STEVEN LINDSEY | Contributing writer
stevencraiglindsey@gmail.com
When Sasha Colby first appeared on our TV screens in the 15th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, her star power was undeniable, as was her beauty. But seeing her in person ramps things up to a whole new level.
I was inches away from her as she walked through the crowd at a drag brunch in Miami earlier this year (as a patron, not a performer), and her mere presence took my breath away. The word stunning gets tossed around too lightly these days, but she radiated such positive energy that even if I had not been a little star-struck, I would’ve taken notice.
On Friday, Oct. 3, she brings her act, Sasha Colby: Stripped II, to Dallas’ House of Blues. There, you’ll be able to experience her magnetism first-hand, even if it’s from the balcony. Of course, if you’re lucky enough to have meet-and-greet tickets, you, too, can be inches from her.
Dallas Voice chatted her up before her first Texas stop on this tour (followed by San Antonio on Oct. 4 and Houston on Oct. 5 if you want to book a last-minute road trip). She had a lot to say, and we can’t wait to hear more in two weeks when she takes the stage.
Dallas Voice: Congratulations on kicking off the new tour this month. Tell us what to expect with the Stripped II Tour and how it builds upon last year’s Stripped Tour. Sasha Colby: We’re still in the world of Stripped, which was really about storytelling, minimalism on stage and using your imagination. In Stripped II, I have totally different stories, different costumes and different things we wanted to talk about this time.
The first Stripped was, mostly, a point-blank, chronological show of how I started Drag Race. So, now we are taking a lot more liberties and taking you to a fantastical world. Considering our world right now is pretty crazy, I wanted to have a moment of respite from all of the fighting, protesting and the things that we as queer people have to do to have a little queer joy.
So, during the show, are there original songs? Are you lip syncing? What’s the rundown? We’re doing some of my favorite lip syncs from my career and celebrating all these different female archetypes like the vamp, the showgirl, the beauty queen, the siren, the goddess. The goddess energy has a lot of elemental things, really getting back to nature and kind of getting witchy, and all the fun things that lend themselves to cool costumes. I’m definitely playing with a lot more fantastical costumes, where the first show was a lot more pedestrian. Now we’re having a lot of fun, and I think we need some fun right now.
Now that you already have last year’s tour under your belt, do you feel more confident in going forward and, you know, mixing things up this time and lessons learned? Yeah, definitely. We are on a bus this time. Last tour, we were doing flights from city to city, and that was pretty rough on the body and the sleep schedule. So, we were able to get a bus this time, and we got to add more cities to see more people. I was glad that Live Nation still wanted us to tell stories.
So you’ve done the bus life before on some Drag Race tours, right? Yes, I have, so I’m well aware of the tour life. Luckily, I’m going to be the only drag queen in there this time. That might help compared to the big personalities that are going on during the drag tours.
Does the show ever change at all, or do you have it pretty locked down? Curious if it’s more fluid because it’s a new one. I feel like, the last show, we were kind of creating as we went and doing a lot of workshopping. I think this time I was overly prepared. We were all really excited about gathering our mood boards and getting with the different designers to build this world. So we just have to follow what we have already written. We’re actually a lot more — knock wood — a lot more prepared this time around. So that feels good.
Will you have any downtime during your stops in Texas? I’m really focusing on resting the body when we have downtime. Last year, it was pretty physical for me, and I want to make sure I’m prepared for that, stamina-wise.
So while you’re here in Dallas, or San Antonio and Houston, do you have any plans to get out in the town and see anything anywhere or anything that’s on your bucket list? I’ve been to Texas so much over the years of performing. I mean, it’s one of the first places I started to work when I moved from Hawaii, because of Erica Andrews, actually. It would be nice to see my sisters in each city, hopefully see them at the show. If not, I’ll have to go harass them at their shows. But yeah, I’m just excited for some Whataburger.
You mentioned Hawaii and your tour ends in Hawaii. Do you get back home at all, a lot, or has it been just so crazy since Drag Race? I’ve been able to go back a lot, actually. I was the grand marshal of Honolulu Pride in 2023. I got to go home for Stripped last year, and I definitely wanted to end it again in my hometown. It just feels full circle. I’ll even have a few days off in Hawaii, then I’m actually going back to do a speaking engagement. So, really, any excuse to get home.
Of course, I had to Wikipedia you to quickly see some of the things you’ve done recently, from speaking at Kamala Harris’s Pride event to guest-starring on Hawaii 5-0. Do you have a top career moment so far that stands above them all? Oh, wow. I mean, Drag Race was definitely a great feather in my cap. It was a goal that I had in mind, and to be able to accomplish a goal like that [is] really fulfilling. I actually hope that the show won’t be the biggest thing, and there’s a lot more to come and a lot more to add to my little trophy case.
Do you actually have a trophy case with everything in it? Yeah, I have it on display. Actually, I have a few crowns on display, the scepter and some awards. Hopefully, some more awards. That would be great.
With your busy schedule these days, do you get to see your drag daughters often? Not as much as I would like. I mean, the family’s doing their thing, which I love. I love that everyone’s busy, and I love that I’m keeping up with Kerri (Colby) on social media and Chappell (Roan) and all my other kids.
Do many of the queens you’ve performed with show up at your shows in different cities? There appears to be a genuine sisterhood that you all develop, not just for TV. It’s really nice whenever the Drag Race girls come out to support. It’s really sweet to see them in New York.
If Ru asked you to do All Stars, would you do it? We shall see. The All Stars, All Winners season was a lot of fun to watch, and it would be fun with my sisters.
Are there any other post-tour projects that you have in the works that you can talk about? I can’t talk about it yet, but yeah, I’ve got some great projects coming up. I just never want to stop. So I’m just going to keep on going and keep on surprising myself and everyone else. Trust me.
For tickets, visit LiveNation.com. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.