After 11 standard seasons and four All-Stars spin-offs, the Rusical challenges on RuPaul’s Drag Race have become a staple for the franchise as a whole. In many ways, fans are as excited for the Rusicals as they are for the Snatch Game, the reading challenge, and the makeover episode.
Unfortunately, not all Rusicals went as well as intended. The good ones, however, did turn out the party, and maybe could even make their way to an off-off-off-off-Broadway production in New York City. Get ready for the camp, the crashes, and the cattiness as we go through all the best and the worst Drag Race Rusicals!
BEST – DIVAS LIP SYNC LIVE
Hands down, the “Divas Lip Sync Live” challenge on RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3 is one of the best Rusicals in the entire franchise.
At the beginning of the episode, the queens were assigned a diva to impersonate. The chosen popstars were Celine Dion (Milk), Janet Jackson (Kennedy Davenport), Amy Winehouse (Aja), Patti LaBelle (Chi Chi DeVayne), Dolly Parton (Trixie Mattel), Mariah Carey (Shangela), Stevie Nicks (Thorgy Thor), Julie Andrews (BenDeLaCreme), and Diana Ross (BeBe Zahara Benet).
Even the worst-performing queens did pretty well on the challenge, meaning that it was a tough night for the judges to pick winners and losers. With that said, Shangela’s Mariah Carey (singing RuPaul’s “The Realness”) and BenDeLaCreme’s Julie Andrews (singing RuPaul’s “Call Me Mother”) were the clear standouts.
WORST – TRUMP: THE RUSICAL
Drag Race has always been political, but the show took it up a notch when it decided to make “Trump: The Rusical” a challenge for season 11. It’s not that the idea of drag queens spoofing current political figures was necessarily a bad one – but fans were left with a sour taste in their mouths to see the show poking fun at such a serious topic that is affecting the world we live in today.
If “Trump: The Rusical” had been done a few seasons later, maybe it would’ve benefited from having some distance from current events. With that said, even if we take politics aside, this Rusical wasn’t one of the strongest ones in the series.
BEST – SHADE: THE RUSICAL
There is no doubt that season 6’s “Shade: The Rusical” is an absolute fan-favorite. After all, we had former American Idol contestant Adore Delano and former Australian Idol contestant Courtney Act singing in the same Rusical!
Aside from Adore and Courtney showing off their singing abilities, we saw Trinity K. Bonet trying her best with the assistance of Bianca Del Rio, and BenDeLaCreme delivering a very solid performance in the role of Shady Lady.
In the end, Courtney Act was chosen as the winner, and April Carrion was unfortunately sent home. Nonetheless, “Shade: The Rusical” remains one of the favorite Rusicals ever for the Drag Race fanbase.
WORST – PHARMARUSICAL
There were a feel cool things about “PharmaRusical,” the first of two Drag Race musical challenges on season 10. Eureka O’Hara did her best to redeem herself after getting injured on season 9, showing that she could still dance and be brave enough to perform on stage. Team Vixen, which started off as the underdogs, ended up winning the challenge and all being safe.
Besides the well-meaning storylines surrounding the “PharmaRusical” challenge, the musical itself just didn’t make a whole lot of sense for Drag Race. After all, the production was weirdly inspired by TV commercials from pharmaceutical companies, which has nothing to do with anything drag or drag-adjacent.
BEST – B*TCH PERFECT
The “B*tch Perfect” Rusical in season 8 was obviously inspired by the success of Pitch Perfect, which is as campy and fun as RuPaul’s Drag Race itself. The queens were divided into two teams: Team Lady B*tches (Cynthia Lee Fontaine, Bob the Drag Queen, Derrick Barry, Kim Chi, Robbie Turner, and Laila McQueen) and Team Shady B*tches (Chi Chi DeVayne, Thorgy Thor, Naomi Smalls, Acid Betty, and Dax ExclamationPoint).
Throughout the entire episode, we were led to believe that Kim Chi would stumble due to her lack of dancing abilities. And yet, she amped up the comedy in her performance and did great! Other standout performers included Thorgy Thor and Acid Betty. Unfortunately, the Lip Sync For Your Life ended up being between Dax ExclamationPoint and Laila McQueen, which were both sent home during the episode.
WORST – CHER: THE UNAUTHORIZED RUSICAL
Let’s just say that season 10 was not a great year for Rusicals. After “PharmaRusical,” the second musical challenge on the season was “Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical.” And this time, the queens had to actually sing live.
The positive surprises we got on “Cher: The Unauthorized Rusical” included Kameron Michaels actually giving the judges an incredible performance with a great voice and solid impersonation of Cher. Moreover, Eureka O’Hara finally came out of her shell and overcame her stage fright.
Otherwise, it was all a mess. Monet X Change, who is a professional singer, had a weird vocal day during the episode. The Vixen’s Cher impersonation had no Cher in it. Aquaria’s voice was very shaky. Asia O’Hara bombed. And even Miz Cracker, who arguably had the most complicated choreography of all, didn’t get much praise for it.
BEST – REALITY STARS: THE MUSICAL
Drag Race season 9’s “Reality Stars: The Musical” was based on the Kardashian-Jenner clan, and even if you don’t follow that family and have never seen Keeping Up With The Kardashians, it was still a hilarious musical full of great performances and creative ideas.
Alexis Michelle’s Kris Jenner, Peppermint’s Britney Spears, and Shea Coulee’s Blac Chyna were the absolute standouts. Even Eureka O’Hara, who was injured during that season, gave us a pretty fabulous impersonation of North West (the daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West).
And yes, there was a lot of drama behind the scenes, as Nina Bo’Nina Brown really wanted to get the Blac Chyna role that was assigned to Shea. Still, “Reality Stars: The Musical” is by far one of the best Rusicals of all time on Drag Race.
WORST – HERSTORY OF THE WORLD
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2 is one of the best seasons in the history of the franchise, and every queen on it delivered absolute drag excellence. With that said, the “HERstory of the World” Rusical challenge was messy and unfair.
Let’s start with the fact that Katya was given an outfit to impersonate Princess Diana in which she couldn’t move or dance. Then, after making the dress shorter in order to fulfill the choreography demands, she was read by the judges for not wearing the iconic long Diana dress. And Ginger Minj’s Catherine the Great performance made? How did that get her eliminated?
All in all, “HERstory of the World” was certainly not the best Rusical we’ve ever seen. Moreover, all the drama surrounding the casting and the elimination process didn’t help, either.
BEST – GLAMAZONIAN AIRWAYS
Many fans feel like season 7 of Drag Race was one of the worst years in the series. In hindsight, however, that was the season that gave us superstars such as Jasmine Masters, Violet Chachki, Ginger Minj, Katya, Trixie Mattel, Kennedy Davenport, Miss Fame, and so many more.
And here’s the true tea: the “Glamazonian Airways” challenge was one of the clearest redeeming qualities of that season. Despite the fact that the cast was filled with “fashion queens,” they all did a pretty decent job during this Rusical. Besides, the writing was great, the props and costumes were fabulous, and the songs definitely got stuck in our heads after watching it.