Stage/Comedy

What: The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show
When: Tue., Nov. 21, 8 pm
Where: Meridian Hall
Vibe: Raunchy, cynical yet sweet holiday-turned-horror show
Highlight: Jinkx Monsoon singing Frosty the Snowman to the tune of Witchy Woman with a melting snowman
Rating: NNNN (out of 5)

DRAG ROYALTY Jinkx Monsoon can’t get enough of Toronto. This is her second appearance at Meridian Hall in as many months — though, this time, it’s to perform inside the venue and for tickets that cost money rather than outside at a free street festival for Just for Laughs Toronto.

And that’s for the best: it’s a miserably cold and rainy mid-November night. It’s not exactly a winter wonderland out there and, even though Christmas is only a month away, it still feels early to be in full-blown holiday mode for this holiday-themed show.

Performing with Monsoon this time is her friend, frequent collaborator and fellow Drag Race all-star BenDeLaCreme, whose production company is behind the annual touring show. This is the Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show’s fifth edition, and it seems the pair have been reflecting on the binding nature of keeping up new holiday traditions.

Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme come out for a somewhat low-key opening number, introducing themselves as familiar archetypes: the former is jaded and cynical about the holidays, and the latter earnestly loves them. Initially, it seems certain this Christmas odd couple will learn wholesome lessons about togetherness or anti-consumerism or whatever.

Instead, they call out this cliché premise, abandon it and delve into meta-commentary about the holiday genre. They run through highlights of previous editions of their annual show — and plug some merch in the process — while trying to think of something new to say about the holidays. After they come up short on ideas, they agree that maybe this year they’ll “sit this one out.”

This segues into a video package of the two leaving to relax back at the hotel, only to make a horrifying discovery: they can’t. There’s no leaving the show. There is literally no escaping the holidays.

What follows is less about the holidays and more a Saw-like horror. Moonson and BenDeLaCreme are held prisoner by a holiday show that has developed a mind of its own and refuses to let them go until they go through the same old motions.

They try ending the show early, running through all the possible moral lessons they might learn but to no avail. Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme attempt to summon “Santa” — or maybe someone with an anagram of that name — with an incantation that features BenDeLaCreme chanting “Here comes Santa” in a truly terrifying, Christian-Bale-as-Batman-like growl. Monsoon does a hilarious, raunchy number with Sexy Krampus and BenDeLaCreme can’t resist taking part in a catchy Little Drummer Boy-inspired EDM track I’d gladly listen to on repeat.

The truly standout performance, though, happens in the first act when Monsoon does an understated number in blacklight to the tune of Witchy Woman, dancing with a floating snowman that melts and reappears while she sings about how the climate crisis means “December feels like July.”

Throughout the show, the pair draws attention to just some of the reasons celebrating the holidays is problematic: capitalism and consumerism ruining lives and making the Earth uninhabitable, Christian fundamentalists in control of government and passing laws that discriminate against LGBTQIA+ folks and so on.

When the show wraps up, it’s difficult to find the warm and fuzzy feelings you’d expect from a holiday special. The performers confess they have the same existential dread as the audience about the state of the world, which might explain why this year’s show feels a bit subdued. The meta-commentary about being out of original things to say about the holidays yet held prisoner by them encapsulates this sense of ennui from which the show never fully escapes.

Still, they find catharsis in gallows humour. Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme excel at putting on a hilarious and memorable show with slickly produced song and dance numbers — albeit one that eschews traditional holiday cheer.

They end with a message of taking these good times and paying it forward out in the real world this holiday season. It’s less about warm and fuzzy togetherness and more a call for solidarity. We can’t solve these big problems alone, after all, but only if we come together — so to speak.