Founded by suffragists in 1921, as a center for the campaign and advocacy for women’s right to vote, The Town Hall has hosted innumerable socio-political and cultural milestones throughout its more than one-hundred-year history. The latest in the institution’s diverse and progressive programming was the all-new one-night-only performance on Thursday, June 26, of Nymphia Wind BANANAS?, marking the beginning of Pride weekend and the NYC theatrical debut of the titular drag icon, costume designer, and winner of season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race – the first Taiwanese queen to do so.
Also known as the “Banana Buddha” for her love of the tropical fruit and the color yellow – the audience of jubilant fans was invited to wear yellow or Nymphia Wind-inspired drag for the “yellow carpet” experience and photo ops with large inflated bananas inside the lobby – Nymphia was joined by an all Asian and Asian-American company comprised of dancers Fiona Tsang, Jeffrey Pelayo, Klint Dimpas, and Rio Kikuchi, and special guest queens Angel Au, Chiang Weiii, Draggy Boo Boo, Felicia Oh, Hannah Monina, Shia Ho, and Hibiscus, each with a featured solo of their signature lip-syncing, dancing, posing, acrobatic moves, and sashaying around the stage to pre-recorded music in a dazzling over-the-top array of costumes and wigs.
The event was hosted by the absolutely hilarious Jamaican-born and NYC-based Shequida (not only a master of spot-on comedic timing and improv, but also a trained opera singer who attended Julliard), directly addressing the house, making self-deprecating jokes about age, weight, determination to find a date, meager pay, not being the first choice, or even the second, to emcee (RuPaul wanted way more than $150), and Nymphia mispronouncing Shequida as Chiquita (after the famous banana), challenging the international audience to name the languages they speak and responding in those foreign tongues, letting the profanities fly with abandon (till noticing a young person in the seats . . . for a minute), and introducing the performers in each segment.
Nymphia opened the show with a surreal piece of performance art exploring her birth as a male, struggle to free herself, and rebirth as the sensational drag superstar. Prior to the scene, Shequida auctioned off a personal encounter with Nymphia, and the winner was brought up onto the stage to peel open the banana from which she was born. The dancers then taped a ‘man’nequin to her, and she writhed and fought to secure her release, tearing the figure apart, pulling out long white feathers from within, collapsing, and re-emerging as her true reborn self in fabulous yellow drag.
Her subsequent performances highlighted her renowned skills of lip-syncing and dancing (choreography by Chieh Hsiung, Marc Nuñez, and Spencer Clark), her acrobatic agility (effortlessly doing splits, cartwheels, headstands, and more), her irreverent wit (the phallic associations of the banana and her red sequined hand mic did not go unnoticed), her bold interactions with the audience, moving through the aisles and on top of the seats, and of course her stunning sartorial obsession, ranging from her defining banana-inspired looks (at one point taking hidden bananas out of her lavish wig and gown and sharing them with the audience), to Goth S&M, old Hollywood glamor, and the balloon-releasing cape she wore for her Drag Race finale (all costumes designed by the star), enhanced with colorful lighting and backed by active video projections (by 3F Visual Design) on a full-scale upstage screen. As promised, the result was a wildly entertaining evening of solos and group numbers, reflecting her “inner journey” and “providing a portal into her chaotic mind.”
The show ended with streams of sheer fabric in the colors of the rainbow unfurling from above, Nymphia re-introducing and thanking the entire company, then wishing everyone “Happy Pride,” removing her heavy enormous wig, and closing with a monologue expressing the significance of The Town Hall, gratitude to the audience, and “everything.”
If you missed the raucous high-energy live NYC premiere of Nymphia Wind BANANAS?, you can hope for the release of production shots and videos of the show from the several photographers who were there recording it, and you can check out her website for must-have merch and must-see upcoming appearances.
Running Time: Approximately one hour and 50 minutes, including an intermission.
Nymphia Wind BANANAS? played on Thursday, June 26, 2025, at The Town Hall, 123 W 43rd Street, NYC.
