Opera is not such a drag

There’s a lot of ballyhoo surrounding the debut of Monét X Change in Opera Colorado’s “Daughter of the Regiment,” opening Saturday in the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. The Duchess of Krakenthorp has a small role and appears quite late in Donizetti’s comic tale — but still, the ballyhoo cannot be ignored.

Monét, you see, is a drag queen star. A big star. But here’s a surprise: Opera happens to be a second love.

“Actually, I was involved in opera from the start, back when I was a student at a performing arts high school in New York,” she stressed (as a binary, Monét prefers she/her). “So appearing in this production is coming full circle.”

For students of opera history, her story is more than full circle — it’s simply a continuation of the genre’s colorful, long-held ambivalence toward gender switching. Summing up: It’s boys-will-be-girls and girls-will-sometimes-be-boys.

In the late 1600s, among Baroque opera’s biggest stars were boys who were trained as youths to sing impossibly high notes — thanks to early, painful surgery. Hint: As adults they were known as castratos, and we’ll leave it at that. Though they sang mostly male roles, they did occasionally portray fully gowned female characters. In the late-1700s, some operas featured “trouser roles,” in which mezzo-sopranos tucked their locks under short-hair wigs and dressed as teenage boys, usually ones hopelessly in love with sopranos. That crazy custom continued into the 20th Century (often confusing modern-day audiences).

So, when Monét X Change makes a very grand entrance late in “Daughter of the Regiment” on Saturday — and the audience is sure to go wild — history will merely be repeating itself. Which is fine with her. It’s just tradition.

“I love going back into that opera space once again,” she said in a phone conversation from Los Angeles, where she now makes her home. For Monét, this will be her second appearance as the flamboyant Duchess. She debuted the role with Minnesota Opera in February last year, taking the opportunity to go beyond her few assigned spoken words of resentment about the wedding of Marie, the regiment’s daughter, to delight her audience with a vocal surprise (There are plenty of precedents for such off-script silliness: among the guests given that role in previous stagings were the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and actor Bea Arthur).

Making cameo appearances in big-stage opera is all good fun now and then. For the Brooklyn-born performer, however, it’s been a challenge to balance a hectic life in the world of drag queens with her still-passionate love of singing (she’s made recordings, displaying an impressive, smoothly controlled bass-baritone).

“Yes, doing both has been a little difficult,” she agreed. “Especially on those nights when I come home at 5 in the morning.”

Monét has become famous among drag fans through her appearances on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” competing during the 10th season in 2018, when she was voted Miss Congeniality, and returning in succeeding seasons to participate in two All Stars competitions. In addition, she now hosts podcasts with Bob the Drag Queen and Lady Bunny.

Despite such successes, she has continued with her singing career, showing no interest in giving up the world of drag, with its lavish costumes, outrageous wigs and adventures in make-up.

“I have a new voice teacher here in Los Angeles, Reid Bruton, and we’re working on my gaining solid technique,” she said.

Solo performances fill her busy calendar.

“I’m scheduled to do symphonic work in San Francisco in June, and will bring part of my show to Denver in January.” She’ll star in “Life Be Lifin’” on January 16 at the Oriental Theater.

Monét admitted that her dual careers may sound like opposites, yet one led to another almost effortlessly almost from the start. Born Kevin Akeem Bertin in 1990 in the Bronx, New York, she began studies at Manhattan’s Performing Arts School, later enrolling in the Opera Performance program at Westminster Choir College in New Jersey. Her professional career proved short-lived.

“I was with Portland Opera in 2012-13 for a spell, and I found that I needed some cash,” Monét recalled. “There was a drag show going on, and it enticed me. I put something together and produced my own show. I had total control — I took charge. I came up with that name early on, and through that, I discovered who I was. After four years, I was really into it.”

Years later, she still is.

“I love every world,” insists Monét X Change without hesitation. “All my shows. I love all of them.”

Then she paused for a moment, perhaps reflecting on the unusual career she has created for herself.

“Yes, I love them dearly.”