‘IT’S ALL HEART’
Star drag queen branches out with ‘Hairspray’ role
At 43, Andrew Levitt is not an old drag queen by any measure.
But as part of the national touring cast of “Hairspray,” Levitt is still learning some new tricks.
The Farmington Hills-born entertainer — whose alter ego Nina West won Miss Congeniality honors on the 2019 season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” — is portraying Edna Turnblad, the mother of main character Tracy Turnblad in the musical adaptation of the 1988 John Waters film. The role won a Tony Award for Harvey Fierstein on Broadway, and Levitt is enjoying the challenge of filling the “huge shoes” of both Fierstein and the legendary Divine in the movie.
“This role…it’s all heart,” Levitt says by phone from Columbus, Ohio, where he resides. “Divine, that’s the most soft and kind of palatable she ever was for a mainstream audience. And I just fell in love with Harvey in the role when he brought it to the stage. We each get to bring out our own special brand of heart, so that’s my goal — to take this role and run with it and hopefully let (audiences) fall in love with my Edna.”
Though it’s been his claim to fame, Levitt “never set out to be a drag queen.” He moved to Greentown, Ohio, with his family when he was four years old and graduated with a theater degree from Denison University. Plans to move to New York were derailed by the 9/11 attacks in 2001, however. “I was just put on a different path,” Levitt recalls. “I was looking for other outlets to perform. There weren’t a lot of theatrical outlets here in Columbus, so I stumbled into drag. That one decision just changed the entire trajectory of my life.”
Being Nina West has certainly not been a, well, drag for Levitt. West was named Entertainer of the Year for 2008 in Columbus and hosted a local “So You Think You Can Drag?” competition. West was on the radar enough that she inspired Australian singer Sia’s outfit at the 2016 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, and West’s run on “RuPaul’s Drag Race” only boosted the profile — and led to Columbus naming one of its streets Nina West Way.
West subsequently joined the first-season cast of “RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race” in 2020, released a series of music EPS and a children’s album, and was featured in ad campaigns for Pepsi, Pantene, OraQuick, Nickelodeon and the movies “Trolls World Tour” and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.” Levitt also used the platform to establish the Nina West Fund, which supports a variety of Ohio-based charities and activist organizations.
Throughout West’s rise, however, Levitt never lost his love of musical theater, and he views the “Hairspray” casting as a “tremendously full-circle moment.”
“Yes it’s drag, but hopefully Nina isn’t seen by the audience,” Levitt explains. “Hopefully Nina’s bringing people to the theater, but when that curtain goes up they don’t see Nina West. They see Edna Turnblad. That’s the magic of theater.
“Acting and drag are very similar,” Levitt continues. “They’re two different styles of performance art, but they have a lot of commonality. I think with (‘Hairspray’) I get to rest back in my talent. I don’t have to broadcast what I’m thinking
or feeling at any given moment, like I do with drag. Those skills taught me immeasurable lessons in how to be a very present actor on stage, but with (‘Hairspray’) I just have to show up and do the work that’s in front of me, which is really exciting and challenging.”
“Hairspray” — whose director, Jack O’Brien, and choreographer, Jerry Mitchell, are Michigan natives — stands as one of the most successful theater adaptations of all time. Focused like the film on race and self-identity issues in early ’60s Baltimore, the Broadway production opened in 2002 and ran for 11 years and 2.642 performances. It won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical; nine Drama Desk Awards, and snagged a record-selling 11 Laurence Olivier Awards in London, where it opened during 2008. It was performed at the Hollywood Bowl during August of 2011 and live on NBC in December of 2016.
Along the way there have been many notable Edna’s — including Michael McKean, George Wendt, Michael Ball and Bruce Vilanch — but Levitt is nevertheless confident that “I’m giving her something different. I don’t know if I can put a pin on it, but it’s there. And she’s taught me a lot. I’ve learned a lot about myself in all this. I learned how much I have in common with a woman from the ’60s who grew up in the ’40s and ’50s and how she learned to change over time. That’s an amazing thing.”
“Hairspray” has, not surprisingly, stoked Levitt’s appetite for more work outside of the Nina West brand. He has “a fun, full year ahead,” including music and television projects. Levitt also predicts “some more magic and fun with my friends from Disney” but can’t talk about specific details yet.
“It’s all very exciting,” Levitt acknowledges. “It’s interesting to navigate all of this while touring. I’m learning how to cultivate skills I’ve never done before. It’s exciting to see my drag character almost take a step back and allow me to do the work and put me first before Nina, which I haven’t done for 20 years.”