Spanish Marie Drag Queens Will Perform Lady Gaga's Mayhem In Its Entirety

As far as Jellika Boom knows, no South Florida drag queens have ever performed an entire album, front to back, without breaks or intermissions.

But that's just the feat she and her drag sisters will take on this weekend when they perform Lady Gaga's latest album, Mayhem, at Kendall's Spanish Marie. The brewery's drag series recently marked its first anniversary with a PowerPop Girls theme party, a crossover between the Powerpuff Girls and the current crop of main pop girls: Charli XCX, Chappell Roan, and Sabrina Carpenter.

Boom has been performing in drag for four years, but she says she got involved with Spanish Marie when she saw the venue's photos on Instagram and was struck by its "vibe, aesthetic, and aura." Following her instincts, she called the brewery directly to pitch a drag series.

"One thing about me, girl — I'm a businesswoman. I called, I said, 'Can I speak to the manager?' I went a little Karen," she tells New Times. She got the green light and became the brewery's drag show director, performing alongside drag queens Sting Dion, Regina Cocoa, and Natsh D'Witshes Venom.

Heading into year two, the queens of Spanish Marie are staying hungry, with their ambitious take on Mayhem setting the tone for the drag series' evolution. Boom dreamed up the idea — "each song, from beginning to end, back-to-back, no breaks, no skips, no intermission" — before the album was released.

She thought the performance would work because "Gaga's a phenomenon with the girls, gays, theys, everyone." But as the album release date approached, Boom says she had second thoughts.

"My drag sister was like, 'Yeah, girl, let's do it!' But I said, 'Wait, let me listen to the album 'cause, no tea, if the album's a flop, we ain't doing that."

The album was, indeed, not a flop. Mayhem has garnered Gaga's best reviews in well over a decade, is a major commercial success, and, perhaps more importantly, has been well-received among her fans as well as the general public. In short, it's a hit "with the girls, gays, theys, everyone."

Crucially, Boom loved it, too. The morning of its release, she called up Dion, Cocoa, and Venom to tell them the show was on. "Between the hours of 9:30 and 11 a.m., I called each of these girls individually. I woke all of them up.'" Within three hours, she'd confirmed with the brewery, secured DJ Sabi for the gig, and got the setlist together, giving each performer their number one song pick and assigning the rest. "I'm a fair diva," she says. "I'm a fair producer."

As the show approaches, she hopes Gaga's Little Monsters will show up and show out. "I wanna see Mayhem merch, I wanna see y'all dressed up as Gaga," she says. "That's the thing about Spanish Marie shows — whatever theme we do, whatever vibe it is, we always encourage people to dress up."

Don't be discouraged if you haven't perfected the art of pop star cosplays — those who've been to the venue's drag shows over the past year know it follows a true DIY spirit. "That's the point of Spanish Marie," says Boom. "When you come here, I really want everyone to feel included and comfortable and happy. And to be honest, I feel like at a lot of drag venues, you don't really get that nowadays. It's no shade, but it's just the truth, and people feel that."

Mayhem Drag Show. 9 p.m. Saturday, April 5, at Spanish Marie Brewery, 14251 SW 120th St., Ste. 108, Miami; 305-456-5490; spanishmariebrewery.com. Admission is free with RSVP via eventbrite.com.