organization. So they have, like, a humongous budget for this, like, huge production of this original musical about the Ten Commandments. And Adam Lambert is there in a little tunic, playing some biblical figure, belting his little titties off. Okay, you're gonna die. You're gonna die.

[Quincy]

Yeah. I mean, bring this production of Jesus Christ to Broadway. That would be fantastic.

[Kevin]

Bring it.

[Quincy]

Okay, Kevin, we are launching into Our busy era on this podcast.

[Kevin]

Sure am. It's time. It's time.

[Quincy]

At the time of recording, I do not feel like the Movie 2 press tour has kicked off in earnest.

[Kevin]

No. People have been saying it's time. Like, people on Twitter or whatever are like, here we go. It, like, press tour starts today. And I'm like, Until I see the girls in outfits that are matching that they claim they didn't plan, it's not. It's not starting to post it.

[Quincy]

On her story today, she's, like, in a recording studio zooming with Stephen Arimis and John Chu.

[Kevin]

Play. You're on Last culture. Bowen talked about they did reshoots a couple months ago.

[Quincy]

Yeah. So maybe, hopefully by the time you're listening to this, something has started. But at the time of recording, we're still in a little bit of a drought, which I am not going to complain about because I know once it starts, we're gonna be an undated. So I'm just going to let it play out.

[Kevin]

I don't know. I'm excited, Quincy, because last year was so fun. I think last year was a little. I was just talking to my therapist about this. Last year was, like, so fun and it was a little. I don't know if, like, stressful is the right word, but it was a little intimidating because it was just so much that we had never done before or, like, had to deal with before. But this year we get to go into it having sort of done it already.

[Quincy]

Yeah. I just, I want to be more present this year because I feel like I kind of blacked out for the second half of last year and came to in like, January. But I agree. I think it's going to be so fun.

[Kevin]

I was going to say, what are you looking forward to based on our experience last year?

[Quincy]

Well, I'm looking forward to whatever the hell that NBC Live Live event thing is. I want to hopefully talk to more of the movie cast. Want to talk to Ariana and Cynthia again, but like, more of the movie cast as well.

[Kevin]

I want to talk to Jon M. Chu.

[Quincy]

Huh.

[Kevin]

Once we've seen the second part, because I want. I have questions.

[Quincy]

Yeah, I want to see the second part, obviously.

[Kevin]

Yeah, I think, yeah, we should see it maybe once.

[Quincy]

And I'm just excited for, like. I'm excited for, like, the thing that we're not expecting to happen. Like, what is going to be the Trisha Paytas of this year, you know?

[Kevin]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm excited. Well, number one, I hope we get sweatshirts again this year because that shiz sweatshirt is the best sweater I've ever owned. It's like thick, it's well made, it's chunky. But then on the side, sides, it's like ribbed a little. You know what I mean? So it's like, oh, it's such a good sweatshirt.

[Quincy]

I can only wear it where I'm feeling good, when I'm feeling good about my body because it is pretty, like stiff.

[Kevin]

It is a fitted sweatshirt. Yeah.

[Quincy]

It's not like a lounging sweatshirt.

[Kevin]

No, no, I wouldn't say that. So I hope we get sweatshirts again. I am looking forward to. You know, I never went to a sing along screening last year, so I'm excited to do that again this year. I'm excited. Yes. I'm excited to.

[Quincy]

Do you think Elikanami Namin is going to stay the same because they changed the spells for Divine Gravity in the first movie?

[Kevin]

You know, maybe, but those are lyrics, so maybe she wouldn't. Maybe they're added to. But not because it's probably an extended sequence. I'm excited for the mania of like, how many times have you seen it? Like, oh, I've seen it four times so far. Like, I'm excited for that and I'm excited for. Honestly, I am just excited for everybody to have it to like yap about again. Like that was. It was just fun last year. Like, no matter who you ran into, it was like, oh, what did you think of the Wicked movie? Like, it was just fun to. Yeah, it's like the. When Barbie came out, it was just like, it's fun to have something everybody is participating in and it's fun for that thing to be a musical theater thing.

[Quincy]

I'm excited for Taylor Swift to be in full force as Wicked is in full force. I'm just gonna have like both of my monoculture obsessions being thrown at me at every second.

[Kevin]

I can't.

[Quincy]

I used to have a. My friends and I used to have this theory that Ariana and Taylor never exist in the same universe. They're always on opposite. I remember this. I feel like it's gone out the window a little with the Aristor and the Wicked movie and now this new album. But I always love when they're kind of like existing as celebrities at the same time in the culture.

[Kevin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Quincy]

Kevin, you just did our friends at down the Yellow Brick Pod. You did a guest appearance on their episode.

[Kevin]

I did. It was really fun. They are doing a really fun series right now. Well, it's probably over by now. By time of Listening, which means you can go back and binge at all. But they went through kind of like we did at the start of our podcast. They, like went through the movies kind of scene by scene and talked about just like the details of each scene, which is fun because, you know, like, when we talk about it, we talk about it so much in, like, broad strokes that to really, like, get into it, the nitty gritty with someone was really fun. Obviously they asked. They asked us on, but you were not available, so that's okay.

[Quincy]

I'm sorry, guys. I was traveling, but I do feel like you were the perfect one of us to take this specific task.

[Kevin]

I low key was we broke down the sentimental men see or sentimental man scene in the movie, and we somehow managed to make a two hour podcast episode, about six minutes of I'm not.

[Quincy]

All the way through it. I started it and I was like, oh, this is. This is lengthy.

[Kevin]

This is lengthy. And we break down into like a full conversation about, like, the. The urban development of Robert Moses and how it relates to Jeff Goldblum and his portrayal of the wizard. Like, we really went off the deep end with that. But it was fun to really kind of like, break down the wizard as a character and like, you know, Jeff Goldblum's performance as opposed to the way he's portrayed on Broadway and things like that. So, yeah, it's a really fun episode of a very fun series of episodes. If you don't listen to their podcast, you should.

[Ginger Minj]

They put.

[Kevin]

They are like, very consistently. And like, I mean, they'll ask Quincy and I to come. They'll be like, hey, guys, in two and a half months, do you have 17 minutes to spare? They're so organized. They crank out episodes. Episodes like the Navy. I mean, it's ins. They're insane. I'm so impressed with their.

[Quincy]

Unlike the sentiment, their level of content.

[Kevin]

No, we're so easy breezy. We're like dancing through life. If an episode breezes past us, if we manage to catch it, if not, we let it go. Whatever. Oh, is the movie coming out? Maybe we'll do an episode. They are, like, militant. They never miss an episode. So if you love this podcast, but you're like, these boys are a little unreliable.

[Quincy]

You know what? We've never once gotten called out for being inconsistent, which is always shocking to me, because we kind of are.

[Kevin]

Yeah, well, I think it's because we are pretty upfront about our inability to be consistent. Like, I. And I think also we were so consistent for the first, like, two and A half, three years when nobody was, like, at work or, like, going out. And so, like, now that people have, like, things, other things to do, I don't think people mind that we skip some weeks.

[Quincy]

Thank you for the grace.

[Kevin]

That said, if we can hold ourselves to the plan that we made the other night, between now and the end of the year, y' all will be fed.

[Quincy]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

But until the end of the year, no promises.

[Quincy]

But I also feel like it's. For me personally, it's easier to, like, be on top of shit when there's a lot.

[Kevin]

When there's more of it. Yes.

[Quincy]

Because it's just like, you gotta. I literally woke up yesterday morning and was like, quince, you just a podcast in all aspects of life. I was like, you just have to lock in throughout the year.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah.

[Quincy]

Buckle up, Kevin. I saw the recent Broadway cast before I left town a couple weeks ago.

[Kevin]

You did? I.

[Quincy]

Current Broadway cast.

[Kevin]

We have been trying to line up, seeing that cast together for so long that finally we were just like, you know what? We're going to go separately. And you beat me to it.

[Quincy]

I just knew that once I came back from vacation, we were going to be in hyperdrive. So I was like, let me see it now.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Quincy]

So I can at least get it in.

[Kevin]

I feel like.

[Quincy]

Should go see it before.

[Kevin]

Maybe what we should do. Yeah. Is I'll try to go, like, this week or next week, and then we can record maybe, like, a mini episode just devoted to that. Do you have anything you want to tell me about them now?

[Quincy]

Sure. I'll withhold then all. I will. It was great. It was really great. I'm loving Natasha. Yvette as Morrible.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Quincy]

Loving, loving Brad. Oskar, I think, is one of the most perfect wizards. Ali Trim and Lencia are fantastic. I'm going to, before we have them on, say that I think Aly Trim is a no. Wicked. Glinda. And I think Lyncia is a no. Good deed. Elphaba.

[Kevin]

Okay. No one mourns no good deed.

[Quincy]

That's my take.

[Kevin]

Okay.

[Quincy]

Jordan Litz. I love when a Fiero is straight.

[Kevin]

Did he still. Do you know what? Okay. Jordan Litz and Jake had their little moment in Dancing Through Life where, like, he gets, like, right up in Bach's face in, like, a very playful way. And every time I saw them do it, I was like.

[Ginger Minj]

Just kiss.

[Quincy]

Speaking of Bach, I do think Danny Quadrino is a pretty perfect. Perfect.

[Kevin]

Danny's a slay.

[Quincy]

He's so fantastic. He sings it down, he riffs where you want to riff. He gets a little poppy. He's so funny. I'm so happy.

[Kevin]

Dig up that episode from the backlog, y'. All. Daniel Quadrino in, like, the first 20 episodes or 20.

[Quincy]

Like, a good episode, too.

[Kevin]

It is, yeah. It was like a Pride episode or something, right?

[Quincy]

Yeah. No, he's fantastic as Bach. It was so cool to see Jenna as Nessa. She's also phenomenal. I can't wait to have her on. It's. It's a really good time to see Wicked. I want to go back to see Carrie Renee Fuller, the standby, because I'm also hearing fantastic things.

[Kevin]

Things about her, I bet.

[Quincy]

And the boots I've seen have been delish.

[Kevin]

Maybe I'll try to go when Connor's back. And it's, like, a little easier for me to, like, do something, because we're entering Wicked mania.

[Quincy]

We got it. We're gonna have a Quincy.

[Kevin]

Speaking of current casts, one more thing to mention, because it's so apropos to our guest today is that the Brazil production of Wicked is currently making herstory with Gloria Groove as the first drag queen cast as Madame Morrible in any production of Wicked that is so slay.

[Quincy]

So slay and, like, so perfect for Madame Morrible. I can't believe that hasn't happened yet.

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Quincy]

I do suspect a day in, like, 20 years from now where, like, drag queen is Madame Marble is the norm.

[Kevin]

Is the norm. Yeah. Like, when regional productions of Wicked are starting to pop up everywhere. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I would love to see today's guest as Broadway's first drag, Madame Marable.

[Quincy]

Let's ask her.

[Kevin]

Yeah, yeah. Anna Gasteyer. Hard. No, But I do feel like Ginger Minj might consider it in a different light. Oh, my God.

[Quincy]

Anna's episode was so funny.

[Kevin]

I still get texts from people being like, hey, I'm listening to the Anna Gastire episode, and it's so funny. She killed it. If we ever need, like, a guest host because one of us has fallen ill, I say we call her.

[Quincy]

I think Nicole Parker would also be a good guest host.

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Quincy]

For a similar reason.

[Kevin]

You know, I do still. You mentioned this once. I do still think it would be so fun to do, like, a round table with you. You, me, Jackie, Teal, and Dee.

[Quincy]

Yeah. Maybe we should. While Dee's and Duffy comes here. That'd be fun.

[Kevin]

I want to see her so bad. I want to see her as Helen, though.

[Quincy]

Yes.

[Kevin]

And she has never gone on as hell.

[Quincy]

Oh. As Jennifer Smart.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Quincy]

Oh, no. I kind of love her as Madeline.

[Kevin]

She's only done Madeline, and everything I've seen I'm very interested in.

[Quincy]

Is she both?

[Kevin]

She's a standby for both interest. But I think. I think, like, on paper, she's a standby for both, but I think off paper, she's, like, primarily Megan's standby.

[Quincy]

Kevin, who are we talking to today?

[Kevin]

Quincy, Today we are talking to the one, the only, the incomparable, the fabulous.

[Quincy]

Ginger Minj, our second Drag Race girl on Sentmen Pod.

[Kevin]

Our second Drag Race girl. I know. Which, honestly, I just feel like. Like it's fun that we're getting into the overlap of, like, being a sentimental man via your high school theater drama club and being a sentimental man via putting on makeup when your parents weren't looking. That's a big overlap, and I feel blessed to explore it.

[Quincy]

And we're about to enter a wicked palooza. But sometimes we like to talk to some non wicked folks. So thank you for going along for the ride with us. And also, there's a lot of wicked overlap with these quote unquote, non wicked guests.

[Kevin]

Yeah, everybody's got a wicked overlap.

[Quincy]

It's all in the smu.

[Kevin]

Also, it's not even unwicked related, because Ginger Minj, as we were talking about, just, just now had the distinct pleasure of lip syncing the Idina Menzel recording of Defying Gravity in front of Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo.

[Quincy]

What an honor that. Do you think we'll ever have the distinct pleasure of lip syncing the movie Defying Gravity in front of.

[Kevin]

That's what I want.

[Quincy]

Let's say Idina and Kristen.

[Kevin]

I want in front of all four for us, but. Yeah, I think so. I think, Quincy, you and me would really. We'd kill it. Yeah, we'd kill it. I feel like. What's it called? Fagtasia should have us as special lip sync guests.

[Quincy]

Yes.

[Kevin]

For the.

[Quincy]

Yeah, Kevin. I also. We didn't. We haven't mentioned it yet, but I do feel like it's important to flag your haircut and your new look that you're serving listeners who are not watching us. This is a Kevin I haven't seen in a very long time in years. This is a little bit that Kevin and I fell in love with, though, minus the stash.

[Kevin]

Yeah, she's new. This is. This is close to the Kevin that started this podcast.

[Quincy]

Yeah.

[Kevin]

Back when we were serving, like, molecular and it. Yeah, I had a mustache. Yeah, yeah, those. Those 10 francs. They sure did save my poor cassette.

[Quincy]

Sorry. Back to Ginger.

[Kevin]

Anyway, so yes. So Ginger Minj is not even that far away from being wicked related. For anybody listening who does not know, Ginger Minj is best known to most of us as a competitor on RuPaul's Drag Race Season 7, All Stars Season 2, All Star Season 6, and most recently as the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Season 10. She really is the Jenny Denoya of the Drag Race franchise. She just becoming. Anytime you need her, call her up. She's like, I could be painted in 15 minutes. So in a way, I'm sorry, sad that she won because now she's not going to compete anymore.

[Quincy]

It's a title. Ginger Mange. The Jenny.

[Kevin]

The Jenny Denoia of Drag Race.

[Quincy]

Approximately 20 people on this planet will understand that.

[Kevin]

Right. But all 20 of those people listen, so. No, but. So Ginger is known across the fandom for being a campy queen. Always excels at the acting and singing and comedy challenges, which makes a lot of sense. Yes. Because Ginger has a background and a current present in the music, musical theater.

[Quincy]

Feels like she's getting more into the musical theater.

[Kevin]

Yes. And I can't wait to talk to her. With the jinx of it all. And like, with Jinx really, like, forging the path from Drag Race to Broadway.

[Quincy]

In a very chic way.

[Kevin]

In a very chic way. And also not to undermine any of, like, Marsha or Peppermint or anything. I just mean, like, the jinx of it all feels like a very big moment, and I am really excited to see what I hope to be a wave of Drag Race girls coming to Broadway in some capacity.

[Quincy]

Because ultimately, drag queens are just kind of talented in all the aspects that you need for a musical theater career.

[Kevin]

So, yes, you gotta have the charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, and Broadway could.

[Quincy]

Use more of that.

[Kevin]

Okay, save that for the Patreon. Ginger Minj grew up performing on stage. She majored in theater and college. Since being introduced to the world on Drag Race, Ginger has been on stage in drag in shows like Sweeney Todd, Chicago, Hedwig, and of course, the Holy Grail, LA Casual. Two things. Number one, fun fact, Sweeney Todd. Stephen Sondheim personally approved her casting. The casting, like, as of a drag queen as Mrs. Lovett.

[Quincy]

Wow.

[Kevin]

Second thing is, I love that video, the Trailblazers Awards, where she sings I Am what I Am for Harvey Fierstein. Give her a whole revival just based on that.

[Quincy]

Honestly, Honestly, Honestly, she would kill it.

[Kevin]

She's the perfect. Honestly, her and Jinx should do it.

[Quincy]

That's a really.

[Kevin]

Ginger as Elan and Jinx. Or they could Little Fox it. They could. Okay.

[Quincy]

Oh, that's a good idea.

[Kevin]

Who do we talk to?

[Quincy]

Also, Harvey Fierstein's Tony speech really got me so on board again. Not that I was ever off board, but I was like, damn, he really is the best.

[Kevin]

One of the greats. Yeah, let's have him on the podcast. After the movie and everything. Let's have him on the podcast.

[Quincy]

He could have been a fun choice.

[Kevin]

For the wizard or Madame Marable. Again, Little Fox it.

[Quincy]

We gotta ask Ginger if she wants to do Marble.

[Kevin]

We gotta. I hope. I honestly like never been more embarrassed. I worked up the nerve to ask Anna Gasteyer two questions and her answer to both of them was no. Anyways, welcome back from the Patreon cut, guys.

[Quincy]

Subscribe to our Patreon. We're starting to talk off the record.

[Kevin]

Ginger has released three of her own studio albums as well as appearing on the albums of tons of other drag Drag Race queens. On screen, you may have spotted a.

[Quincy]

Recent cover of Defying Gravity.

[Kevin]

Which recent cover of Defying Gravity. Again, she's not. This is not an unwicked centered.

[Quincy]

She's coming out the sent men fantasy.

[Kevin]

Listen, Ginger Minj is a theater kid who grew up to win RuPaul's Drag Race. Like, there's no way that Wicked did not play a part in her life in some way. We're in the clear with this episode. This is a Wicked episode.

[Quincy]

They always are.

[Kevin]

You heard it here first. Ginger Minj is going to be our. Our next Madame Marble on Broadway. It honestly would be so fabulous. Oh my God. And she'd make that stupid like cross eyed face in the. You may have fooled the rest of Oz with that aren't I good act. You may have spotted Ginger Minj on screen in shows like AJ and the Queen, in the movie Dumplin with Jennifer Aniston or in a little indie film called Hocus Pocus 2. Honestly, how iconic to be the drag version of officially documented J. Armstrong Johnson found quaking Every gay that's ever done it for Halloween. Wigless Ginger Minj, the official Winifred Sanderson drag queen. That's like courier service.

[Quincy]

J. Armstrong Johnson.

[Kevin]

Nothing but respect to other interpretations. But the call went to Ginger. Oh my God. Ginger Minj. Hello dolly.

[Quincy]

Sure.

[Kevin]

And RuPaul can be Horace.

[Quincy]

Someone should do a straight up revival of hello dolly with RuPaul as Horace.

[Kevin]

Not as Dolly. Michelle Visages. Dolly Michelle visages. RuPaul as Horace. Oh my God. That's all I have to say Ginger Minj is fucking excellent.

[Quincy]

And I have a sense this is going to be a very fun conversation.

[Kevin]

I do, too. I think she could be one of our rotating co hosts.

[Quincy]

Lindsay Heather Pierce and Ginger Minj co hosts.

[Kevin]

Oh, my God. They start their own podcast. We're out of.

[Quincy]

They would leave us in the dust. All right, let's get into this interview with Ginger Minj.

[Kevin]

I can't wait. Let's do it.

[Ginger Minj]

Today in McDonaldland news, Mount McDonald is experiencing thick volcanic shape activity. So try the new Mount McDonaldland shake when you order the McDonaldland meal with your very own character souvenir kit. A McDonald's. A McDonald Land gets a McDonald's Land meal. And McDonald Land. This episode is brought to you by Espolon. Tequila. Slow, sticky, snoozy. They call these the dog days of summer, but Espolon, they don't do boring. Welcome to the mark days. Espolontequila. 100% Blue Weber Agave born to shake up your summer, just add lime, agave and a little attitude. Visit espolontequila.com 40% alcohol, volume 80 proof. Copyright 2025 Campari America, New York, NY. Drink responsibly.

[Quincy]

Ginger Minj. Thank you so much for joining us on Sentimental Men.

[Kevin]

Welcome.

[Ginger Minj]

Thank you. I am quite the sentimental man. Yes, and the sentimental fan. The sentimental man fan.

[Quincy]

Everything we're saying, we're branching out to these non wicked guests. But all of our non wicked guests still feel like they're within the wicked universe wearing my sweatshirt.

[Kevin]

Are any sentimental men really outside the wicked? The Wickedness? We're all one leg in.

[Ginger Minj]

We all live in the bubble.

[Quincy]

Okay, so our first question is, what is your first wicked, the musical touch point in life, just as a person.

[Ginger Minj]

I mean, I grew up just obsessed with the wizard of Oz, with everything. Wizard of Oz. The books were my building blocks growing up. And of course, whenever the Wicked novel came out, I had to have it. I devoured it. Didn't even understand what I had read at that point because, you know, it's. The novel is so crazy. It is where. So when I heard that it was being turned into a musical, my little gay heart was like, oh, yes, finally these girls can sing like they've always meant to be. But I was like, how? How the hell are they gonna do this?

[Kevin]

It's gonna be quite the musical on stage.

[Ginger Minj]

It's gonna be like 5 million acts. It's never going to end. And then I saw it and I went, oh, this was so smart because you took those little bits and pieces that we really loved from the book. And then you made it make sense with the entire world of Wicked or with. Of wizard of Oz. And I was obsessed from day one. I saw the. My first time seeing it was the performance right after the Tony Awards. Wow. I'll never forget.

[Quincy]

Was that intentional?

[Ginger Minj]

No, it was just the first day that I could get tickets.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

And I stumbled into them, and we were in. We had rush seats. I think we were in, like, the first or second row. Second row. Oh, my God, I remember. I will never, ever forget Kristin Chenoweth coming Down in the Bubble. And you could tell, like, there was this air of, I just lost the Tony Award to Peter.

[Kevin]

Good to see me, isn't it?

[Ginger Minj]

No need to respond. That was rhetorical. And it struck me, like, in that moment, and I have never forgotten that ever, ever, ever. And that's when, like, Glinda as a person, as a character, just became so, like, imbued with who I am as a performer and a drag queen. I was like, I strive to be that level of petty on stage.

[Kevin]

Yes. I wonder, too, like, because especially growing up, like, as you said, like, as a theater kid, as a, you know, theater lover, Kristin Chenoweth is, like, the ideal of musical theater comedy. Like, she is the Lucille Ball of musical theater.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Kevin]

And so were you already doing drag at this point when you were seeing Wicked for the first time?

[Ginger Minj]

No, this was right before I really kind of got all into the drag world. I was dabbling in it a little bit here.

[Kevin]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

Mostly because I was under the drinking age, but I knew that I looked enough like my cousin's fiance if I put a wig and some lipstick on it.

[Quincy]

Stop.

[Ginger Minj]

I was dressing in drag to use his idea to go to the bar. Not even to drink, just to kind of, like, be amongst queer people. Because where I was born and raised, there were no queer people out on the street. Nobody was loud and proud. So in order to have a sense of community, I stumbled into drag. And that got me into the scene and into the bars. But I hadn't really developed who I was as a character at that point. I wasn't doing it professionally or really I wasn't doing it consistently. But it was seeing people like Kristin Chenoweth as Glinda that made me go, oh, I can kind of take the things I love, like Lucille Ball and Carol Burnett, and mix it with musical theater, mix it with Oz, and just become, like, this character.

[Quincy]

So talk to us a little bit more about your takeaways after seeing Wicked that first time, I think something that's interesting is when Wicked was opening, it was a little divisive amongst theater folks. Like, some people really loved it and some people really weren't taking to it. What was just takeaways from seeing it.

[Ginger Minj]

Well, there's the ambulance right there.

[Kevin]

Take me out.

[Ginger Minj]

Take me out. No, I. I mean, I absolutely loved it. I could see why it would be divisive because you have the MGM Oz fans who are so protective over that property. You've got the literary, wonderful wizard of Oz fans who are very protective over that property. And then you have the fans of Gregory Maguire's novel who were so like, this is the Oz for me. This is the Oz that speaks to me. So you're trying to appeal to all of these different branches of the same thing. And I think that it successfully blends all of those different things into one. But if you are a specific fan of one or the other, there are elements of your Oz that you don't see represented or you feel like the elements that have been taken can be bastardized. So I do understand how some people could be like, yeah, it's fine, but it's not my Oz, or it's not what I wanted it to be. Oz is so expansive anyway. It's hard to boil it down. Even the MGM movie did not get it right when it comes to the stories and the world building. But we love it for what it is. And I think that that's what people have really grown to love about Wicked on stage and now in film. What I love about the films is that they kind of just. Okay, I'm gonna be completely honest with you.

[Quincy]

Yeah, please.

[Ginger Minj]

I love Wicked on stage, but it. The storytelling's not there. It's so fast. Zipping through, it's so fast. And I had forgotten about that until after I had seen Part one and I went back to go watch it again. We were doing Press weekend for All Stars 10, and I was like, oh, I can get a ticket. Let me go see it. And, you know, an hour and 10 minutes into the film, you're just getting into popular. 20 minutes into the stage show, she's already la la la ing.

[Quincy]

I just went back to see it a couple weeks ago, and that was my first time after having only seen the movie over and over. And I was like, this is moving fast. Holy shit.

[Ginger Minj]

It's a brightneck speed. And you don't have time to breathe. You don't have time to really just kind of sit in those moments with the characters and let Them resonate with you. And I think that's the most beautiful gift that the films have given us, is that it's giving it a lot of breathing room, giving us those moments to be like, okay, now I understand why you're so close, how you're so close, why this is important and why it's a. The whole world. So I do think that I would have loved for the stage show to give us a little more time in there.

[Quincy]

Sure. It would have been four hours long.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, me, I would have sat 10 hours up.

[Kevin]

You know, they could have angels in America that separated it. Like, make me come on two nights. I'll be there that.

[Ginger Minj]

Well, I say that to all the men. Make me come on two nights. Don't spit, you'll never be popular. But, yeah, so I understood all of the criticism that went with it. And I'll be that one that said, maybe. I don't agree that Avenue Q should have won the best musical Tony, but I understand why it did. I feel like Avenue Q was a little more like, this is exactly what we are. This is exactly what the message is. And it appealed to the people that it appealed to because it wasn't trying to be a bunch of different things. So I understand. But I also still am obsessed with Wicked and wanted to have all of the love and accolades in the world.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Quincy]

So then talk us through when the movie casting comes out. Try and go back in time. You haven't seen the movie yet. What were initial reactions to the cast as it was coming out?

[Ginger Minj]

I mean, Cynthia Erivo I've been obsessed with since I saw her at Celie in Color Purple in London years before anybody knew who she was. And I was just so, like, enthralled with her. Nobody can tell a story through song the way that Cynthia Erivo can. So I was really excited about that. I thought that it was also very exciting that we had a person of color playing a literal person of color to kind of. Of like, no pun intended, shade it differently. And I also was thrilled when Ariana got cast because I knew a. That she was a brilliant comedian. Anybody that has watched her on any of the late night shows or on Saturday Night Live knows that she just has comic timing like it's in the bones. And I knew what an obsessive Oz fan she had been her entire life. While all of these other people are like, oh, my God, she's gonna ruin it, I knew she cared enough about it that she wasn't gonna screw it up.

[Quincy]

Yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

And then in my head, I'm like, okay, this is their chance to get Bette Midler to play Madame Morrible. We're gonna get Winifred Sanderson in, like, Part two, the remix. Even better.

[Quincy]

We thought, how cool if Liza could do it.

[Ginger Minj]

Liza would have been amazing. But in my spirit, I just really, really, really wanted Bette Midler to do it. I mean, of course, that's my hocus pocus Winifred Sanderson loving soul. If it wasn't her, I really wanted Cheryl Lee Ralph because I enjoyed her so much in the show. And she has that. That bravado that she brings to everything she does that I thought would really play my Madame Morrible. I just. I want her to be so incredibly awful and evil from the jump. I want to play Madam Marble. Like, that is my broad dream.

[Kevin]

We were.

[Quincy]

This was our question.

[Kevin]

Yes. In the intro, we were talking because they just announced in Brazil that Gloria Groove is going in. And we were like, now is the time. Like, Marable, especially within the context of the show. Like, she is drag. All those women have been in drag.

[Ginger Minj]

She is.

[Kevin]

And performing at, like, a drag level of camp. Like, it's just built into the role. It makes so much sense.

[Ginger Minj]

Well, and it's so meta for me because, like, I grew up watching the Golden Girls, and then the second Morrible that I saw was Rue McClanahan. Flash forward. All these years later, I've been playing Blanche Devereaux in Golden Gals Live. Yeah. For seven years. So I feel like now's the time for all of these elements to come together. And let me play Rue McClanahan as Madame Morrible in Wicked.

[Kevin]

I think it'd be perfect. You'd be terrific.

[Ginger Minj]

I do, too. And I also think that it would be, like, such an interesting statement in this particular political climate, because people are trying to villainize drag so much. So why not, like. I mean, as political as Wicked is in general, why not just really, like, hone in on those stereotypes and then kind of break them down from the inside out?

[Quincy]

I was telling Kevin, I think it's gonna take one queen to do it once, and then that's gonna become the norm on Broadway. It's just always a drag queen as Metamorphosis.

[Kevin]

Always a queen.

[Ginger Minj]

Well, and Gloria, she. So I voiced lemon chiffon. Oh, right there. The little character.

[Kevin]

Oh, yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

In Super Drags on Netflix. And it was a dub of the Brazilian one. And Gloria was a part of the Brazilian cast.

[Kevin]

Oh, I didn't realize that.

[Ginger Minj]

Okay, so, like, we Are we are all connected to each other in a circle in a hoop that doesn't end.

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Ginger Minj]

So, yeah, I mean, keep it. Keep it in the Super Drags family. Let me.

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Ginger Minj]

All right.

[Quincy]

This is the official petition for Ginger.

[Kevin]

Mange as my campaign starts now.

[Ginger Minj]

There were petitions to get me to play Ursula in the live action Little Mermaid. They got hundreds of thousands of signatures and still didn't help. I will still miss out on Madame morrible because Melissa McCarthy will decide she wants not the mug sips the tea of driving today.

[Quincy]

Oh, my goodness. Well, what are your Broadway. What are your career aspirations? I think it's a really interesting time watching what's happening with Jinx, and Jinx is really doing a bespoke career path that I think makes so much sense. We were talking about how drag queens, especially have all of the talent buckets that you need to be a Broadway performer. So it just makes so much sense.

[Ginger Minj]

Well, yeah. And it's so interesting to go on a show like RuPaul's Drag Race where it's not a Project Runway where you create and design outfits. It's not an American Idol where you sing songs. It's not this or that. There's nothing specific. It is every reality competition all shoved into one, and you've got to do it backwards and heels. It's true, like, a lot of us do possess all of the qualities that it takes to be a big Broadway star or a big movie star, any of those things. But it's hard to get taken seriously by who are in charge, because a lot of them don't understand all of the different facets of talent that you have to have and to hit consistently to have any kind of career or staying power. And I think Jinx has been such a beautiful journey to watch because she's really like. Like, she's not just opening doors. She's kicking them off the hinges so that others of us who have been trying to do this for years are starting to be taken a little more seriously.

[Kevin]

I was gonna say we had Anna Gasteyer on recently, and she was saying the same thing. To be on snl when she was leaving, there was no roadmap of how to transition that or lever that into a stage career. And so to now, like, you're saying, have a little bit of a roadmap and a little bit of just, like, legitimacy put under Drag Race as a path to Broadway.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah. And it's. It's wild because I just did my fourth season in 10 years, finally won. Yay.

[Quincy]

Yay.

[Ginger Minj]

God knows I don't have a fifth season in me, and I had to win. You've done it.

[Quincy]

You've done it.

[Ginger Minj]

But in that 10 years and four seasons, even though I got into drag through musical theater, I accidentally stumbled into drag because of theater and curated this whole character that was so musical theater coded. I never got taken seriously as that until I did my talent show performance on this season, which is the second to last episode, and it airs. And within hours, I started getting producers from Broadway reaching out, saying, we have had no idea that this was in your wheelhouse. How can we. How can we get you into the room so we can start talking about what's next for you on Broadway?

[Kevin]

That's amazing.

[Ginger Minj]

So it took me 25 years of doing drag, four seasons, over 10 years of RuPaul's Drag Race on the second.

[Kevin]

To last episode, on the second to.

[Ginger Minj]

Last episode, to get people to understand that this is who I have always been as an entertainer. And this is what my aspirations have always, like, kind of built up too.

[Quincy]

Because what was your dream for yourself as a child? What did you think you wanted to do?

[Ginger Minj]

I wanted to do Broadway. That was the ultimate goal. I never really saw much of a path for it. I was born and raised in Leesburg, Florida, which is North Florida. And in Florida, we always say, the further north you go, the further south you are. And there was. There were no other queer kids, especially, like, queer musical theater loving fat kids in our little Southern Baptist community. That was just me. And I didn't see anybody that really looked like me or did what I did on TV or Broadway or anything except for Divine watching all the John Waters movies, Loved Hairspray. I'm still traumatized by Pink Flamingos, but I love it so much. And then, of course, as I was a teenager in Hairspray, the musical hit, Harvey Fierstein just gave me that hope. And I was like, oh, my God. I could not only star in a big Broadway musical wearing a wig and dress and heels, I can also win the Tony Award for doing it. And it made me so excited. So it kind of like reignited this fire in me to figure out what the east not easiest, but what the most viable path to Broadway would be. And that's when I stumbled into drag and started taking that on, thinking, oh, I'm gonna be the next Madea, Robin Williams, like all of these people that have made a career blending drag and acting. And that was not the case. A lot of different directions to find the kind of. Of wind back here.

[Kevin]

Right.

[Quincy]

Well, it's interesting. I feel like culture has gotten to a point, and Drag Race as just an entity has gotten to a point where you look at Jinx and Marcia.

[Ginger Minj]

Who can say the entity.

[Kevin]

The entity.

[Quincy]

But, like, Jinx and Marcia can do the. Yeah, I did the Drag Race thing, but I'm just a talented performer and be taken seriously as a performer. It does feel like we're turning a new page with the crossover.

[Ginger Minj]

Absolutely. And, I mean, I've only met Marcia once, and she's so lovely and so talented, but having spent so much one on one time with Jinx, I knew, like, what went into it, and people. It was so weird because a lot of people look at it and they go, oh, it just happened overnight. No, I mean, it took her years of fighting to be seen to make it to Chicago on Broadway. And then once Chicago hit, then, yes, everything else just started falling into place, which hopefully is the case for Marcia and myself and any of these other girls who are musical theater girlies. But it took decades of work to become an overnight success.

[Kevin]

Exactly.

[Quincy]

Totally.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Quincy]

Okay, we have to talk about your lip sync for your life with Diabetti to Defying Gravity, original Broadway cast recording version for the movie Girls.

[Ginger Minj]

And the funniest part was, and I was hoping they would leave it in, but they didn't, was they do that whole setup of, as a tribute to the OG Broadway witches, we're gonna do it. Do the whole setup. And then Cynthia goes, because they wouldn't fucking release art. And the rest of us are on, especially me. I'm like, but it exists. It exists in the world, and I need to hear it, because this is before the movie came out.

[Quincy]

Right?

[Ginger Minj]

And we all told her. We were like, we're not gonna do this lip sync until you stand up and do the battle cry. We just have to hear it. So not like you could hear a pin drop, not a sound on set. Cynthia Rivo stood up and did the whole battle cry as loud as could be. Sent chills through my spine, which is why I was crying before the song even started. I was. I was in it. I was like it. And. And I knew once I saw what the lip sync song was, I was like, there's gonna be nothing that stops me from placing in the top on this challenge. Like, I won't let it, because I need to do this song in front of those two people, in front of the world. Like, I feel like this is the turning point for me with drag and Drag Race. Like, marry all of the things that I Love into one. So I fought hard to get to that spot in the first place and then to be able to do it like it. There's those moments in life where, like, something just kind of takes over and you black out until it's done. And that's one of them. The other moment I remember, like, having, like, that was when I got to sing I Am what I Am on the trailblazers for Harvey.

[Quincy]

We just dreamcast you in La Cage in the intro. Yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

To be completely honest with you, that is like the ultimate for me. I've played Al Bend twice. I did it in LA Cage in Chicago a couple years ago.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

And like, all the reviews are like, oh, wow, isn't it so different when it's actually played by a drag queen? Someone who has lived this experience. One of the reviews was like. Like, I've seen this probably 50 times in the last 40 years, and this is the first time that it actually felt like a real story.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

And speaking of political climate, like, now is the time, fortunately, where it's more relevant than it was four decades ago. So, anyway, I'm getting sidetracked, but those two moments are the ones in my career where I remember the lead up and I remember the fallout and nothing in the middle. I don't remember doing that lip sync at all. I just remember coming to and seeing Ariana just sobbing in the corner.

[Quincy]

The iconic cut to her wiping tears.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah. And she kept going. She kept going.

[Kevin]

I'm so sorry.

[Ginger Minj]

We knew that what we had done was something really special for the people who needed to see it. It was special.

[Quincy]

Well, and that song, especially for a lip sync for your life, because it's not like a song, it's a very. You have to just be dropped in and just perform the honesty in the number.

[Ginger Minj]

And of course, like a lot of the. The younger fan base, they've gotten so used to the Kakaraka, they. They still want you to death drop and kick and spin and punch and do all of these things to songs like Divine Gravity. And in all honesty, it wouldn't make any sense. And, like, it's disrespectful to a song like that that has so much meaning for so many people. And I know, like, Thorgy Thor was. I think it was Thorgy on one of the review shows, she was like, you should have shoved a bunch of fabric in your dress and pulled it out and made a cape and figured out a way to fly. First of all, nobody has the time.

[Kevin]

Nobody has the budget or the luggage space.

[Ginger Minj]

But also it's one of those songs where you just need to be honest and vulnerable for two minutes. Like, that's it. That's it. And the ones who got it really got it.

[Kevin]

And then talk to us about then your decision to record Defying Gravity, I'm assuming, like, that came after this moment. The push to do that this season.

[Ginger Minj]

Was very strange to film because we filmed the bracket last summer, last July, and then we came back to film the semifinals into the final lip sync smackdown in, like, March, April of this year.

[Quincy]

Interesting.

[Ginger Minj]

There was a big gap of time, and, I mean, it was enough for me to lose, you know, 100. And at that point, I think 125, 130 pounds. I've lost 170 at this point, which I am proud to say is the only thing I've lost this year.

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Ginger Minj]

It was in that time, like, in that. That time off, that my life started to take on a different meaning, flavor, a different path. And it felt like that was becoming my theme song because especially from the moment that the cast was announced For All Stars 10, immediately people started going, oh, it's rigged. I mean, they hadn't seen frame one of me walking into the workroom anything. And it was favoritism. It's this da, da, da, da. Like, they couldn't think of any other reason to hate on me after four seasons in 10 years. So it suddenly became that, or, why is she back? I felt like I was being counted out from the beginning before I had a chance to show anything. And it really, like, the more I listened to Defying Gravity, the more it just sunk into my bones, like, oh, this is my anthem. This is my theme song. This is what's going to get me through this season. So then I started, like, singing it live in a couple of shows, and it got such a great response that I was like, okay, I think. I think this is the one. This is the one. And we went into the studio and we recorded it. And much like Ariana was saying in one of her interviews where she was like, oh, Stephen Schwartz was thinking that he was going to popify it and make it more of an Ariana version of Popular, my music producer was like, yeah, we gotta make this a little more either country or a little more rock and roll, or I said, no, just trust it.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah. And we did. And it's had such a beautiful response that I'm proud of it. I'm really proud to have put that out into the world.

[Quincy]

Yeah. And I thank you for putting out a male key of defying gravity. Because as a little boy growing up, I always wanted to sing along to like a male version.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

I've gotten so many messages from people that are like, oh my God, thank you. Finally a key I can sing it in.

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Ginger Minj]

You're welcome. This episode is brought to you by Wayfair. Podcasts. Follow us everywhere, whether you're cooking in the kitchen, chilling in the living room.

[Quincy]

Or pretending to fold laundry in the bedroom.

[Ginger Minj]

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With industrial grade products and next day delivery, Grainger helps ensure you have everything you need close at hand through every step of the installation. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. Well, it's interesting hearing you. You know, we talk to a lot of Elphabas and they talk about just like the mental weight and struggle of playing the part on Broadway and all of the chatter and the comparisons to other Elphabas and Drag Race feels like a similar situation. And this past cycle feels like it might have been like an especially difficult mental time for you in those heels.

[Ginger Minj]

On the surface level, it can sound that way, but to be honest, I have never been more sure of who I am as a character, as a performer. And I think that that's why I know that that is why I did consider consistently well this time better than I've ever done before. But I also think that that's why it was so difficult for some people to like buy into that and buy into the fantasy of me doing that well because they had seen me struggle so much in the past. But this time I came into it going, there's nothing that's going to stop me. Literally, the world is my oyster. I can. I've done really well in this competition. I've done really poorly in this competition. And I know who I am more now than I ever have in my entire life. When I turned 40 last year, I'll be 41 in, like, two weeks. And when I turned 40, literally up until midnight, I was, oh, my God, I don't want to do this. I'm going to get so old. I'm going to feel better. Midnight hit. The world was standing, and I went, oh, my God. I'm better than I've ever been. Life is better than it's ever been, and it's just gonna get better from here. So if you just trust your instincts, close your eyes, and leap, you will be so fine. And that's how I took on the competition this time. Like, every single mini challenge, challenge every day, it was just, what's next? What's in front of me? How can I do this? And that's how I did as well as I did. And I think if people, like, objectively go back and watch that, they will really see that it was a very different gameplay from a very different ginger.

[Kevin]

Yeah. I think also, too, it's like, kind of the difference maybe between drag queen via theater and drag queen via, like, makeup, maybe, is like a theater kid. Like, the mark of a theater kid is the resourcefulness to, like, like, figure out how to be good at something we've never heard of.

[Ginger Minj]

Like, in the moment.

[Kevin]

In the moment, like, there's just a sort of scrappiness that comes from being a theater kid or a theater queen. And I think that that sort of scrappiness, like you're saying, is perfect for a situation where it's like, okay, this week, you're going to be flamenco dancing half as a man, half as a.

[Ginger Minj]

Woman, while drinking out of a dog bowl. Yeah, yeah.

[Kevin]

Like. Like, it's such a hard thing to be consistently good at that it's like, I feel embarrassment for the people who are like, well, it must have been rigged for her to be that good at that many things. God forbid. She's actually talented and well rounded, but.

[Ginger Minj]

And the real thing about it is, as a live theater person, you know that you have to immediately, from the. The moment you step on stage, you assess what's around you, you read the room, and then you tailor whatever your performance is to whatever is given back to you. Right. And RuPaul gives you the secret to success every single time she walks into the workroom. Make me laugh. That's what she says all the time. So if you are paying attention and you're kind of reading the vibes that you're being given by Ru and the judges, you can tailor whatever you're doing in that moment to what is going to make her laugh and what is going to resonate with her. Right. My favorite tweet throughout the whole season was this person that said ginger Minj has created the or has committed the cardinal sin of making RuPaul like you in the literal Make RuPaul like you competition.

[Kevin]

No, it's. It's true, though.

[Ginger Minj]

It's like this woman has been showing up for 18 years, 5 million seasons a year. She just wants to have a good time while she's working.

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Ginger Minj]

So if you can hone in on what. What tickles her little funny bone and then do it in a way that's really authentic to who you are as a performer, she appreciates that and she rewards it.

[Quincy]

Okay. At the time of recording, Movie two press tour hasn't really started in earnest. It feels. Which is a little confusing to me because I feel like last year we were all systems go from super bowl time.

[Ginger Minj]

Yes. But aren't you just, like, so amped for it, you're waiting for it?

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Quincy]

It's smart.

[Ginger Minj]

This is smart. This is really smart marketing.

[Quincy]

What are you most looking forward to, though, from this movie 2 era, either in the movie itself or from the press tour?

[Ginger Minj]

Well, first of all, I know that the movie is going to destroy me. I mean, even Act 2, as swiftly as it moves, it never doesn't affect me. It is always. It always gets me right in the field. But just knowing how invested we all are in this relationship between them, I know it's going to devastate me. So on some level, I'm not even looking forward to the movie because I'm not looking forward to being that sad. But I am so invested in the merchandising.

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Ginger Minj]

Because it was crazy for part one and it is even more insane for part two. We have gain laundry pod things that are wicked scented. The craziest shit.

[Quincy]

We've got suitcases.

[Ginger Minj]

Suitcases. We've got oil of Olay body wash. You've got secret deodorant in a Glinda and an Elphaba scent. As ridiculous as it is, I'm gonna buy it all.

[Kevin]

Yeah. I have a box under my bed of just like craziest and especially too then like, when people know that you're like an Oz fan or like a Wicked fan or that you have a wicked podcast. It's like, oh, I passed this trinket that has Glinda on it and I got it for you. It's like, thank you. I needed another Tumblr that.

[Ginger Minj]

Well, the thing is, I choo. I need it.

[Kevin]

I have no limits.

[Ginger Minj]

I am unlimited. I really need it all. And this $200,000 could not have hit at inopportune time because I'm so used to being broke that I really have to, like, sit and debate on the things that I. This is a necessity. No, that's not. The Voluspa candles. Psych. Are the best candles I've ever had. That Glinda Pink Yuzu. I will buy a Universal Pass when I'm home in Orlando just to go into the park for 20 minutes to go into the Wicked store and buy those candles and restock them. I've started giving gifts. Voluspa. Please give me a sponsorship. I have. I have put your entire family through school with those damn candles.

[Quincy]

The drag race prize money is your Wicked fund for part two.

[Ginger Minj]

I haven't spent any of it yet because I know that it's all coming.

[Kevin]

And I'm like, right, they're gonna release The Wicked Part 2 Lexus.

[Ginger Minj]

And yeah, all the other girls are like, well, I invested in real estate and bought a new car. And look at my drag. Isn't it just tip top? Beautiful. Meanwhile, I'm over here rubbing Glenda on my armpit. But I'm gonna do it.

[Quincy]

But to the earlier point, I also feel like act two has the most room to expand and build upon. So I'm excited to see what they do in the movie. I'm hoping Ethan gets a little more screen time in Movie two than he did in Movie one.

[Ginger Minj]

Well, I mean, he's going to, because they gave him a Funko Pop.

[Quincy]

Back to.

[Kevin]

That's an investment. That's an investment.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah. The merch, Right.

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Ginger Minj]

So, I mean, I feel like he's definitely going to. What I'm most excited about is being, like, a Dorothy Gale fan and always being so disappointed in the lack of Dorothy Gale of Wicked. I realize it's not about her, but she is literally the catalyst for, like, the final act. Yes. So it was always weird that we only saw one glimpse of her in shadow Puppet.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Quincy]

So do you think we're getting spoken lines from Dorothy in the second movie?

[Kevin]

I do, too.

[Ginger Minj]

I do.

[Kevin]

I've been very invested in this as well.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah. And I. They would not have kept her identity such a secret. Well, tried to keep her identity such a secret from all of us mega fans for over a year at this point. I don't think that they would have taken the care and recreating such iconic moments from the 1990s, 1939 film to immediately grab us. And Stephen Schwartz had done that interview last year where he was talking about, you know, there could be a third part to Wicked. We could continue to expand the universe with more films. And he had made some comment, maybe I'm making this up, but I don't think so. But maybe it's the medication. I don't know. But I do believe he made the comment that he would love to go back and instead of continuing with the Wicked book series, kind of looking at the original wonderful wizard of Oz novel from the Wicked perspective. And to me, that would make the most sense with setting up Dorothy. Right. Right. In this movie and making us invest in her a little bit so that if and when they do that, we're already in.

[Quincy]

Yeah. Do you think a Wizard of Oz remake goes over well with the fans, though? Or is that, like, sacrilege to touch?

[Ginger Minj]

Who cares? Honestly, like, If All Stars 10 taught me nothing, Sometimes it's not about fan reaction. It's about creating the art that you want and letting it find the people who need to find it. I have always been like, I hate when my friends go, oh, my God, a remake. How terrible. It's going to ruin the original. Or this. People don't realize, first of all, that the 1939 film, as much as I love it, is not an original. It was a remake of a remake of a remake of a film. And it has nothing to do with the plot line of the book. Like, past the basic generic, this girl lands on a witch, she has to go kill another one, and she meets.

[Quincy]

These people much like Wicked.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah. So, I mean, it's like. Like just kind of go with it. The original that you love will always be there. It's not like they're gonna take every copy and burn it. People are losing their minds over this production at the Sphere in Las Vegas right now.

[Quincy]

Oh, yeah, the AI.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah. Which, you know, I have my issues with AI. I don't think that we should really invest into a lot of this, literally take over the world and destroy us all. But for what that is, they're not confiscating your copy of the 1939 movie and burning it. They're just giving you another option. And if you went in and watched the original copy on the Sphere, first of all, it'd be so damn grainy, you couldn't see anything. And it's only going to go this far in a building that. That's this big.

[Quincy]

Right, Right.

[Ginger Minj]

So I think what people fail to realize is when you're in an environment like that where it was specifically, like, created for that space, you're not even going to see the AI clouds and trees above your head. It's just to fill in the dead space above your eyeline, which is what the, the film did beautifully with all those watercolor backdrops.

[Quincy]

Yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

So I. I don't know. I think we should have as much odds as often as possible. Keep it alive for the next generation. And that's what I'm so grateful for. Wicked, the musical. Yes, but particularly these new films. I love that it's introducing Oz and that whole world to a brand new generation of people who had never even heard of it. My sister, I gotta tell you this story. Before, I was obsessed with wizard of Oz. Growing up, my sister hated it simply because I loved it so much.

[Quincy]

Classic.

[Ginger Minj]

And inundated my family with my one woman production of the wizard of Oz constantly. So when Wicked came out, I tried to take her to see the stage show a couple times. She's like, no, I don't want to see any damn people singing about witches and monkeys and any of that. I don't want to see it. I don't want to hear it. I don't. So my husband was out during the holidays. He was off doing something. My mom was gone, our nephews were gone. It was just me and my sister at the house. And she was like, you want to go to the movies? And I said, yeah, I'll pay, but you got to go see what I want to see. Are you going to take me to see Wicked? You've already seen it 10 times. I was like, yep, the 11th is the time, girl.

[Quincy]

Okay.

[Ginger Minj]

So we get to the movie theater, I buy the tickets, and she goes, can we please sit on the aisle? I know, it's like, like three hours long. I'm gonna have to pee. I don't. I just. I need an escape plan. So we get there, we sit down, the movie starts. And she's like. By the time that opening number is done, she's on the edge of her seat like this. She didn't move the entire film.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Ginger Minj]

It ends. We stand up, she's dead silent. She's wiping her tears, just quiet. We get to the car, it's like a five minute walk. We get in, sit down, she still hasn't said a word. And she turns to me and she goes, the Wizard's her dad. This is the next movie coming out. And I was like, wait, wait, wait, wait. You got that? And she goes, yeah. Oh, it's so clear. It's so clear. This is gonna happen. That's gonna Happen Fiyero. That's the scarecrow. That's the scarecrow because he's brainless. See, she's trying to explain this to me on the drive home and she's so excited about it. Then a couple days later, I had gone out on the road, I come home, I walk in, she wasn't expecting me. She's sitting on the couch watching wizard of Oz.

[Kevin]

Oh my God.

[Ginger Minj]

I'm like, what are you doing? And she laughs and she goes. It just all makes so much more sense now. Oh, she's so invested in all of Oz now because of the, of the first Wicked movie. For a property that she hated, she chose to hate her entire 50 year old life. She's now obsessed with it.

[Kevin]

Yeah.

[Quincy]

Wow, that's.

[Ginger Minj]

And that's what doing remakes and reboots and things like Wicked can do for a world that means so much to so many people. It can keep it alive and it can make it bigger and better for everybody.

[Kevin]

Right, right.

[Ginger Minj]

My very long winded way of saying that.

[Quincy]

Before we go, tell us about your current projects, things on the horizon. What does life look like? Like for Ginger Minj right now, life is busy.

[Ginger Minj]

It's busy, but in the best way possible. I'm in P town right now. I'm finishing up my residency. I've been here for two weeks. I've got a week and a half, two weeks left. Six shows a week, six nights a week. Only Tuesdays off. You know, I. I gotta get my stamina up for Broadway schedule. Broadway's around the corner. We do have a couple offers on the table that we're trying to figure out what the, the best next step would be for that. But in between now and then, I'm going out on the Hocus Pocus Live tour because my little witchy heart will take any chance I get to cast a spell.

[Kevin]

Yes.

[Ginger Minj]

So it's myself, jujubee, Sapphira, Cristal and Landon Cider. It's going, oh my gosh, everywhere we're going everywhere. We. We've already got 22 dates announced and we're about to announce the second leg because it's been doing so well. So that's taken us everywhere with Hocus Pocus Live. Then I'm filming a movie, which you can't really talk about right now, but it's gonna be big and splashy and fun.

[Quincy]

Amazing.

[Ginger Minj]

And then Broadway.

[Kevin]

That's amazing.

[Ginger Minj]

And as always, my book is available, Southern Fried Stack. There are Oz flavored recipes in there, inspired stories, and actually, if you kind of Want to. I mean, it's kind of a shameless plug, of course. But if you really want to dive into the start of my love of all things Oz, it's. It's all explained in that book. And it all has to do with my grandmother. Her name was Shirley Temple. Not that one. But she always said three miracles happened. In 1939, the wizard of Oz was released. Tina Turner was born. And she was born.

[Kevin]

Wait, I love your grandma.

[Ginger Minj]

Oh, I did, too.

[Kevin]

Oh, my God.

[Ginger Minj]

And my favorite things growing up were Tina Turner and the wizard of Oz and my grandma. So it really. It tells this story about how I was such a picky eater. I know it's hard to believe, but I Such a picky eater growing up that she had to relate it back to Oz in some way for me to try it. So, like, the cornbread she would cut like this, and it would become the yellow brick road.

[Kevin]

Right.

[Ginger Minj]

Or the broccoli was green like the Wicked Witch, so that I would eat that. And it was she. I mean, she was my superhero and my savior. But go check out Southern Fright's Ass by Ginger Minj. It is definitely a love story to my grandmother and to all things Oz.

[Quincy]

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for coming on. It was so great chatting with you.

[Ginger Minj]

Thank you. Let's get that petition. Ginger Min just Madam Morrible on Broadway. Let's get it going.

[Kevin]

Check the episode details for more.

[Quincy]

We asked Anna Gastire if she would ever consider coming back as Madame Morrible. And she was like, no.

[Ginger Minj]

I got to see her in. When she did it in Chicago.

[Quincy]

Oh, wow.

[Ginger Minj]

And she was fabulous. And then I think it was Rondi Reed was Madame Morrible then. And she was one of my favorites as well. But my favorite. My favorite, favorite, favorite Elphaba ever is.

[Quincy]

Fantastic.

[Ginger Minj]

I was such a rent head. Rent head. My Southern's coming out. I was such a rent head. And she was my favorite Mimi. So I followed the. The Roger tour around every time it would come.

[Quincy]

Not the Roger tour.

[Ginger Minj]

OG Whitney. So I would follow the tour around, and she was my favorite Mimi. So when I found out that she was covering Elphaba, I made a trip especially to New York City to sit there and. And watch her. And she had, like, a whole weekend that she was going on. So I saw every. Every performance. I don't think anybody has ever sung it better. I don't think anybody's ever looked more beautiful in the Green show.

[Kevin]

She's different here. Yeah, he is.

[Ginger Minj]

And I. I had asked somebody, so I was like, I was having a conversation. I was like, I don't understand why she never did it full time. Why they didn't offer it to her. And they said, oh no, they did. They constantly offered it to her. But she liked being a swing. Yeah, she didn't want to take it. I was like, okay, as long as it was cushy.

[Quincy]

Girl, we're gonna have to clip this and send it to her. She is big into the Sent Men universe.

[Ginger Minj]

Oh my gosh. I say, khan, I love you so much. If they let me play Madame Morrible, please let them do one performance.

[Quincy]

That's how we get her back as Elphaba, you as Marvel.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah, we'll just do it for like a weekend. I love it. It'll be great.

[Quincy]

Amazing. Thank you so much.

[Ginger Minj]

I also love Wonder Years. You were great.

[Quincy]

Oh, my goodness. You've been listening to Sentimental men.

[Kevin]

If you enjoyed this episode, let us know by leaving a rating and a review on whatever platform you're using to listen.

[Quincy]

And to be sure you never miss a new episode, subscribe on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever else you get your podcasts.

[Kevin]

If you're looking for a way to support the pod, you should join us on [e-mail] Patreon members get early releases, extended episodes and more exclusive content.

[Quincy]

Special thanks to Julia DeMarzo and Michaela Reynolds for our logo design and key art photography.

[Kevin]

To get in touch, find us on TikTok, Instagram or xentmenpod, or shoot us an [e-mail] till next time.

[Quincy]

I'm Quincy.

[Kevin]

And I'm Kevin.

[Susan Blackwell]

Hey friends, it's Susan Blackwell from the Spark File, your one stop shop for creativity where our doors are open and we are cooking up some good creative fun like the free workshop what would you create if you knew you would not fail? Happening on Tuesday, September 9th. Have you ever been bold enough to ask yourself, what would I create if I knew I would not fail? In just two hours live on Zoom, you're going to use your creativity to investigate what creative vision lights you up right now. Explore potential next steps to bring that vision to life and infuse your creativity with a renewed sense of energy. Go to thesparkfile.com to learn more and register for our free workshop, what would you create if you knew you would not fail? Happening on September 9th. We can't wait to see you there. Plus, we're excited to announce that the doors are open for the SparkFile Blaze, our six month course in creativity With Blaze, you finally have a space where your creativity, your vision, your self expression comes first. Where you can make a creative promise to yourself and keep it. With the support of world class coaches, energizing curriculum and a kick ass community. Here's what our clients have to say about it. The Spark File is a portal to your creative powers and believing in yourself.

[Quincy]

I need a group like this to give me the kick in the ass that I need to start making the things that I want to make and.

[Ginger Minj]

Do the most honest, safe, life affirming and life changing experience I've had in all my 55 years. The best.

[Kevin]

I'm incredibly grateful to Laura and Susan for teaching me the tools and structures.

[Quincy]

That I need to get past past.

[Kevin]

The fear and to just do it anyway.

[Ginger Minj]

Yeah, I'm grateful for the accountability. I'm grateful for the feedback. I'm grateful for how we all are.

[Susan Blackwell]

Showing up for each other.

[Quincy]

This big beautiful creative trampoline that just like catches you gently and just launches you out with so much love.

[Susan Blackwell]

If you're ready to consistently commit to your Creativity, go to thesparkfile.com and check out Blaze. It all starts with a fun, no obligation discovery call where we'll explore your creative dreams. But don't delay. Blaze kicks off on September 25th. Seats are limited and the doors are closing soon. Go to thesparkfile.com now to learn more.

[Kevin]

Calling all of you theater lovers both out and proud and on the DL.

[Ginger Minj]

It'S time to check out Broadway Breakdown, a podcast discussing the history und legacy of American theater's most exclusive address, Broadway. Hosted by me, Matt Koplik, a semi famous, incredibly opinionated theater fan.

[Kevin]

Join me and my guests as we.

[Ginger Minj]

Do major deep dives into some of your favorite or least favorite shows. Hear some of our takes that are hot yet nuanced, salty but also sincere. Or come listen to my thoughts on the latest show to grace Broadway this season and see if it's up to your alley. Or check out our frequent discussions on the Tony Awards and learn how to win your next prediction pool. Listening to an episode of Broadway Breakdown is like grabbing a drink with your bestie and gabbing about theater fun, foul mouthed and surprisingly informative. Or at least that's what it's like when I'm with my bestie. So give a listen to Broadway Breakdown and take your theater discourse to the next level. Broadway Breakdown found on the Broadway Podcast Network or wherever you listen to podcasts.