As a “RuPaul’s Drag Race” star, Valentina is no stranger to intricate costume changes. Of course, Valentina has never had to go from street clothes to full-on drag in four minutes — until now.
Valentina is playing Angel, a street performer and drag queen in the ’90s, on Fox’s telecast of “Rent” tonight. And with that fan-favorite role from the Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical comes the great responsibility of going back and forth between two versions of the character, while accounting for the fact its a live broadcast. Because there are definitely not 525,600 minutes between commercial breaks.
“As Angel, I have many, many costume changes, gender changes, makeup changes, health changes. (laughs),” Valentina said during a Q&A with the cast and producers last week in Los Angeles. “And so I go on this journey of just transforming throughout the show.”
“And it’s been very exciting to work with the wardrobe team and the makeup team to develop an Angel that is relevant and appeared accurate to the ’90s — but with the budget from Fox,” the star joked.
Valentina noted that the production has secured Angela Wendt, “the original costumer who created the very first Angel,” to work on Fox’s version.
“So we’re definitely keeping things like the zebra tights and just keeping the heart in Angel’s costumes,” Valentina said. “And the quick changes are definitely a lot of pressure. Just imagine going from boy Angel, drummer on the street, to full-on drag woman-a woman-a woman-a, ‘Dora the Explorer’ wig, in four minutes. It’s like, a commercial break and one song and ‘Mary, pull the zipper real quick, girl.'”
“It’s also figuring out, is it going to be zipper? Is it going to be snaps? ‘Cause we gotta have it down to a science,” Valentina added.
Along with Valentina, “Rent” stars Brandon Victor Dixon as Tom Collins, Jordan Fisher as Mark Cohen, Mario as Benjamin Coffin III, Kiersey Clemons as Joanne Jefferson, Vanessa Hudgens as Maureen Johnson, Brennin Hunt as Roger Davis and Tinashe as Mimi Marquez.
Marc Platt and the estate of “Rent” writer/composer Jonathan Larson are executive producing, with Michael Greif overseeing stage direction and Alex Rudzinski serving as live television director.
“Rent” airs live at 8/7c tonight, Sunday, on Fox.
Live TV Musicals Ranked by Ratings, From 'Annie Live!' to 'Grease' (Photos)
NBC's "Annie Live!" bowed Thursday as the first new live musical production to air on broadcast TV since ABC's "The Little Mermaid Live!" in November 2019.
It also marked NBC's return to the genre, which it hasn't ventured into since "Jesus Christ Superstar Live!" on Easter Sunday of 2018, and the first of the Big 4 networks' live-TV musicals to be made during the COVID-19 era.
So naturally, all eyes were on how the Taraji P. Henson- and Harry Connick Jr.-led "Annie Live!" performed in TV ratings and viewership, as that's going to be used as an indicator of what "Tomorrow" looks like for the genre.
On the plus side, "Annie Live!" averaged 5.155 million total viewers, which was better than Fox's "Rent" and "A Christmas Story." Unfortunately, "Annie" ranks dead last in the key demo of adults 18-49, though that may be more of an indicator on how young adults view broadcast television in late 2021 vs. late 2019.
"Annie Live!" faced a lot of competition last night: Fox aired "Thursday Night Football," ABC had a highly anticipated Alec Baldwin interview in the first hour of primetime, and CBS did well with its first few sitcoms.
Scroll through our gallery to see how each of broadcast TV's modern-day, live musical productions rank by Nielsen numbers. Lowest-rated is first, highest-rated is last.
ABC
Rank: 11
Musical: "Annie Live!"
Date: December 2, 2021
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 0.9
Total viewers: 5.155 million
NBC
Rank: 10
Musical: "Rent"
Date: January 27, 2019
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 1.4
Total viewers: 3.415 million
Fox
Rank: 9
Musical: "A Christmas Story: Live"
Date: Dec. 17, 2017
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 1.5
Total viewers: 4.481 million
Fox
Rank: 8
Musical: "The Passion"
Date: March 20, 2016
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 1.6
Total viewers: 6.648 million
Fox
Rank: 7
Musical: "Jesus Christ Superstar Live!"
Date: April 1, 2018
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 1.7
Total viewers: 9.607 million
NBC
Rank: 6
Musical: "Hairspray Live!"
Date: Dec. 7, 2016
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 2.3
Total viewers: 9.045 million
NBC
Rank: 5
Musical: "Peter Pan Live!"
Date: Dec. 4, 2014
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 2.4
Total viewers: 9.211 million
NBC
Rank: 4
Musical: "The Little Mermaid Live!"
Date: Nov. 5, 2019
Network: ABC
18-49 rating: 2.6
Total viewers: 8.978 million
ABC
Rank: 3
Musical: "The Wiz Live!"
Date: Dec. 3, 2015
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 3.4
Total viewers: 11.498 million
NBC
Rank: 2
Musical: "Grease: Live"
Date: Jan. 1, 2016
Network: Fox
18-49 rating: 4.3
Total viewers: 12.206 million
Fox
Rank: 1
Musical: "Sound of Music Live!"
Date: Dec. 5, 2013
Network: NBC
18-49 rating: 4.6
Total viewers: 18.624 million
NBC
1 of 12
Thursday show marked the long-awaited return of broadcast TV’s modern-day, live musical productions
NBC's "Annie Live!" bowed Thursday as the first new live musical production to air on broadcast TV since ABC's "The Little Mermaid Live!" in November 2019.
It also marked NBC's return to the genre, which it hasn't ventured into since "Jesus Christ Superstar Live!" on Easter Sunday of 2018, and the first of the Big 4 networks' live-TV musicals to be made during the COVID-19 era.
So naturally, all eyes were on how the Taraji P. Henson- and Harry Connick Jr.-led "Annie Live!" performed in TV ratings and viewership, as that's going to be used as an indicator of what "Tomorrow" looks like for the genre.
On the plus side, "Annie Live!" averaged 5.155 million total viewers, which was better than Fox's "Rent" and "A Christmas Story." Unfortunately, "Annie" ranks dead last in the key demo of adults 18-49, though that may be more of an indicator on how young adults view broadcast television in late 2021 vs. late 2019.
"Annie Live!" faced a lot of competition last night: Fox aired "Thursday Night Football," ABC had a highly anticipated Alec Baldwin interview in the first hour of primetime, and CBS did well with its first few sitcoms.
Scroll through our gallery to see how each of broadcast TV's modern-day, live musical productions rank by Nielsen numbers. Lowest-rated is first, highest-rated is last.