[SPOILER ALERT: For anyone who hasn’t watched Drag Race UK Season 5 yet]
Michael Marouli shares details about the upcoming tour “Angels of the North” with Ginger Johnson and Tomara Thomas after Drag Race UK Season 5.
The angels simply can’t wait to show the world what the tour has in store for us starting April 2024. But Michael enlightened us at OutNewsGlobal on what we can expect.
Michael said, “It’s going to be unreal. The show is going to be so slick. It’s going to be a night of incredible performances and production. There’s going to be comedy, we’re going to have our Disaster Class that we did on Drag Race.
And we’ll be bringing our individual personalities, our own performance styles, we’re just going to take the magic we created on the drag race, on the road. All over the UK, in Australia and so much more!”
Drag Race UK season 5, which released on the 28th of September and ended on the 30th of November, will definitely go down as a season to remember.
It isn’t RuPaul’s best friend race, but somehow, these queens from the north east of England, struck a balance between healthy competition and an everlasting friendship.
They knew there was something magnetic about the three of them after their ‘Disaster Class’ improv on episode four. It was a true masterpiece that birthed the idea of three Geordie babes conquering the world beyond Drag Race UK.
Michael said, “It was when RuPaul introduced us for the last time on the main stage, she said, please welcome back the angels of north and we went, ding! It was at that moment where we felt like this needed to happen.
And it’s the fact that three of us from the north east were in the final, we just knew we had something magic.”
As a viewer myself, I can confirm that this season was filled with so much love and warmth. All of the queens displayed their passion with such conviction, the judges were forced to go down to the nitty gritty to eliminate someone every week.
It was packed with high art, high drag, insane belly laughs and shadiness in good spirit. The Top 3 queens are the perfect examples of what the season stands for.
The winner, Ginger Johnson radiates a rare kindness and confidence in a drag queen that mesmerised RuPaul to believe that queens like her still exist.
RuPaul was also pleasantly surprised by third place queen, Tomara’s ability to be such a fearless drag queen at 25. It really is her world and we’re all just living in it, and we love that.
And as for Michael, he served looks and performances every week and left no crumbs. But it was his character that really spoke to me. He has a deep sense of empathy, carefree humour and maturity that made me wonder what shaped him to be this way.
Michael said, “I went from performing for three people in a bar, learning how to speak on a microphone and all of that. And just bringing that experience and mashing it together with modern day drag aesthetic and I’ve kind of got the best of both worlds I think.”
In our interview we mutually agreed that pop culture was our saviour. For Michael, the likes of George Michael, Madonna, Spice Girls and Lady Gaga were his key inspirations to elevate with his art.
His looks were embroidered with the inspiration he derived from his role models. With his own unique touch as he brought the grace of an experienced queen and the campiness of new queen on the block.
Michael said, “You’ve got you keep growing all the time. I think that’s the beautiful thing with life, you never stop learning. With anything artistic, there’s always new inspiration. There’s always things changing.
The world is constantly evolving. There’s always new pop cultural references. Like the lyric in my final performance, baby old school new school, I bridge that gap!”
There was a particular challenge that really brought to light Michael’s personality in real life and as a drag queen. It was the drag makeover challenge on episode 8. Where Michael met the adorable LGBT support line worker, Peter, a.k.a Gezeer Manouli.
The connection between them was instant but more importantly, it was Michael’s resilience that won that challenge for him. He handed over the spotlight to Peter to let him have the moment of his life.
Michael said, “I’m like that as a person, it’s because I’m a little older, I’m like a mother/daddy. I said to Peter off camera before we went into the workroom, I told him, this is all about you.
And I’ll make sure you have the best time of your life. It’s such a high pressure environment anyway, so it was nice to kind of focus on somebody else for a change rather than thinking oh god, am I gonna do well in the challenge? I was just purely focused on Peter, to have that little bit of relief.”
Althought Michael came runner-up in the competition, he has nothing but high regards for Ginger Johnson. The energy that I received from him was that he never would have imagined that three Geordie babes would be the Top 3 queens of Drag Race UK.
That seemed more like a victory to him than actually winning the crown, and he was genuinely proud of Ginger for taking the crown to represent the queens of north east.
Michael said, “The fact I was in the final two is a huge achievement. I was just so proud of myself. And I know how much it meant to Ginger and to see how happy she was. That was a win in itself. It probably sounds like the pageant answer, but it’s true because we genuinely were rooting for each other.
We have such love and respect that I was just so happy for her as well. And I can’t complain. I came second I was like the runner-up on Rupaul’s Drag Race! That happens to a handful of people in this in the universe and that happened to me. So it’s incredible. And now I can go and win all stars!”
Michael Marouli has a heart of gold, and he is an extraordinary icon in the making. And a trio of icons coming together for a tour that will win our hearts and give us the ultimate extravaganza?
The world is simply not ready, it’s an experience of a lifetime that you certainly do not want to miss.
CLICK HERE to book tickets and for more information on the tour website.
