Photo via Warner Brothers
Idina Menzel who plays Jannus Live in St. Petersburg, Florida on June 23, 2023.
See when they all play St. Pete Pride below.
Idina Menzel (Friday, June 23 at Jannus Live)
The Disney legend hasn’t really toured since a 2018 run of arena shows with Josh Groban. It’s been six years since she’s been to town too, but she did make up for eventual lost time.
In 2015, a few months after a Ruth Eckerd Hall gig where she mainly leaned on showtunes, she headed to Raymond James Stadium dressed as Elsa from “Frozen” to join Taylor Swift—dressed in an Olaf costume—for a duet of, you guessed it, “Let it Go.” Undoubtedly her most iconic three minutes and 45 seconds were adopted as an LGBTQ+ anthem almost immediately after the Academy Award winning film emerged, a year and a half before the Supreme Court even declared gay marriage legal in the United States. In June, Menzel—who recently starred in the Disney+ exclusive feature film, “Disenchanted”—will be spending her weekends at a handful of Pride celebrations across the country, including a St. Pete Pride Eve stop at Jannus Live. Later this year, she will release her seventh studio record, Drama Queen, a dance album described as a love letter to the LGBTQIA+ community, as well as a children’s book, set for release in September.
Tickets to see Idina Menzel play St. Pete Pride's pre-parade concert on Friday, June 23 at Jannus Live are $35.
Carson Kressley (Friday, June 30 at Hough Hall at Palladium Theater)
Before winning Emmys and becoming a regular judge on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Carson Kressley was an independent fashionista, previously raised next door to his grandparents’ horse farm outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania. Eventually, he began working the golf department for Ralph Lauren, and even worked his way up the ranks after meeting the billionaire fashion designer in an elevator by accident.
Once the 21st century dawned, Kressley—along with four other gay professionals—was picked up by Bravo for the resident fashion expert on “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” The 100-episode series won Emmy Awards in 2004 and 2005, and while Kressley is not involved in the Netflix reboot, he’s keeping plenty busy weaving what he learned at Ralph Lauren and beyond into television appearances.
Since 2015, he has judged a Miss Universe pageant, “Beat Bobby Flay,” and most significantly, “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” where he has held a recurring seat since 2015. Unfortunately, Kressley tested positive for COVID-19 in the middle of filming the most recent 15th season, which is why he was gone for the majority of it. Luckily, he’s all rested up, and set to return to host St. Pete Pride’s Queer-E-Okee at the Palladium for the second year in a row.
Tickets to see Carson Kressley host St. Pete Pride's "Queer-E-Okee' on Friday, June 30 at Palladium Theater are available and start at $25.
Set times have yet to be announced, but Meet Me @ The Altar, Malaysia Babydoll Foxx, and Ts Madison are among the bands playing the St. Pete Pride concert in Vinoy Park on Saturday, June 24. Meet Me @ The Altar (Saturday, June 23 at Vinoy Park)
Meet Me @ The Altar formed after Campbell came across a drum cover of “Holding Onto You” by Twenty One Pilots on Juarez’ YouTube channel. Campbell reached out to the drummer—who had previously appeared in a lost-to-the-ages Kellogg’s advert for female empowerment—and the two started talking, eventually deciding to start a virtual band. But there was still a missing piece: A vocalist.
“You know how YouTube recommends videos like, randomly?” Edith asked. As it turned out, Juarez released a video announcing that her new band needed a singer, and while Edith auditioned, she initially ended up being beaten out by someone who turned out to not be the best fit. “I always say that you can’t be rude and bad at your job, but [the original singer] was both, so it didn’t really work,” Victoria explained.
In the end, following a few months of nagging Campbell via text, Victoria was given a chance to sing for the band on a cover, and the rest is history.
Meet Me @ The Altar is part of the bill for St. Pete Pride's parade day party and concert at Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg.
Malaysia Babydoll Foxx (Saturday, June 23 at Vinoy Park)
Malaysia Babydoll Foxx is a Miami-based drag queen and hairstylist. Her biggest break came as a contestant on the 15th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which started last January as the show’s first time running on MTV, rather than VH1. Foxx, the first “Drag Race” contestant to be based in Miami, had a successful 10-episode run before being eliminated due to losing the lip sync battle to Salina EsTitties over “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” by Beyonce. It wasn’t entirely over for Foxx, though. During the season finale, she was crowned Miss Congeniality by her former fellow contestants. Oddly enough, she was directly judged by Carson Kressley—who hosts Queer-E-Okee a week after Foxx’s St. Pete Pride appearance at Vinoy Park—this year. In the few episodes he was present for, she portrayed rapper Saucy Santana during the celebrity impersonation game, “exchanged flatulence for canned joy” in episode seven, and created a “Crystallized Elaganza Ball” for the show’s milestone 200th episode, created in her work room. Before “Drag Race,” Foxx was previously a hairdresser for Miami-based rappers such as Trina and Yung Miami.
Ts Madison (Saturday, June 23 at Vinoy Park)
Earlier in the decade, Ts Madison made history by becoming the first Black trans person to have a reality show. “Ts Madison Experience” centered around the struggles of getting used to major fame, and was only around for six episodes. And last year’s “Turnt Out with Ts Madison” was a spoof of “Saturday Night Live” that was fairly well-received, but there’s no word about whether or not a third season will ever emerge. The good news is that Madison is not completely out of luck, because after a few years of guest judging—and even being impersonated—on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” she officially joined the group of permanent rotating judges starting with the 15th season. Before devoting everything to “Drag Race,” Madison recorded music with the likes of Todrick Hall and Ellis Miah, and appeared in films such as “Zola”—a black comedy which largely takes place, and was filmed, in Tampa Bay—and “Bros,” one of the first gay romantic comedies by a major studio, and yet another source of glass ceiling breaking in Madison’s life. She hosts the free Shades of Pride Festival—a Juneteenth celebration—at The Factory on June 17, and promises to showcase the “Art and Qulture of our Black and Brown LGBTQ+ siblings.”
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