Drag: The Musical’s Alaska Thunderf— and Nick Adams Dish on Their Fabulous Off-Broadway Extravaganza (Exclusive)

RuPaul’s Drag Race star Alaska Thunderf— and Broadway veteran Nick Adams play dueling queens in Drag: The Musical, playing at the New World Stages theater in New York City, but off stage the pair are each other’s biggest fans.

Written by Alaska, Ashley Gordon and Tomas Costanza, Drag: The Musical, which originally opened in Los Angeles in 2022, revolves around two drag houses each led by two larger than life queens (Adams’ Alexis Gillmore and Alaska’s Miss Kitty), who have a mysterious past together. Over the course of the hilarious show — featuring supporting performances from New Kids on the Block singer Joey McIntyre, Bre Jackson, Eddie Korbich, J. Elaine Marcos, Jan Sport, Jujubee, Lagonna Blu, Luxx Noir London, Nick Laughlin, Remi Tuckman and Yair Keydar — the feuding divas are forced to come together when their clubs come under threat.

Over the course of a fun chat with PEOPLE, Adams and Alaska discuss becoming fast friends, how Adams is finding his drag journey alongside a cast of seasoned queens, the involvement of producer Liza Minnelli, and so much more.

PEOPLE: Take me back to when you two first met.

Nick Adams: We met, I think, our first day of the reading three or four years ago in L.A. when I came out there. But I, of course, knew of Alaska because of being a famous, iconic drag queen, but also because we’re from the same hometown. That, to me, was just another layer of being mind blown that we share that origin together, and never met at home. But I just love that we have that connection and we joke about it often and mention Erie, Pennsylvania often with each other.

Alaska Thunderf—: Yeah, how lucky are we that you took on this role from the start? It’s so much to the point, I can’t even really imagine someone else doing it, because you were there from the beginning, and we started to hear it in your voice, and you are that character to me. We got really lucky with the casting. I don’t know how that all worked and who found you, and I don’t know how all that happened, but I’m grateful that it did. And also very wild that we both grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, not a huge city, never knew each other, and now here we are.

PEOPLE: Nick is a bit of a Broadway vet. Alaska, did Nick give you any pointers on how to navigate the New York theater scene before the show made its Off-Broadway debut?

Alaska Thunderf—: No, I’ve never heard of her. [Laughs] No, I’m just kidding. No, it was like New York is a different thing. I don’t know. I was really scared and intimidated because I feel like New Yorkers are really … they have Broadway right down the street so they can go see the best of the best stage place in the world right outside their door. New Yorkers, they know their sh– and they’re kind of like, “That sucks. That’s good.” And in my mind, they’re impossible to impress. I was intimidated by that. But then, at the core of it, I think it was just the show is the show and all we can do is the best version of what it is. I don’t know. What advice did you give me, Nick? I don’t f—–g know.

Nick Adams: I think I got more advice from you than I gave to you, which continues daily. The position that I’m in, to be playing a drag queen in the company of titans in that art form, it’s the most terrifying, but also the best position I could be in because it’s like, of course, I’m going to be right next to the greatest, but I’m also learning from the greatest. And what better way to really get into the nitty-gritty of it than to actually do it with people that are at the top of this industry? And so it’s been so informative for me. I’m no stranger to drag, in the sense of Broadway drag [Adams starred in Broadway’s original production of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert], what that represents, and I’ve been proud to be a part of that legacy and to get to do it a number of times, but this is a different experience for me. It’s elevated it to the next level and it’s with the real deal.

Every day in the dressing room, they’re still helping me finesse my makeup, just little details that you don’t know unless you don’t know unless you know and unless you’re surrounded by these incredible creatures that are just the most … I’ve never looked forward to going to work more than I have with this production because the camaraderie, the connection, the family that we’ve created, it’s the perfect recipe of human beings. The two hours that we’re getting ready for the show, it’s the most joyous work environment I’ve ever had.

PEOPLE: The show obviously hinges on you two being drag equals. Alaska, have you been surprised by Nick’s drag journey? He had big heels to fill!

Alaska Thunderf—: Yeah, totally, but I’m wowed by Nick in general as an actor and a singer and a performer, really someone who’s able to do it all and also go to the gym somehow. I don’t know how that’s possible. But you’re a f—-ng machine, and you’re really, really great at doing the really hard work that it takes to do this role, but also just to do stage shows like this, it’s really f—-ng hard. I’m very in awe of that. And then to throw you in the deep end and be like, well … because in L.A., Nick had a makeup artist, so every night, would sit in the chair like RuPaul and get put together by Aurora Sexton… who’s a legend. But, here, it was like, “No, you’re going to have to do your makeup yourself. Ready, set, go,” and Aurora taught Nick the basics and how to do it. And then it was, “Okay, your training wheels are off and you’ve got to do it yourself, and we have a show tonight.” And I’m really, really blown away and impressed at how amazing you look on stage, because it’s hard. Drag makeup is hard. I had years before cellphone cameras existed where I looked like sh–, and that’s part of drag. But you really look great and you’ve done a really good job.

PEOPLE: Was writing a musical always a goal of yours, Alaska?

Alaska Thunderf—: No, it was not on my bingo card when I first started drag, that’s for sure. When I was in my early 20s, when I was in college I studied theater, so I was around all that, but I had friends who would play the Rent soundtrack and play the Wicked soundtrack, and I was like, “This is f—-ng annoying. Could you turn it off, please?” Now, that was me being an ignorant college student. Now I’m obsessed and I get it, and I love it all. But I was always attracted to the more weird, wacko side musicals. I loved Rocky Horror, and I loved Hair, and I loved Godspell. I love the rock and roll musicals, and so that was my entry point.

But then fast-forward to seven years ago, or eight years, whatever, Tomas [Costanza] and Ashley [Gordon], who I’d been making music with for a while, they were like, “Do you want to work on this musical with us?” and I was like, “Sure. Why not?” And then it became a thing, which I often just do stuff and see if it becomes a thing or not. I never could have predicted that it would become this amazing, wonderful thing that it has.

PEOPLE: How did Liza Minnelli’s involvement come to be?

Alaska Thunderf—: Well, it started with the voice. We had this voiceover part, like a opening narrator, and we wanted it to be a voice that was iconic and recognizable, and we didn’t know who that was going to be or who would say yes or whatever. Somehow we got into contact with Liza Minnelli’s people. They were like, “She’s interested, but she wants to do more. She wants to do another voiceover part, and she doesn’t just want to do the voiceover part, she wants to also be a producing partner.”

It was like, “Sure. Okay, yeah, we can make that happen.” It was just like I really didn’t believe it until it was fully signed, sealed, and delivered, because I was like, “This is too good to be true.”

PEOPLE: It’s very moving to see all these drag queens on such a big stage off-Broadway. What does it mean to offer them that platform?

Alaska Thunderf—: It feels great, and I feel gratitude mostly, and I’m grateful to them for coming in and doing this thing. I’m so grateful to my friends who happen to be multi-talented drag goddesses who believed in this thing enough in its infancy to come in and do it for really sh– pay, honestly, and to just come in and breathe life into it and make it what it is. I feel really grateful, and it wouldn’t exist without them. I feel really just grateful for that.

PEOPLE: What’s next for Drag: The Musical? Do you want to take it to London… Broadway?

Alaska Thunderf—: Yeah, all of those things would be great. Sure, let’s do it. I’m just taking it as it comes, and I’m enjoying this process now, and whatever the next iteration is, I’m sure it’ll be great.

Nick Adams: That’s what I think has been so amazing about this project personally is that I’ve been, over the years … my last show in New York was … I closed 12 years ago. It was Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It’s been a long time since I’ve done a show here, and it’s really emotional. I feel like I’ve been a part of a lot of things that almost got here and then didn’t, or were in the cooker for many years, and then they’ve lost funding, all these things. This show, I just wanted to enjoy every step of the way without expectation.