Jinkx Monsoon Shares 19 ‘Volatile’ Songs That Help Her Get Into Character for Broadway’s ‘Oh, Mary!’

These days, when she’s not busy casting her spell upon packed Broadway audiences, two-time Drag Race champ Jinkx Monsoon makes playlists. But we’re not talking about a few dozen songs or a couple hours of music — these are Spotify odysseys encompassing hundreds of songs, musical monsoons that you could fall asleep to, wake up and find that you’re not even halfway through.

Unlike most playlists, these weren’t created to be shared with the world, but they do serve a purpose. Monsoon – who recently solidified her status as a Broadway force thanks to a show-stealing turn in Pirates! The Penzance Musical, followed by her taking over the lead role in the Tony-winning smash Oh, Mary! — uses these playlists to prepare for acting roles, spinning them while rehearsing and queuing them up before showtime to get in character.

Her playlist for Oh, Mary! – which she exclusively shared with Billboard and is allowing us to offer a peek into below – has more than 500 songs, clocks in at over 27 hours and is still being updated by the creatively restless star. These songs are informed by how Jinkx sees the stifled, manic Mary Todd Lincoln, how audiences react to the character and how she herself relates to the role.

“What I would say overall about the playlist is that it is volatile,” Monsoon tells Billboard. “Mary is grieving the loss of one relationship while celebrating the beginning of a new relationship, and those are opposite ends of the spectrum. The songs bounce back and forth between heartbreak, breakup songs and falling-in-love for the first time songs.”

While Oh, Mary! takes place in the 1860s, most of the songs on her playlist run from the 1920s to present day. (Aside from the fact that recorded music which could be played back didn’t become a thing until the 1870s, Monsoon quips that listening to songs popular during the American Civil War felt “a little too prescient” given what’s going on now.) Even so, this expansive playlist leapfrogs through decades, genres and zip codes, revealing Monsoon’s staggering knowledge of entertainment over the last 150 years and her intense dedication to doing right by the role, her co-stars and the audience. (Unsurprising, Jinkx kills it as Mary. Her performance, which runs through Sept. 28, is a no-notes masterclass in comedy with empathy. Simply put, Oh, Mary! remains the best thing on Broadway.)

From Chappell Roan to Laufey to Helen Kane to songs from the cinema (Poor Things, Shock Treatment, Phantom of the Paradise, Bugsy Malone and The Lion King), here are 19 songs from Monsoon’s Oh, Mary! playlist, along with her own insights into how they help her unpack and inhabit this indelible character.