Denver Pride is Ready for the Marcia Marcia Marcia

ulti-talented, beautiful, and smart—It's no wonder why Jan is so jealous of her!

New York City drag superstar Marcia Marcia Marcia first made a splash in the club circuit with her hilarious mixes, handmade outfits, and dynamic moves, and her love of theater landed her roles in multiple Broadway productions including Kinky Boots, Newsies, and the national tour of Hello, Dolly! Most recently, Marcia can be seen competing in the latest season of RuPaul’s Drag Race

As the resident Broadway baby of Season 15, Marcia let her theatrical talents shine throughout her time on the show. Although she didn’t win any challenges and was constantly critiqued on her makeup skills, her positive and upbeat attitude is what made her a fan favorite among viewers. Plus, who can forget her iconic elimination lip sync against Anetra to Doja Cat’s “Boss Bitch?” In the words of fellow competitor Salina Estitties, “Free Willy!”

Marcia’s star power is continuously rising, and she will be a headlining performer at this year’s Denver PrideFest, taking place June 24-25 at Civic Center Park. She took some time to talk more about her upcoming appearance and Drag Race journey with OFM.

Let me begin by asking, how excited are you to be headlining this year’s Denver Pride?

I'm so excited! When you embark on a journey like Drag Race, one of the best parts is getting to travel around and meet people, and I think Pride is one of those times of the year where people are so excited to celebrate queer people and artists. The fact that I get to be a part of these celebrations on such a large scale is so cool to me. I’ve been to many Prides in my life, so this is very full circle.

Without giving too much away, what can we expect from your set?

As I said on the show, when I lip sync, it's a flippin’ good time. I'm sure there's going to be some callbacks from this season, but also some new stuff and new looks. It’s Pride, it’s time to party!

What do you always hope audiences take away from Marcia Marcia Marcia performance?

I always want people to feel the joy that I have when I'm performing because that's really where I feel the most comfortable. I feel the most at home while being up on stage and doing my thing, so I hope that joy and light radiates. It’s contagious.

What does Pride

mean to you?

Pride in general, especially right now, is when the queer community kind of feels the most normal. We are constantly exposed to media about heterosexual, cisgendered people, and that is sort of the status of our society. Finally getting to turn on the TV and see an ad with a queer couple because it’s Pride, and this obviously should be a year-round thing, but I think it’s a moment where we are allowed to feel that our presence is normalized and important. Honestly, it's more so a brief glimpse into what equality should feel like.

You are now a drag superstar thanks to your run on this most recent season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. How did the show change your life?

It's changed my life in a million ways. Number one, people don’t really talk about this because it’s kind of a gauche topic, but financially, this show has given me the opportunity to support myself as an artist, which I think is incredibly important. I love that so much, and because of that, there’s almost more agency for me to take risks, try new things, and invest more into my art. Then the show itself, I think the people I connected with the most are people who are starting drag.

I get a lot of messages and comments from people being like, oh, you're giving the baby queens a shot and inspiration, which I think is so sweet because starting out and figuring out who you are is kind of the hardest part of a drag queen’s career. So, I think having a presence on the show as someone that was still finding their footing, I think that was important because it's all about showing the perspective of a drag queen, and those drag queens very much exist. It’s been cool to be a voice for those people.

What would you say was the most rewarding and challenging aspect of your Drag Race experience?

The most rewarding, I think it came out of that lip sync on my elimination episode. If you told me that before the season, I would have been like, what? Not only was the performance obviously really great, but again, so many people have reached out to me being like, "The way that you exited was so noble, and you can tell you were very proud of the work you did." I always strive to be a team player. I’m not a sore loser or a sore winner, so the fact that people were able to kind of see that from that high-pressure moment, that was nice.

Then the most challenging, gosh. Honestly, it’s been learning how to deal with social media and how you really internalize the fact that you do what you do for you, and that other people's opinions don't necessarily matter. Obviously, it matters in a competition setting because that's what you're playing to, but after the show and standing by the intellectual property of who Marcia is and why Marcia does what she does, it was learning to be more secure in my thoughts and intentions and not allowing other people's ‘I don't like that personally’ energy to affect me.

I’m glad you mentioned your lip sync against Anetra because it is now being considered one of the top lip syncs in Drag Race herstory. What do you remember the most from that moment, and what were your thoughts watching it back?

Number one, that is not the kind of song that I usually lip sync to (laughs). You know how we have the lip sync songs on little iPods? Leading up to that week, I was listening to that song in particular so much because I was like, if I have to do this, I need to know it very well, or else I’m going to look really stupid. I mean, in that moment, you’re just doing whatever you can to stay. I was focused on giving a good show, and you can see the response from the other queens and the judges, but most of the time, you don't know what they're responding to. You're like, “Oh, did I do something? Did she do something? Did we do something together?”

When Anetra jumped over me, I had no clue that happened. Someone told me that she jumped over me, and I was like, what? I honestly had no idea. Then watching it back, people obviously went nuts. The whole room was certain that I was staying, but it was the best way to go out. It was like a celebration of the experience rather than a somber thing.

You are also now known as the queen with the most consecutive safes. How does that feel?

(Laughs) That is so funny to me, but I think it’s also a little misleading. I think it kind of indicates that I was just in the middle of the pack throughout the whole season, but I was in the top in the first episode when we had the most queens showing what they thought were their best attributes. The fact that I stood out from 16 other girls; I had a great Snatch Game, which is infamously one of the hardest challenges in the competition; I brought some beautifully constructed garments in the design challenges, and while I was technically safe every episode, yes, I did serve a lot of highs.

Stay up-to-date and connect with Marcia by following her on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @marciax3nyc. For more information on Denver Pride, visit denverpride.org.