It’s been 14 years since Wigstock, an outdoor drag festival born in 1984, last rocked New York City. But this weekend, the renowned event is rising from the grave thanks to an unlikely team — the festival's original founder, legendary drag queen and DJ Lady Bunny; Broadway star Neil Patrick Harris; and actor and chef David Burtka.
“Dave [Burtka] and I are big fans of Drag Race,” Harris tells them. over the phone. “Reviving Wigstock came about when David turned to me and said, ‘I went to the last couple Wigstocks. Why don’t we do Wigstock anymore?’”
The short, strange answer is: the weather. In the last two years of its existence, it rained on Wigstock. Some festivals might have survived, but for a gathering of drag performers in thick mascara and heavy makeup, it proved apocalyptic. Ticket holders stayed home as well, and Wigstock went on hiatus.
Few could have predicted the trajectory drag would take after Wigstock’s sudden end. RuPaul’s Drag Race transformed the art of drag into a global phenomenon that has since crept into the mainstream — for better or worse. This is something Harris celebrates, adding that he wants to see a renewed emphasis on local and underrepresented queens in Wigstock’s revival.
“We’re only paying attention to a dozen or so drag queens who are on television, and we don’t really get to see them perform until they’re about to leave the competition,” Harris says, referring to the famous “lip sync for your life” performances on Drag Race. “I think there needs to be some reverence and acknowledgment given to all the different types of performers out there.”
Among those performers, including Drag Race alum like Bianca Del Rio and Peppermint, are burlesque acts, an appearance from the iconic Lypsinka, Dita Von Teese, and queens who haven’t had made a debut on VH1. Burtka and Harris say they’re also encouraging attendees to dress up.
For Harris, it won’t be his first time in drag. After all, he headlined Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway wearing thigh-high boots and a wig — an experience he says gave him a new appreciation for what drag queens do. “I’d never even attempted drag before that,” Harris says. “I had a team of professionals applying my makeup, so I didn’t really live the life entirely. But I was very impressed that queens have so much drive and passion to create an escape for people, and to create that level of fabulousness.”
Burtka says Wigstock has personal meaning for him. He was in college when Wigstock: The Movie came out in 1995, and it was at the Wigstock drag competition that he got dressed up in drag for the first time. “I got in contact with Lady Bunny, and I called and said, ‘You know what? It’s time. Everything that’s going on in the world, it’s time to put on a wig and bring it back.’”
Burtka says he hopes attendees at the new Wigstock will get the same sense of magic and acceptance that he did in his previous experiences with the festival. “As a young kid, I saw the queens at Wigstock and I went, ‘Oh my God, I’m different, and I’m OK,’” he says. “It was a huge thing for me.”
Harris echoes that sentiment, and says he hopes Wigstock can get people to appreciate the current state of drag while also celebrating its old school roots. “Attention must be paid,” Harris says of that colorful history. “Especially when there’s this much hairspray involved.”
Wigstock returns over Labor Day weekend on September 1 at Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport.
Get the best of what's queer. Sign up for our weekly newsletter here.