Veteran New York City drag performer and Juilliard-trained opera singer, Jasmine Rice LaBeija, has stunned UK television viewers with her fusion of the two art forms on the current, eighteenth season of the hit series Britain’s Got Talent (BGT). During her first audition in front of the show’s panel of judges—Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon, and Bruno Tonioli—and a live audience, LaBeija shared how her experience of being rejected by the traditional opera world had led her to combine her two passions. Returning for the semi-finals, she delivered a rousing operatic version of “Never Enough” from The Greatest Showman, which brought the audience to its feet and earned her a Golden Buzzer endorsement from Tonioli, automatically securing her a spot in the final. In addition to a live TV audience of millions of viewers in the UK, that semi-final performance has already racked up around 600 thousand views on YouTube.
Ahead of the BGT final this Saturday, May 31st on ITV, Jasmine Rice LaBeija speaks exclusively with The Queer Review’s editor James Kleinmann about how she came to combine opera and drag, what those two art forms have meant to her in her life, how she feels about making it to the BGT final, and the message that she wants to share about drag on this major platform.
James Kleinmann, The Queer Review: how did you first come to fuse drag and opera?
Jasmine Rice LaBeija: “I tried to keep them so separate when I first started doing drag because I thought that opera was something serious and something so proper that couldn’t be included in this raunchy, underground art form that is called drag. But then I realized that drag in itself is a creative performance and art form. It is actually not that different to opera because opera is all about being creative, dramatic, and campy, and wigs and makeup. That’s why I fell in love with opera. So I was like, ‘You know what? It’s not that different, let me combine it.'”
“I was so rejected by the opera world because of my femininity and fabulosity. Every single note that I got was like, ‘You need to be more masculine. You need to be more like this. You need to be more this shade [points to a white makeup container]. I was like, ‘I can’t do this anymore!’ I started to sing in drag and that’s when doors began opening and my community and the New York nightlife world embraced me and said, ‘This is something so special.’ That’s where I am now. I am the result of my community supporting me and being behind me.”
How would you describe what happens when you combine these two art forms?
“It’s truly magical. It is a miracle. It is something spectacular and so special. If people can just open their eyes and feel and accept what is happening before them, I think it will be the most amazing experience that anyone has ever had.”
You sang Puccini’s “Nessun dorma” for your first televised audition on Britain’s Got Talent. Tell me about that song choice and the way that you chose to present it, starting out hidden behind a curtain.
“The producers and I went back and forth about which song would be the best and they thought that starting off really strong with one of the most famous and difficult arias on planet Earth would be a good start. I guess they wanted to set the bar real high and Asians are very goal-oriented, so I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll get the gold star for the day!'”
“In terms of the curtain, I was very hesitant to audition for Britain’s Got Talent or any of the Got Talent shows, because I know that Simon is very critical of drag entertainers. Not that he disrespects drag entertainers, but unless he sees something really special and really unique about the drag entertainer—besides lip-syncing and dancing, which is all great and amazing and it’s an art form in its own right that not everyone can do—he doesn’t really like it. So instead of doing the interview first, the producers came up with the idea that I was going to stand behind a curtain and let Simon and the audience really enjoy the talent, beyond the face, which is my voice. The face is an extra point! So that’s why I started singing behind the curtain and people were like, ‘Oh, that’s great singing. Who is it singing?’ Then it becomes a reveal and it’s the LaBeija, the sunshine, coming through the curtain!”
It was a very fierce reveal! Then for the semi-final you performed an operatic version of “Never Enough” from The Greatest Showman which was absolutely breathtaking. Not only did millions of people see that in the UK when the show went out, but hundreds of thousands around the world have seen the clip online. What was that performance like from your perspective, getting that reaction from the judges and from the live audience?
“Honestly, it still feels like a dream. I never thought that I would be performing in front of a live audience on live TV where literally millions of people are tuning in and watching. To get that kind of response, not only from the judges, but from the audience, was truly magical and incredible. It was a full circle moment because I met Loren Allred—who is the singer of “Never Enough” in The Greatest Showman movie—and she’s the one who really encouraged me to audition for Britain’s Got Talent, because I was kind of giving up hope.”
“I met her at a bar right after the pandemic lockdown lifted. She was sitting in the audience but I didn’t know who she was because she wasn’t really face known, only her voice was known because it was Loren’s voice in the film. We sang “Never Enough” for the first time together that night, so to come all the way to now, to BGT, and to sing that song and to try to make it my own is amazing. Especially in this political climate and with everything that’s going on, really sharing the message that all the materialistic things that you want in the world—all the stars and the power—is never enough, unless you have love, unless you have tolerance and empathy. That’s what the song is all about. It’s an anthem of love being truly what is most valuable. To amplify that on one of the biggest stages in the world and to be accepted like that has been a gift. The UK audience is amazing.”
You received a Golden Buzzer from BGT judge Bruno Tonioli which meant you automatically got through to the final. What does it mean to you to have made the final?
“My friends are like, ‘Oh, my gosh!’ But it still hasn’t hit me yet, it hasn’t really sunk in. I know that it’s happening, but I feel like I’m in that weird Twilight Zone where I’m like, ‘Oh, okay, I guess I’m going to go there and sing for the finale!’ If I win…when I win—knock on wood, all the wood—and get to perform for the Royal Family, it’ll hit me then. I feel like I’ve been singing for so long and performing for so long. This has been the dream for me and for it to finally come true like this, it’s breathtaking. This moment, it’s a miracle.”
Is there anything you can tease us with about what we can expect from you in the final?
“I am known for being extravagant and extra—not only in my clothing size, which is a petite XXL—but just being extra, extra, extra and I’m known for being the Sidewalk Sweeper of New York City, so that’s what you can expect! Everything grand, everything big, everything amazing. Hopefully I sing as good as I look that day because I’m going through some allergy problems right now. It is crazy weather here in New York City. I can’t wait for the final this Saturday.”
In recent years, there has been a mischaracterization and politicization of drag. What message do you want to share with the Britain’s Got Talent audience and the wider world about what drag can be through your performance?
“Drag can be, and has been and will forever continue to be, part of every single theatre art form that you have ever experienced in your life. People have issues all of a sudden because people try to use drag as a scapegoat to distract them from other major issues that are actually going on in the world. We are less than 1% of the population. Drag queens are not the issue at all to your daily livelihood. Most people probably have never even met a drag queen, unless you are part of the allyship and you go enjoy drag. What I want to share is that we are all artists. We’re all human beings. We have more things that connect us and combine us and more commonality than what divides us. We are here to entertain and bring you joy and love and happiness, all kinds of emotions.”
“You have to really think back because drag started from the classics of theatre; Shakespeare, Kabuki, and Chinese opera. Ever since there was misogyny, there has been drag, because all the female characters were played by male performers. We’re not that different, we’re just more fabulous and we have more makeup on than they used to back in the day! I think that’s the only difference. People need to see this as a serious art form because the amount of time, the amount of money, the amount of effort it takes to be a drag entertainer and performer is incredible. You have no idea.”
“Most drag performers in New York City actually went to college for theatre, we majored in performing. So that’s what I want the audience to take away. This is not just some fluke or joke or a jolly moment—it can be—but it is also a serious art form that can be taken very classically and should be taken seriously and with proper respect.”
Drag can be so many different things, but to what extent do you see it as a form of resilience, resistance and protest?
“Any kind of drag performance is a protest, especially nowadays, when you’re just standing up on that stage and letting your voice be heard and holding space for that moment—a Wicked reference, “holding space”—and just being visible. Saying, ‘I am here’. Throughout time, our community has been attacked and societies have tried to eradicate us and erase us, yet we are still here. Which is scientific proof—allegedly, I don’t know, I’m not a scientist—that you cannot change someone, you cannot somehow make someone disappear.”
“We’re a scapegoat. We are not the issue of any of the world’s problems. We’re not the issue of your health problems. We’re not the main issue of world hunger or of all the violence and all the chaos that is happening in the world. With all the global warming that’s happening, we are not the issue. Although, we do use a lot of hairspray as drag queens, so maybe we are!”
“I’m just being visible and being on stage and letting the future of the queer community know that we’re not going anywhere, no matter how hard they try. There were [anti-LGBTQ] laws back then and people need to remember that right now so that history doesn’t repeat itself. People were jailed. In some countries people are stoned to death and executed for being queer and just being who they are. I mean, in this kind of a world who would choose [to be queer]? I mean, I would still choose to be this fabulous, but who would choose to go through that hardship? So, yes, there is a very heavy weight on my shoulders to be on that stage now.”
How do you reflect on what drag and opera have meant to you in your life?
“If opera gave me life, drag gave me hope. I loved studying music but in entertainment rejection is 99% of the job and I was giving up hope until I found drag. Through drag, I found my community, I found my family—my chosen family—and people who support me and adore me no matter how I present myself on stage. They encouraged me and I’m so thankful for the New York City nightlife scene. Especially all the bars and the bar owners and the managers and the bartenders and DJs that I’ve worked with so far, who have nurtured me and nourished me with love, so that I am now proudly presenting myself as Jasmine Rice LaBeija on one of the biggest stages in the world.”
By James Kleinmann
The 2025 Britain’s Got Talent final airs in the UK on ITV and ITV X on Saturday, May 31st at 7pm BST. Follow Jasmine Rice LaBeija on Instagram @jasminericenyc.
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