Touring the ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Set with Nymphia Wind

Architectural Digest

Today, join AD for a gagworthy tour of the ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ set with Season 16 winner Nymphia Wind. From the creative space of the Werk Room to the showstopping main stage, take a behind-the-scenes look at where the ‘Drag Race’ magic happens.

Transcript

00:00Hello, AD. It's me, Nymphia Nguyen,

00:02your current reigning champion of Season 16 of RuPaul's Drag Race.

00:06I'm going to be your godmother for today,

00:08and we're going to take you on a tour on the set of RuPaul's Drag Race.

00:12And here, in this maxi challenge,

00:15you're going to have some behind-the-scenes scoop

00:17on where magic happens and where icons are born.

00:20Insert glitter on the hands.

00:22I am standing in the alleyway,

00:31and here is where the queens line up before they walk into the workroom.

00:36And I remember standing here before my first time walking in,

00:39and all I could think to myself was, you know,

00:41just enjoy the moment.

00:43As I walked through the banana peel first and walked out,

00:47did my little iconic shuffle, slipped on the banana peel,

00:51and fell while all the other queens thought I actually fell.

00:55And here I was, created a iconic entrance, if I say so myself.

01:01Bananas!

01:03This workroom has created so many drag icons,

01:06and it has created so many memorable and iconic moments for queer people.

01:10Everyone gets their own little closet area to hang up all their life's work, their clothes.

01:15So these golden doors beside me,

01:17this is the Rue door, where Rue walks in and says,

01:21good morning, it's time for a new challenge.

01:24And also to note, ladies and gentlemen,

01:27this was the first time when you walk into the workroom that you would meet Rue.

01:31It's such a gag moment.

01:39Because you always see Mama Rue on TV for so long,

01:42and to actually see the doors open in real life,

01:45and her walking down those stairs in her beautiful suit,

01:49is such a moment to remember.

01:51Also in these workrooms, on the walls, you could see Mama Rue everywhere,

01:54because she is here to remind us how we must strive to be like Mama Rue.

02:05I miss this so much.

02:06Welcome, Squirrel Friends.

02:08For the first time in Drag Race Herstory,

02:11our incredible cast and crew will be giving you a gag-worthy behind-the-scenes tour.

02:18But please, be careful not to slip on the charisma,

02:23uniqueness, nerve, and talent.

02:25Because baby, it's everywhere.

02:27Amen.

02:30And Mama Rue didn't tell everybody,

02:32but she secretly told me,

02:34Nymphia Wind.

02:35No, she would say, Banana Queen.

02:38No, actually, correction, Banana Girl.

02:41Today's Maxi Challenge for you is to give a tour with AD,

02:45and don't f*** it up.

02:51This workroom is very synthetic, very over-the-top, almost surreal.

02:57You know, there are not a lot of spaces in the real world that are this big,

03:00with this many stage lights.

03:01I think it's really charming that they let them come in one by one,

03:05because it is a little bit overwhelming just to be in this space

03:08that they have fantasized about being for such a long time.

03:11I remember walking in and seeing the whole space of the workroom.

03:16I said to myself,

03:17this workroom is actually massive.

03:19Because, you know, on camera, you only see a side.

03:23There are spaces for you to walk around, prance, and just be yourself.

03:27And here, we are at the mirror, where you paint your face.

03:31This is where the girls kiki.

03:33This is where relationships are built.

03:35And these are the moments where vulnerability can really happen.

03:38I never got that much time with my dad after we made up,

03:42and he saw what drag could be.

03:48Can we all give you a hug?

03:54A huge portion of the show is actually shot in a camera hide

03:58that is behind two-way mirrors.

03:59So when the queens are doing their makeup,

04:01we're actually looking at them directly in the face,

04:04because our mirrors can see them, but they can't see us.

04:07It's always historic that the eliminated queen of that episode

04:10writes on the mirror.

04:11And I, fortunately enough, didn't have to do it

04:14because I was never eliminated.

04:15But now I get to have the full experience of Drag Race,

04:18because now A.D. has me writing on the mirror

04:21because they tried to sashay me away.

04:25But, you know, here goes my message.

04:28A.D.

04:31This is actually harder than I thought.

04:34So I ran out of lipsticks, but what it says on the mirror is,

04:37A.D., you are bananas.

04:40Love you.

04:47The inspirations for the show come from all sorts of places.

04:51Like, we might need to design a tacky mansion,

04:54or we might need to design a park.

04:58But a lot of times, we're always trying to figure out

05:00how to make it draggier.

05:02And that's probably a word that we use daily.

05:04It could be a basketball, and somebody is like,

05:07can you make it draggy?

05:08And so I think the whole team has become accustomed

05:12to preparing themselves to make all of the props draggier.

05:16And that's probably something that doesn't exist on any other show.

05:19In Bruno's Golden Hopper are 11 balls with your names on them.

05:25Let's go.

05:26We're an art department.

05:27We do a lot of custom fabrication,

05:29and we augment a lot of store-bought things.

05:31So we have an entire massive assortment of glitter and sparkly things.

05:36And there is no limit to what we can add glitter and sequins to.

05:41And most of the props that come through the space

05:43end up getting glitter at some point.

05:45We use a lot of hot colors.

05:47We use a lot of bright colors.

05:48We use a ton of sequins.

05:50And I don't think that's ever going to change.

05:52I think it's important that when the audience is flipping through the channels,

05:57that it's instantly recognizable.

05:58This show is actually really zany and pretty random.

06:02We have a massive assortment of strange props.

06:05We have all sorts of unconventional things

06:09that you would not think that you would need on a drag show.

06:12But with drag, anything goes.

06:14I don't know why we have so many traffic cones.

06:16And of course, dress forms, musical instruments, furniture, and more.

06:20Production design on Drag Race is really unique.

06:22I think in a lot of ways, our show resembles a sketch comedy show.

06:27And a lot of times, if something could be funnier,

06:30or it could be more witty, there are a lot of changes on the fly.

06:34We would have maybe about a week for any sort of big build.

06:38But once in a while, if Mama Rue really wants to see something happen,

06:42we're going to have to take a hard turn,

06:43and we're just going to have to make it happen.

06:44The general prep time for a bigger episode is anywhere from a day to a week.

06:58Welcome, everyone.

07:00We are here at the Untucked Lounge, where everything comes untucked.

07:06Where all the drama happens, where everyone lets loose,

07:09take their shoes off, let their tights out.

07:12And we're here just chilling, lounging, kiki-ing, drinking,

07:17and most importantly, remembering the lip-sync song.

07:23You know those moments in Untucked Lounge

07:25when you just see the people lounging, and kiki-ing, drinking, and having a chat.

07:29And then behind, you can see two queens or three on their little headphones.

07:38It's just, you know, practicing.

07:39Because, you know, no one wants to go home.

07:41I have to spill the beans.

07:42After season 16, this new set has grown in size.

07:47The Untucked Lounge has become way bigger, way more spacious.

07:52Our Untucked Lounge is pretty much entirely full of Easter eggs.

07:57We decorate it solely with scenery and props from previous episodes.

08:03We have this shiny mop, because who doesn't like gay sh**?

08:06And the shade button is still here, but very unpressable.

08:12In the spirit of Untucked, we're gonna f**k sh** up.

08:15Let's go.

08:22Before you walk onto the main stage, you're gonna look into the mirror and say to yourself,

08:28you got this, b**ch, because you are what that b**ch.

08:31The energy behind the main stage is always, to me, very serious.

08:35And a moment to reflect and calm your nerves and to take deep breaths.

08:39And you know what?

08:40Just have fun, because you have nothing left to lose.

08:43And then you would walk out, and you would be like,

08:45I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so excited, I'm so excited.

08:50And then you would walk out, hit the main stage,

08:57and the rest is history!

09:06This particular year, we moved to a new stage.

09:08There was literally no flooring, no walls.

09:12And so we took a template from previous years,

09:15just to figure out what the optimal camera angles are, and those didn't change.

09:19When I was thinking about what this set should look like,

09:22I was really inspired by the beautiful building on Hollywood Boulevard that's in Art Deco style.

09:29And I just thought that it would be really incredible to nod to that style,

09:32especially because we're in Los Angeles.

09:34A lot of Art Deco buildings have a bit of a crown on the facade,

09:39and I thought since, you know, this is very much a show about pageantry and beauty,

09:44as much as it is about, you know, humor and talent,

09:47I kind of wanted to create a set that had a little bit of a crown

09:51and was a modern take on an Art Deco building.

09:55We decided to incorporate a floor that lights up in a T-shape.

10:00That way, when you have your queen on the right and you have your queen on the left,

10:04they're able to go head to head.

10:06But when we're trying to de-emphasize the T-shape,

10:08we can turn the lights off and then the stage can be a little bit more of a blank palette.

10:13This is where icons are born.

10:15This is where it all goes down.

10:17Sweat, tears, dreams shattering, dreams being built.

10:21Everything happens on the main stage.

10:23And, you know, let's be honest, drag is already over the top enough as it is.

10:27And so I think the goal is always to make sure that the queen really shines.

10:32We want to make sure our scenery is taking a back seat

10:34because there's just so much to appreciate in drag

10:37and everybody's really just paying attention to the queens.

10:39So I think the goal is for the scenery not to be distracting.

10:47What you also don't see on the film set is outside of this judging panel,

10:52there are also people on the production team viewing you.

10:56So in a sense, there is actually an audience.

10:59One of the things we have to accommodate is we have to be able to make sure

11:03that a camera person can get everywhere they need to go at any time,

11:08which is very hard to predict.

11:10You know, these queens might do something hysterical

11:12and they might death drop onto the floor.

11:14And so we just need to make sure that, you know, the floor is completely clear,

11:18that the stage has a lot of vantage points.

11:20In this set, there's probably around seven to ten cameras that are filming us.

11:25You got Rue's camera, and then there are like around three to four cameras

11:30straight facing us all, capturing our faces as we get critiqued

11:34or complimented or get sashayed away.

11:36Then we have another camera on a crane that flies around

11:39capturing all the magical moments of us queens standing on stage.

11:44But before we go on to the main stage,

11:47we also have to walk from the workroom to the main stage.

11:50And that, sisters, is around a block and a half walk in this geish.

11:57But Drag Race is very kind and they have prepared golf carts.

12:01But sometimes I just like to walk because I just want to

12:04accidentally stumble upon something that I'm not meant to see.

12:07One thing on set, whenever there's a queen walking,

12:09the production team, the PAs, will scream,

12:13Queens walking!

12:15Queens walking!

12:21I am sitting on the bane of my existence.

12:24This is the judging panel and I am in shock mode right now

12:28because I am seeing this whole set in a different lens.

12:32The lens of a judge.

12:34I feel very powerful.

12:36I am sorry, my dear, but you are up for elimination.

12:43Oh, I need to do the roo laugh.

12:48Wow, that was a lip sync.

12:52Give it up for the lighting crew and all the production team.

12:56All right, AD, I have heard enough, but it is my decision to make.

13:01And unfortunately, it is time for you to sashay away.

13:08Goodbye.

13:10You will be missed.

13:14And remember, if you can't love yourself,

13:16how in the hell are you going to love yourself if you can't love yourself?

13:19And if you can't love yourself,

13:20how in the hell are you going to love yourself if you can't love yourself?

13:23If you can't love yourself, how in the hell are you going to love somebody else?

13:26Can I get an amen up in here?

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