Wigstock Returns From the Dead

NEW YORK — Sometime around 1984, a group of inebriated drag queens left the Pyramid Club in the East Village in Manhattan and wound up at Tompkins Square Park, where a spontaneous performance before a bunch of homeless people turned into a festival called Wigstock.

For a decade and a half, it was an annual rite on New York City’s LGBT calendar, a “circuit party” for people who wouldn’t normally be caught dead on the circuit. It outgrew the park and moved to the piers along the West Side Highway.

Then something happened, according to its founder, Lady Bunny. “It rained,” she said.

Not once, but two years in a row.

Some of the queens scheduled to perform were annoyed about their running mascara, but the bigger issue was ticket buyers, who largely stayed home. With money reserves depleted and a downturn in night life (as part of Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s quality-of-life initiatives), Wigstock died in 2001.

But it didn’t completely fade away. A mini-Wigstock took place in Tompkins Square Park over the next few years as part of the Howl Festival. In 2015 and 2016, there was an evening cruise in New York Harbor.

Now Wigstock is coming back to life this Labor Day weekend, on Sept. 1 at the newly rebranded Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport. And it’s easy to see why it’s happening.

The audience for drag is ballooning. “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is an Emmy-award winning series on VH1. The show has spawned its own festival, DragCon, which will take place in New York next month. And drag’s sway in popular culture can be found everywhere these days, including music (see Katy Perry and Lady Gaga), television (“Pose” and skits on “Saturday Night Live”) and musicals (the revival of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” first starring Neil Patrick Harris).

The idea to resurrect Wigstock came from Harris’ husband, David Burtka, an actor and chef. Harris had never attended. Back when the festival was in full swing, he was based on the West Coast and not fully out of the closet professionally.

But he had heard a lot about it, especially when he landed “Hedwig” and moved to New York. (He and Burtka now own a town house in Harlem.)

“It seemed so nasty and exciting and, even kind of horny,” Harris said.

Why allow it to become another thing mourned on the website Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York?

So he and Burtka reached out to Lady Bunny, who welcomed the chance to work with a celebrity whose stature will only grow in 6-inch pumps. Harris will also be performing and producing this year’s Wigstock with Lady Bunny. The two brought in other partners, including Oscar-winning producer Bruce Cohen (“American Beauty,” “Milk”), the production company Matador (“Banksy Does New York”) and Pride Media, which publishes Out magazine and The Advocate.

The tentative performance list includes: Alaska, Alex Newell, Amanda Lepore, Barbara Tucker, Basil, Bianca Del Rio, Bob the Drag Queen, Candis Cayne, Charlene Incarnate, Darnelle XV, Desmond Is Amazing, Dina Martina, Dita Von Teese, Heklina, Jackie Beat, Jada Valenciaga, Jinkx Monsoon, Joey Arias, Justin Vivian Bond, Kevin Aviance, Latrice Royale, Lina Bradford, Linda Simpson, Lypsinka, Murray Hill, Peaches Christ, Peppermint, Raven O, Sherry Vine, Taylor Mac, Varla Jean Merman and Willam.

If the list isn’t dominated by “RuPaul’s Drag Race” personalities, that’s perhaps by design.

“A lot of people only see drag on TV and they’re watching people lip-sync because they’re about to lose,” Harris said. “I want to see people doing song after song of what they do best, and let everyone applaud and appreciate on their terms.”

Also, there’s a friendly rivalry between Lady Bunny and RuPaul. The two were roommates in the West Village in the early 1990s and have a complicated and competitive history.

RuPaul got famous by selling drag to a mainstream audience, while spreading a message of universal love and acceptance. Lady Bunny remains countercultural and indie at heart. Hurling insults and throwing shade is an essential part of her game.

Tellingly, RuPaul is not scheduled to perform at Wigstock.

Harris said he wanted Wigstock to remain true to its East Village roots, but serve “everybody.”

Lady Bunny has some concerns about bringing back Wigstock.

For starters, she frets that millennials may not applaud with appropriate enthusiasm. “Will anybody put down their cellphones long enough?” she said. But she is pleased about the upgraded space.

“The venue is gorgeous,” she said. “We even have a toilet in the dressing room.”