Life’s a drag! A day in the life of producer and queen, Magnolia Masquerade

On most days, Andrew Curran, better known as his drag persona Magnolia Masquerade, is a whirlwind of activity, brainstorming ideas for future shows, creating the props that will bring them to life, running the rehearsals with other drag queens who fill out the cast — but he looks almost peaceful in the hours leading up to one of his performances. Starting around 2 p.m., Curran plops himself down in front of a tiny, well-lit mirror in his bedroom to prepare for Magnolia’s performance that evening at Last Ditch in Greenfield. Abba and a mix of show tunes plays quietly as a gentle breeze wafts in through his open window, sunlight streaming in the room.

It’s one of the only times Curran slows down. He typically spends around four hours painting his face, taking his time to make sure everything is just so ahead of his evening show. You can’t rush perfection.

It’s not his favorite part of the gig — Curran prefers the nitty gritty of getting a show off the ground, fussing over every detail until he can bring the show to life the way he sees it in his head. Putting on the padding and the makeup, the heavy wigs, the sparkly shoes with a too-high heel — it can all be overstimulating. But the makeup is a necessary part of her character, and so it must be done. Tellingly, his favorite part of the makeup routine is the first step: laying down the foundation.

Curran, who was born and raised in Westfield and graduated from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2022 with a degree in English, has always loved a good story, and his drag persona arose in part as a way to tell them in a theatrical way. Magnolia was conceived in 2020, after watching entirely too much “RuPaul’s Drag Race” during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally, Curran posted a Snapchat story floating the idea of a drag persona named August Masquerade. Eventually, he landed on Magnolia instead, and two years to the day after that post, he was hosting his first drag show at the Marigold Theater in Easthampton. Today, Magnolia is well known throughout the drag scene in the Valley and regularly performs at and produces events in Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden counties.

Personality-wise, Curran and Magnolia are quite similar. Like Magnolia, Curran is observant, confident and dramatic both in and out of drag. Magnolia likes to soak in the spotlight, her routines are always tight and her makeup’s on point. As an observer of both, it seems as if Magnolia magnifies what’s already part of Curran; when he first started thinking of characters, it didn't take long for Magnolia to burst fully formed from Andrew’s imagination.

“I knew that storytelling was the root of everything I had thought of doing in the world … anything, there’s a sense of storytelling in all of that,” Curran said. “Once I really dove into drag and ‘Drag Race’ and all the things you can do in drag, my brain kind of exploded with all the potential there is to tell the stories I want to tell.”

Magnolia isn’t just a drag queen, but an architect of her monthly shows at the Marigold, where she’s had a residency for three years. Every show is different, with themes ranging from Y2K to Alice in Wonderland to pirates. She isn’t just performing in the shows — she is building them from the ground up: creator, director and star, all in one.

“The entire show is produced by me … I come up with the theme, I make the poster, write the script, I cast the show, come up with the numbers I want to do, and I’ll delegate tasks,” Curran said. “I have people there to help me out to get it off the ground, but if I wasn’t there to hold it up, it would crumble.”

Doing drag is a full-time job without the full-time pay — such is the life of an artist — but he doesn’t have to go far for his other job. He works part-time at the Marigold doing whatever needs doing, mainly social media and odd jobs.

Each day looks a little different; planning days are different from rehearsal days are different from show days. But it’s safe to say that no matter the day, Curran is always, always thinking about his next show. A self-described “Kris Jenner,” Curran is always aspiring to pull off bigger and better performances, breaking the “cookie cutter” mold of many drag shows. His most recent performance, Muses in Wonderland, was a fully-produced and choreographed show, less traditional drag and more like a Broadway production, which takes mountains of prep work.

Curran says “most of my waking hours” are spent thinking about his shows. “It doesn’t feel like work when I’m doing that, because I am just lost in the fantasy.”

Shows start getting prepped more than a month beforehand, sometimes earlier, depending on how elaborate they are — Muses in Wonderland had months of preparation, and he started writing his upcoming August show in March. Curran writes everything himself, casts the other queens who will perform, and designs a poster for the upcoming event, making sure he has it finished so he can announce it at the previous month’s show. Once the marketing portion is done, it’s time to gather materials — costumes, wigs and props. And Magnolia is known for her props.

Tucked in a corner of the Marigold’s basement is a veritable mountain of cardboard props, all piled on top of each other from previous shows: two brightly painted treasure chests à la Final Fantasy that were later repurposed for a pirate themed show, a ghostly Cheshire Cat smile haunting a dark corner and a 10-foot pair of pillars that hold up a Greek monument, all of it created by Magnolia herself, the self-appointed “Queen of Cardboard.”

She’s a crafty queen, and when Curran first got the inkling that Magnolia was going to come to life, he taught himself how to sew and style wigs (learning from dozens of RuPaul drag queens who come to the show having never touched a sewing machine). Curran makes almost everything himself, working at his sewing table in his apartment and buying an outfit only if he needs to.

Rehearsals are typically once a week, more if needed, with one or two extra rehearsals the week of the show. Curran is buzzing that week, putting together finishing touches, wrapping up props, costumes and anything else that comes with putting on a show. It’s a big job, and one he doesn’t take lightly.

“I think it can clearly be seen when you come to the shows the amount of work that’s going into it, but there is just so much more behind the scenes work than you can ever imagine. When you’re getting into casting a show equitably or fairly, making sure you’re doing your part as a show runner … I’m certainly no role model, I’m not Mr. Rogers, but people are listening to me,” Curran said. “There’s a sense of responsibility that comes with running anything.”

On the day of the show, he’ll get up at 9 or 10 a.m. and make sure the room is ready, grabbing a tip jar, tidying the room and hanging up “cheat sheets” with the names of the numbers and performers. For shows he hosts at the Marigold, he’ll do his makeup at the theater, so that she’s ready and full dressed by 7 p.m. when doors open. Queens, bartenders and other staff usually start arriving around 6 p.m., touching up makeup, slipping into their costumes and chatting with each other. Backstage is a lighthearted, friendly affair, even if there is a slightly nervous energy in the air.

“I still always get really nervous going on, because there’s always so many things that I’m doing for the shows. There’s things I want to go well, the props, the quick changes, the reveals, it could be anything … it could go wrong in so many different ways. But you’ve just got to send it,” Curran said.

Though she’s doing the heavy lifting on stage during her shows, Magnolia also does laps beforehand, talking to her fellow queens and audience members and checking in with her stagehands Madeline Choiniere Barr and Fleur Kutha, who both wear many hats to make sure the magic happens. She’ll give a 15 minute warning to the audience and queens, and then her game face comes on — she locks herself in a room to do some meditating and deep breathing exercises to center herself before she steps into the spotlight.

And then … the whole world melts away. The audience is transported to space, or under the sea, or Wonderland. With her trademark “Bonsoir, bonsoir, bonsoir!” to the crowd, Magnolia stewards her audience through a portal, taking them to fantastical places where there’s always plenty of laughs and stunts. She won’t get home until well after midnight — after the show, she likes to enjoy the fruits of her labor, hanging out with her friends and counting up the money they made (she’s also her own accountant, of course). But none of that matters when she’s in the middle of telling a fabulous story.

“The way that I’m doing drag — I only like it because I get to tell stories. I love the fantasy, I love being this picturesque character, I do. It’s horribly uncomfortable. I don’t necessarily enjoy putting on makeup. It’s fun to have a beautiful face … I love the fantasy, but I don’t necessarily do drag because I want to feel that fantasy, I want to feel that fantasy in tandem with telling a story the audience is attached to,” Curran said. “I like being immersed in a world that is not the one that’s around us, I suppose there’s a sort of escapism in it. There’s a whimsy to it that you don’t always get, there’s that childlike sense of wonder, there’s that ‘let’s play pretend.’ … we never stopped playing pretend, guys!”

For as long as she can, Magnolia will keep that childlike sense of wonder alive once a month at the Marigold. Sometimes, words can only go so far — you really have to be there to understand.