DANCING QUEEN

Best known for TV’s Strictly Come Dancing, Johannes Radebe has long coveted the role of Lola, the inspirational drag queen in the musical Kinky Boots whose fierce authenticity clearly resonates with his own. Lyndsey Winship meets him to learn how he’s been preparing for the role of a lifetime

Johannes Radebe is just out of a long day’s rehearsals and off for a make-up tutorial. ‘How to put on my drag make-up!’ he tells me in that familiar Jojo voice: long, honeyed vowels, often punctuated with a giggle, his radiant warmth emanating down the phone line. It’s not the first time that Radebe has donned drag. This is the man who wowed prime-time BBC One in patent heels on Strictly Come Dancing, where he’s been one of everyone’s favourite pro dancers since 2018. ‘I’ve been invited to do a performance here and there,’ he says. ‘I might have put on some heels, a fabulous dress that I bought at a market and a cheap wig, a Shirley Bassey moment. But I was lip-syncing, as drag queens do.’ What the…

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Musicals (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2025

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