Bob the Drag Queen’s Broadway debut in Moulin Rouge! The Musical isn’t just a personal milestone, it’s another data point in drag’s rapid integration into legacy entertainment institutions, and a test of whether that integration translates to actual infrastructure or remains a novelty booking.
The RuPaul’s Drag Race season 8 winner and Traitors breakout took the stage as Harold Zidler on January 27, playing the master of ceremonies role through March 22. The audience gave a standing ovation.
Bob performed a snippet of “Purse First” during the megamix.
The optics were triumphant — take a look:
But the real story is the 17-year detour.
Bob moved to New York nearly two decades ago to become a Broadway actor. The industry said no—repeatedly. “I got a lot of nos,” Bob told Late Night with Seth Meyers.
The non-binary performer pivoted to drag, built a media empire spanning HBO’s We’re Here, a New York Times bestseller, Madonna’s Celebration Tour, and mainstream reality television visibility via The Traitors.
Only after all that did Broadway say yes.
This pattern keeps repeating: queer performers locked out of traditional pipelines, forced to build alternative platforms, then welcomed back once they’ve already proven commercial viability elsewhere. Broadway didn’t discover Bob. It acquired him after drag culture and reality television did the development work.
The timing matters. Rocky Horror is headed to Broadway this year with Harvey Guillén and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez. Dylan Mulvaney joined Six. The Great White Way is booking queer talent with social media followings and pre-built audiences—a smart business strategy dressed up as progress.
Whether this moment creates genuine pathways for queer performers without existing platforms, or simply cherry-picks proven commodities, will determine if it’s a shift or a cycle. For now, Bob got there eventually. The question is who gets to take the scenic route next.
