It had taken me two months to set up my interview for Scene with drag star The Vivienne – well that’s what happens when an international performer is due on your doorstep – in this case as The Child Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang at Congress Theatre.
It would turn out to be a terrific, wide-ranging feature interview – my last of 2024, and tragically I guess one of the last James Lee Williams would give.
They are with us no more – at the age of 32 – an immense talent is lost to not only the LGBTQ+ community but the wider world. At such a young age, they had already achieved so much – winning the precursor of Drag Race as Ambassador, then Drag Race UK itself in 2019, plus starring roles on TV soap Emmerdale, Blankety Blank and huge success on Dancing On Ice – the first drag queen to appear on that mega popular show.
When I spoke to them in November, they were on tour with Chitty and time was short before a matinee. But The Viv was sharp, bright, honest and modest.
I pointed out that after they had conquered the West End as the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz, and now with their Chitty villain, they could surely look to be Cruella or Elpheba onstage in the future. “No, no,” they told me: “I’m not good enough for that.” When I insisted they were, they said nothing.
Now we will never know.
The Vivienne told me that the biggest influence on her persona had been strong women – their nan, Disney villains and performers like Cher and Meryl Streep. In their subsequent career they embodied that strength, sharpness and combined it with amazing glamour.
RIP James Lee Williams, forever The Vivienne.
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