Columbus' Nina West is on 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.' Could she win it all?
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For the next 12 Fridays, please keep conversations to a whisper between 8 and 9 p.m. at LGBTQ+ bars around Columbus.
Nina is on.
Columbus drag performer Nina West, so popular beyond the gay-bar stage that she outpolled the last two Ohio State football coaches in votes for central Ohio's favorite local celebrity, returns Friday night to the cable TV reality show that took her career national.
Five years after finishing sixth and being named Miss Congeniality on season 11 of "RuPaul's Drag Race," she's one of eight performers competing on season nine of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars." West is portrayed as actor Andrew Levitt.
2020 profile on Nina West: Nina West grapples with stardom in post-'Drag Race' world
It's a different format this season for the 15-year-old "Drag Race" franchise, which usually features RuPaul telling at least one contestant each week to "sashay away," either because other performers vote her out or Ru herself deems the contender unworthy.
Eight performers, all veterans of at least one season of the show, compete on each episode of this year's "All Stars" with no weekly eliminations. The grand prize is $200,000 for the charity of their choice.
West is competing for The Trevor Project, which offers crisis support and suicide-prevention counseling to LGBTQ+ youth.
"I'm back to snatch that crown," she said on social media when contestants were announced in late April.
Here are four reasons why she may do just that.
Nina West has stepped up her game since 2019
An out-of-the-gate design challenge during West's first turn on "Drag Race" seemed to eliminate her as a serious contender the entire rest of the way in the minds of judges and viewers.
Our hometown girl wasn't much of a seamstress. And back in 2019, she wasn't much of a fashion queen either, to be completely honest. Even though she won drag's prestigious national Entertainer of the Year title in 2008 and her viral "moving dress" from that competition was copied (with credit) by Sia in 2016, West has always been viewed more as a comedian.
But her wigs, makeup and outfits − including a few from Dallas designer J.D. Martin, a Columbus native − have improved markedly in the last five years. If her runway looks this season come close to those of fashion queens, such as Gottmik and Plastique Tiara, her acting skills could push her to the top.
This season, they're playing on her turf
West is a performer, but those performances have often carried a broader message and purpose.
When Levitt, as Nina, would perform regularly at Axis Nightclub and Union Cafe in the Short North, audience tips collected during every final number went to LGBTQ+ community groups. The take averaged about $1,500 each time.
“It’s mind-blowing to know how giving people are. It’s just amazing to me,” Levitt once told the Columbus Foundation, which has hosted his Nina West Foundation since 2015. “Columbus is a really giving community and it speaks to how close-knit and tight our LGBTQ community is.”
2017 Everyday Heroes: Andrew Levitt's performances as Nina West have raised nearly $1 million for LGBT community
The Nina West Foundation supports Columbus organizations that serve the LGBTQ+ community. In 2020, Levitt told The Dispatch that the fund had raised about $3 million.
With this season's focus on charities and theme of "Drag Queens Save the World," they're playing West's game.
She's toured in 'Hairspray,' for goodness sake!
Levitt parlayed his 2019 "Drag Race" fame into a touring role as Edna Turnblad in "Hairspray." It's the part that Divine played in the 1988 movie, Harvey Fierstein took to Broadway in 2002 and John Travolta played in a movie version of the musical version of the movie in 2007.
"I did my season and then I went off, and I did a couple of really awesome projects and I came back with those skills," Levitt told Parade magazine recently. "I think it just made me a more polished-professional queen who's done real work in the performance space. I also think I bring a heightened aesthetic with some financial ability I didn't have on season 11."
He was part of a touring company that performed up to six shows a week in more than 100 cities over less than two years. You think he can't handle Michelle Visage?
She's what drag needs right now
At a time when drag is on the defensive in statehouses across the country, RuPaul's tweaks of the show that made it mainstream are designed to reclaim the narrative.
Contestants playing for LGBTQ+ and other charities − organizations that stand to benefit include Trans Lifeline, the National Black Justice Coalition, the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the Asian American Foundation − highlight what has been a focus of drag performers dating back to the rise of HIV/AIDS in the 1980s.
Related Nina West article: Nina West Creator Andrew Levitt Takes the Stage in Broadway’s Iconic ‘Hairspray’
Levitt is popular in a state that's on the front lines of the culture wars, but his goodbye when he, as West, was eliminated from "Drag Race" in 2019 included a reminder to people to "be kind." West turned it into a children's song. He came back to Columbus, where a street was named in West's honor; Nina West Way is the alley off North High Street next to Union Cafe.
It would be hard for drag's critics to portray West as a monster.
'Drag Race' viewing parties
Season nine of "RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars" airs at 8 p.m. Fridays on Paramount+.
Cavan Irish Pub, 1409 S. High St., Merion Village: The show airs both inside the bar and on the back patio.
O'Connor's Club 20, 20 N. Duncan St., University District: A viewing party and karaoke night are combined into "Ru-aoke."
Rumours, 1071 Parsons Ave., Merion Village: Two local performers are to host.
Steel Mill Tavern, 1816 Parsons Ave., South Side: The show is to air on 11 screens.
Union Cafe, 782 N. High St., Short North: At one of the places where West used to perform regularly, watch parties hosted by local drag performers include "chat, gossip and... all the 'All Stars' tea."
Axis Nightclub, 775 N. High St., Short North: The dance club that once hosted West's shows has advertised no plans for viewing parties, but two of her season nine rivals are to perform there in the coming weeks. Jorgeous has a 10:30 p.m. show May 24. Roxxxy Andrews is to perform during Pride weekend, at 8 p.m. June 16.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus' Nina West competes on 'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'
