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Look out, Broadway: a dynamic new trio is threatening to take over the spotlight. Brooke Lynn Hytes, Symone, and Marcia Marcia Marcia are now starring in Stop! That! Train!, the wacky film from the world of RuPaul’s Drag Race. Together, the Queens play three fabulous train attendants, who, in addition to overseeing the first-class cabin, also treat viewers to original musical numbers in the film.
“We learned and recorded the numbers in studio on Friday, learned choreography for one Saturday, learned choreography for one Sunday, and then we filmed them on Tuesday and Wednesday of that week,” Marcia Marcia Marcia told BroadwayWorld. “It was incredibly, incredibly fast.”
For Symone, the fast production schedule actually served as an advantage. “We don’t have time to second-guess ourselves or think we did something wrong,” she shared. “We just have to put our best foot forward every time and just be trusting that we did it.”
In the first number, the three introduce themselves to the audience with a song about the (lack of) safety rules aboard the locomotive. In addition to being hilarious, this concept-musicalizing the mundane- has real-life applications to Brooke Lynn Hytes.
“My financial advisor, literally the minute he starts talking, my eyes just cross. And I always tell him, ‘Explain it to me like I am four years old. Stick figures, I want.’ And if he did a musical number, bitch, that would be everything.”
In between the musical moments, the movie (like the train) barrels ahead at full speed, with fast-paced humor and abundant visual gags that follow in the tradition of 80s-era slapstick comedies like Airplane! and The Naked Gun. RuPaul even joins the party, playing the President of the United States herself.
All of this makes it a perfect environment for over-the-top theatricality, and the Drag Race alums shared which three Broadway artists they would like in their own train cabin, choosing a powerhouse group that includes André De Shields, current star of Cats: The Jellicle Ball.
“I know we would have a good time. I know he would impart wisdom on us, but also still turn up with us. I just want to talk to him,” Symone shared. Watch the full interview to find out their other picks, as well as more insights into their experience making the film. Stop! That! Train! is now in theaters.
Learn more about the making of the musical number in our interview with director Adam Shankman and leading stars Ginger Minj and Jujubee.
Photo Credit: World of Wonder/Bleecker Street
