Touring can be grueling. Just ask Bosco.
“Just like Michael Jackson said, ‘I just love to tour,’” Bosco joked over the phone.
Referencing the singer’s famously sarcastic remarks about life on the road, the Seattle drag artist laughed before explaining that she’s actually found comfort in the routine of touring. She described life on tour as waking up every day with one clear mission: “to slay fiercely.”
That energy is fueling “The Marvelous Miss Gender,” Bosco’s first full-length solo theatrical tour, which arrives at Los Angeles’ Wiltern on July 30. The two-act musical comedy introduces audiences to her supervillain alter ego, Miss Gender, a campy comic book villain who, according to Bosco, “fell in a vat of radioactive estrogen and came out crystallized, ready to take over the world.”
Inspired by everything from Batman and Elvira to Pee-wee Herman, the production mixes burlesque, dance, comedy, lip-sync performances, elaborate costumes and theatrical storytelling into a narrative-driven spectacle. But beneath the camp and comedy is a show rooted in a distinctly modern moment.
Miss Gender began years ago after Bosco found herself watching the colorful Batman films directed by Joel Schumacher while traveling between gigs on a flight. “I had forgotten how campy and gay and hysterically overdone they were,” Bosco said.
The idea eventually evolved into a full theatrical world that lived inside the notes app on her phone. When producers later approached her about creating a solo tour, Bosco decided to bring that universe to life rather than create a more traditional drag show. The result is a satirical adventure following a transgender supervillain determined to “spread her transgender agenda by turning everybody in the world trans.”
“It’s kind of a send-up of everything that I see in the news every day,” Bosco said. “I’m like, you know what? ‘You guys are right. We are trying to take over the world, and you should stop us if you can.’” While the show pokes fun at political rhetoric, Bosco said humor remains the vehicle for the message.
“People are so much more willing to listen to somebody if you’re laughing, and it’s so much harder to hate somebody when they’re making you laugh,” she said. “Being funny is one of the best gifts in the entire world.”
The production arrives at a time when drag has become simultaneously more visible and more scrutinized than ever before. Bosco said that tension helped shape the show itself.
“I think a show like this could only exist in this particular moment,” she said. “There’s the aspect of drag is doing so well that somebody gave me the keys to the car to be able to do this dumbass show. But this show is influenced by all the terrible things that we wake up to every single day.”
The show also serves as a love letter to practical effects and handcrafted artistry at a time when Bosco feels audiences are increasingly surrounded by artificial content.
“I am so tired of AI-generated slop,” she said. Instead, Bosco enlisted artists, illustrators and musicians to help build the world of “The Marvelous Miss Gender,” creating original music, custom illustrations and practical stage effects designed specifically for the production.
“It just feels different when you know somebody made it,” she said. That emphasis on storytelling and theatricality can be traced back to Bosco’s Seattle roots.
Long before appearing on “RuPaul’s Drag Race and All Stars 10,” Bosco studied the work of fellow Seattle drag icons BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon, whose narrative-driven productions blended drag, theater and comedy into immersive stage experiences.
“The way that Ben approaches a show when she writes it is she writes a narrative, and then she uses that narrative to shoehorn her talents and different performance ideas into it,” Bosco said. “In my brain, that’s always how a one-woman show is supposed to be.”
Bosco said Seattle’s drag community also played a major role in shaping her creative voice. She pointed to her friendship with fellow drag performers Irene The Alien and Jane Dont, describing the trio as a tight-knit support system that keeps each other grounded — and occasionally humbled.
“We’re kind of this coven, three musketeers type of situation of mean funny ladies who are really good at doing drag,” Bosco said with a laugh.
The tour marks a significant milestone in Bosco’s own evolution. After years of performing in clubs, touring with ensemble productions and building an international fan base, she’s now carrying an entire theatrical production under her own name.
“This is my first big girl tour,” Bosco said. “I’ve got my own crew. I’ve got my own show. I’ve got my own traveling situation. It’s my name in lights, and it feels like it’s exactly what I’ve always wanted.”
For Bosco, the production represents the culmination of months of writing, producing and building a world that has lived in her imagination for years.
“Between this show, setting up the YouTube channel and working my regular gigs, I feel like we’ve burned the candle at both ends,” Bosco said. “But it came together, and it formulated into something I’m really proud of. I don’t know if I’ve ever given this much of myself to a project before.”
The Marvelous Miss Gender Tour
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, July 30
Where: The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles
Tickets: Tickets start at $63 at Ticketmaster.com