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[0:14] Robert Bannon: Hi everybody, welcome to the round table. My name is Robert Bannon. You're listening to us on the Broadway Podcast Network. You're watching us on Broadway World. You're listening to us or looking at us on social media as our next guest. Oh my goodness, they're just so gorgeous on I rep all things Jersey. Okay. We rep all things Jersey. We rep all things Sicily Tyson School of the Arts because my students in Newark, New Jersey, have a lot of them go there, and Luxx Noir London went there. Lux is on off Broadway and I'm speechless. You know why? Because they've come with fashion, they've come with pink walls, hats, glasses, looks, the whole thing, and you could see it all on stage, right over at New World Stages Drag the Musical Legendary Queens. You got me speechless. That's it. Hi. Welcome. I love a fellow Jersey person.

[1:03] Luxx Noir London: There's nothing like them. Because we all speak weirdly and say odd things. I get made fun of all the time, Robert, about my accent.

[1:12] Robert Bannon: I feel like I kind of get the opposite.

[1:16] Luxx Noir London: I most of the time people don't know I'm from New Jersey based on my voice. I remember when I was on Drag Race, Michelle was like, "Oh, you don't have like a New Jersey voice, but you're from New Jersey." And I was like, "Yeah, I've only ever lived there my entire life." I think it's a compliment because I think the accent we we don't all say dog and coffee and water and we don't all.

[1:39] Robert Bannon: So you are a theater baby. Like you went to school for art. You have been an artist through and through.

[1:47] Luxx Noir London: Yes.

[1:47] Robert Bannon: When did you decide? Like, like when did the bug hit you? Like, I want to sing and I want to dance, and I'm just an artist.

[1:53] Luxx Noir London: I've always been very interested in like singing and dancing and like performing and all that. Since I was in like elementary school, I was doing like little stuff in elementary school. And then when I auditioned for Sicily Tyson in for the sixth grade, I initially auditioned and was accepted to the school for animation arts. Um and I like switched my major in seventh grade because my best friend Safa was a musical theater major. And she was like, "Oh, you love to like sing and like do all this stuff. You should switch your major because you're like low-key miserable in animation." And I was like, "I am." And I like switched my major and I've been doing it ever since.

[2:37] Robert Bannon: So you draw as well then.

[2:39] Luxx Noir London: Yeah.

[2:40] Robert Bannon: And so some of the looks and designs, do you design some of your own ideas? Like, are you just creative through and like you're just thinking about it? It's just you.

[2:47] Luxx Noir London: Yeah, I can kind of do it all. I do do it all. I like sew a lot of not a lot of them. I sell my looks sometimes. I like sketch most of them. Um, I was a visual artist before I was a like performance artist, I think.

[3:06] Robert Bannon: Amazing. All my life. Okay, so you go to Cicely Tyson, which shout out to the teachers there. They a lot of them have been in contact with me in the show because we teach at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and they all come there on the weekends, and then you go to NJCU or whatever it was called at the time, they changed their name over in I teach and I taught in North Bergen for 16 years, so I'm very familiar. And then you become a drag superstar, but you put in a lot of time, Lux. Like, you're not, you didn't, you're not one of those who just went from the TikTok and the Instagram to the television show. Like, you've worked a lifetime in drag.

[3:41] Luxx Noir London: Well, wait, tell me. I um I was like always a performer. I always knew all the ins and outs of being on stage and things like that. I started drag on like social media in like 2018, 2019-ish, and then the pandemic happened, but I was underage anyway. So I turned 21 during the pandemic, and as soon as I could go to a club and work, I was trying to do that. People knew who I was from Instagram, so I already had a name for myself, so it was easy for people to kind of trust that I'd show up and look good and be able to perform most of it. Um so I was only performing in clubs for about like a year, year and a half before I was on Drag Race, and I was in college for five years at NJCU for musical theater, and then I dropped out December 2021, and I got on Drag Race May 2022.

[4:41] Robert Bannon: You are lying.

[4:43] Luxx Noir London: Yeah, come on.

[4:45] Robert Bannon: That's how you do it, New Jersey. That's how you do it. Come on, that's it. All right, so and then the rest is history, like isn't it funny? When why drag? Like for you, what was it about drag that you were like, let me play with this character? Is Lux a character? Is Lux you? Do you what how do you find the line between the two?

[5:07] Luxx Noir London: I think that Lux is more of an extension of myself. We've kind of become like one over the years, which I'm completely fine with. Um Lux is kind of like how like Sasha Fierce, or like like an alter ego of myself, I guess. Because I don't like there's some queens who their drag persona is completely separate from their everyday life. Me and Lux are kind of always in the same room. Whether I'm in drag or out of drag, Lux is always there. Cause I don't turn something on, or I don't like, you know, create some big spectacle. Lux is kind of just like me.

[5:49] Robert Bannon: Okay. I'm obsessed. I love the whole thing. It's everything we thought it would be. Well, you came with some amazing looks when you were on Drag Race. You've come with amazing looks since you you have the fashion, you have the dancing, you have the lip syncing, you have all of that down, and you become like an iconic queen for us that uh the people who followed the show for sure. And toured, and you've toured the world, you've done the drag tours, you've you've done the live stages, and then at some point you auditioned, get a phone call. How does Drag the Musical come to your life?

[6:20] Luxx Noir London: So I've known what Drag the Musical was probably since its conception because I'm a huge fan of Alaska and all the queens who were like on the like original Drag the Musical soundtrack. Um so I knew what it was, and I um one day kind of just got an email from my publicist like, "Hey, um they like the casting people for Drag the Musical want to know if you would like to audition." Um and I was like, "Sure, I guess I'll do it." Yeah. I haven't done a musical in God knows when. So I was like, "Sure, that could be fun." And I have some friends who are in the cast, and we've already been talking about it. Not talking about me auditioning, but we've been talking about the show already. So I already knew like what it was and like what it was about and things like that.

So I was like, "Sure, I'll audition for it." And I went in and it was a regular old audition process. And there was a dance call and there were a bunch of queens. Probably every drag queen in New York City was in the room. Um and I got the part.

[7:30] Robert Bannon: And you are you're in there and you're with all the other queens, and then you get the part. That means there's some a lot of queens that did not get the part, Lux.

[7:38] Luxx Noir London: Yeah. Oh well, my cousin and her husband just went the other day. I'm in Detroit at the moment, but when I come back to New York, I've already talked. I cannot wait. We've had Alaska on the show. We've had Nick Adams on the show. We've had Joey McIntyre on the show. I'm talking about people. There's a stack of casts in this show.

[7:58] Luxx Noir London: Yeah, it's stacked. And Alaska is a nut. Like there's a complete in the best way possible, the nuttiest, most funny, ridiculous that you can possibly be. So what is the show about? And what do you play in the show?

[8:11] Luxx Noir London: So basically, Drag the Musical is about two rival drag houses who have to end up coming together to kind of save both of their drag houses. Um there's the Fish Tank and there's the Cat House. I'm in the Fish Tank. The Fish Tank is me, Nick Adams, Laguna Blue, and Elise Lee Fontaine. Um in the Cat House is Nick Laflin, Jujuby, Jan Sport, and Alaska. Um and you know, they're rivals and they have to come together at the end because they're both going through financial hardships or hardships that are, you know, going to get their clubs shut down. And you know, enemies have to become frenemies.

[8:52] Robert Bannon: Oh, enemies have to become frenemies. And I if you have not listened to this score, I mean Alaska and the and the team that wrote the music how wrote bangers, like there it is not a musical, like this is not your grandma's musical. You're gonna dance and jam along. It's really good music.

[9:08] Luxx Noir London: It is good music. A lot of earworms, yeah.

[9:11] Robert Bannon: Earworms go lower. How do you go from lip syncing and living that drag life to now like I gotta sing eight shows a week? Like, there's no lip syncing in this show.

[9:19] Luxx Noir London: Well, I love to sing.

[9:21] Luxx Noir London: I've always loved singing. I sing all the time, never really on stage. Um, it's just not Lux's fantasy to like be a live singer unless it's like a concert because I do do pop music. So unless I'm like performing like on a stage in that capacity, but I'm never gonna just like sing in a bar um like as my number. Um, but I was really excited to be able to sing because I love to sing, and a lot of people don't know that I can sing as well as I can. So everybody's always really gagged when they're like at the stage door and they're like, Oh my god, I had no idea you could sing. And I'm like, Yeah, a lot of people don't.

[9:59] Robert Bannon: You can sing because you beat out all the other queens in New York City, which we've already established. And then I heard that you not only sing and dance, and the outfits and costumes are great, the lighting is great. This is a party of a show, but I heard you all have the nicest cast. Like people have written, and I've seen people write when they knew you were coming on, and they're like, She's coming on, Lux is coming on.

[10:17] Luxx Noir London: They're so sweet in the stage door, so sweet. The whole cast is outside, you know, meeting people and showing love for people coming out. Why is that important?

[10:25] Robert Bannon: You must meet a lot of people at the stage door that are different genders, different sexualities, different races, different on their journey of who they are, and they relate to everyone that they see on stage in the story.

[10:36] Luxx Noir London: It's very sweet. I love seeing everybody's reaction to the show and how moving it is for them because it is a really touching story. And I just think that it's a really important story right now. And I'm glad that you know I'm able to be a part of this story.

[10:57] Robert Bannon: Well, it's running while we're talking. I want people to know that they can get tickets. It makes a great holiday gift. The dragthemusical.com. New World Stages is a great place to see a show. There's not a bad seat, and it is top-notch theater right there in the middle of Times Square. Um, and we could we we should all be following homework assignment. We're all following Lux on social media right now. So follow, follow her.

[11:16] Luxx Noir London: Um, is the dream to do more theater? Is it to release original music? Is it just to do more drag? Like, what is the Luxx Noir London dream?

[11:27] Luxx Noir London: World domination. That's the answer. I do plan on releasing more music. I just released my debut album Light in the Dark this past September. Um, so make sure you go and give that a listen. Um, of course, more music is in the works and going to be released all the time because I love making music and I love singing and being a pop star. Um before doing Drag The Musical, I did not have any more theater on my sights since I left college. And now I'm like, oh, it's kind of fun. I would do it again. I'd do more of this. So I don't know. I don't like to limit myself on what I can I'm capable of because I'm capable of a lot, and you know, while I have the ability to do everything, I want to do everything.

[12:13] Robert Bannon: What can we do? Tell us more about the album. Where what is it? What is the music like? What was the process like for you to make it? What did you write some of it? It says you're a songwriter. So what it what it what was this process for this?

[12:24] Luxx Noir London: So the album Light in the Dark, um, it is 10 tracks, two full, two interludes, eight full-length tracks. It's dance pop, it's dark, it's um, it's light at times. It's the lyrical content is fun, but it's also personal. Um, me and the producer of the album, Fred Velvet, also known as Skelsokai, he's worked with RuPaul for a bunch of years. Um, we made the album together.

[12:55] Luxx Noir London: And it's um, it was a joy to be able to bring my creative vision to life with this person because I think they have an amazing musical ear and viewpoint. And we wrote some of the songs together. I wrote some of the songs, they wrote some of the songs, but all of the songs are kind of based on where I've been um mentally and things like that the past couple years, like the past like two or three years. So it really is just a journey of um how I've been feeling. And I'm glad that I was able to collaborate with this person on my album because they they are rare a joy to work with.

[13:39] Robert Bannon: Ooh, I'm really excited to take a listen to it. The artwork is gorgeous.

[13:44] Luxx Noir London: Thank you. You are important. I I think what you are is very important aside from being entertaining. Um, I'm in Detroit right now in a school, helping out in a school, and a lot of the times the young kids, especially the young queer kids that I get to work with, they don't always see themselves represented. They don't always feel a part of a community. They the homophobia, the transphobia, the all of it that's out here in the world, especially what we hear on the news and what's going on in politics, and then they get to see you living your authentic life, looking the way you look in in in your true authentic self and having success and having found people who to support you is super powerful.

[14:01] Luxx Noir London: Thank you. I I agree. I do think that um queer visibility and queer stories and queer people being at the forefront of culture because queer people are always moving and shifting culture and we don't necessarily get the credit for doing that but we are at the forefront of all of the major movements in pop culture. Um, I'm just happy that I have been given the platform to be able to share myself. I never want to outwardly say that I'm trying to be like a role model for someone because I think that that comes with a lot of responsibility that I don't necessarily need to put on myself but I will I am always thrilled to um be a face or a voice for someone who does not have that.

[14:01] Robert Bannon: I hear you saying that you don't not to be a role model. I just hope you know that there's gonna be some little boy or little girl a little person out there who's gonna get to be the next superstar drag queen or the next pop star or just the next person who gets to admit and live and be free as who they are because maybe they saw you on TV or saw you on stage and that is a beautiful beautiful thing that you get to bring to this world.

[14:01] Luxx Noir London: I do love that I do and I don't say that I I my goal is to not market myself as a role model because I think that that comes with a lot of responsibility. And I'm not always going to say the right thing or do the right thing or be or like be the role model. You know, and I think that for me, that gives me a little too much pressure. But I love to be um something that someone can look to and say, I want to be that, or I can be that because they were able to be that.

[16:11] Robert Bannon: We get it. She's young, people. Let her be messy. Let her go have a good time. You mess up. I don't know. I I hate that now. I feel like I can't make a misstep because everybody will like crucify me for it. But you go live your life. The human experience is making mistakes.

[16:29] Luxx Noir London: And create good art. Now that you're in one place, you're not on the road right now. You're in one place. You're you're not traveling to different prides and different parties and different clubs and different uh uh shows and all. Are you working? Do you work on things? Do you do you still write? Do you think of what's the next project? What's the next outfit? What's the you sketching? Like, what is your routine to get into the next project?

[16:48] Luxx Noir London: Oh, of course. I feel like I was working on the next project while the first project was doing. I I'm always creating, I'm always writing down like little lyrics and like coming up with ideas for outfits and like stage shows and like performances and things like that. I'm always working, whether I like whether I want to or not, my brain is always working.

[17:12] Robert Bannon: Well, we're here for it. We are super fans. We loved you on the show. We love the work that you do. We love the looks, we love the drama, we love the whole thing. We're gonna stream the album, everyone. If you're especially Jersey family, what are you doing, Jersey family? Get it together. This is our resident drag queen right here. Luxx Noir London, the album Light in the Dark is out.

[17:32] Robert Bannon: And then look at this. Are you talking about outfits and fun and drama on the Broadway with the with the new kid on the block himself, Joey McIntyre. Go get your tickets to Drag The Musical. It's live off Broadway, and you can go. All you gotta do is go to dragthemusical.com. I'm telling you, you have a friend, you have a you know a good little LGBTQIA plus person in your life, you have an ally, and you're looking for a fun night out. Boom, you don't want to miss this.

[17:55] Luxx Noir London: And then we're gonna follow Lux. We're gonna follow Lux on social media and stay up to date. And next time I see you on the Jersey Turnpike or Nasbury Park or uh somewhere in the in the in the garden state. Maybe at a Wawa.

[18:06] Luxx Noir London: I'll see you at the Wawa.

[18:08] Robert Bannon: Exactly. I was gonna say get a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich or something at the Wawa. Thank you for spending time with us. I can't wait to see the show, and I can't wait to see you on stage. We're we're living for it.

[18:20] Luxx Noir London: Thank you for having me. I can't wait for you and everyone else out there to see it too. Come on down. Thanks for being here.