This year’s final full month of summer is set to start off with some serious drag-centric sizzle, when local fave Yuhua Hamasaki returns to the iconic place where she once reigned as Miss Stonewall. Performed on Wednesday, August 6,  7pm at The Stonewall Inn, An Evening with Yuhua promisees a unique and dishy cabaret experience with the RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 10 alum. It also functions as an exclusive, in-person event that precedes the August 13 premiere of Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale, which finds our beloved Yuhua as one of the cunning contestants (click here for trailers featuring the cast). Chelsea Community News recently chatted with the Chinese-American drag queen, singer, and actor–and emerged with the below Q&A.

Scott Stiffler, for Chelsea Community News (CCNews): By the time you perform An Evening with Yuhua at Stonewall, the premiere of Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale will be just a week away. Since production wrapped up, has it been easy or difficult to stay quiet about everything that happened?

Yuhua (Yuhua): Honestly, it’s been quite easy!!!  I think when you’re more quiet about it and let the show play without saying any spoilers, that’s when the fun and magic begins. It gives the audience anticipation–and to expect the unexpected. If I were to say things that happened and it hasn’t aired  yet, it ruins the fun for the show and the viewers.  I can seriously keep a secret!

CCNews: Did your previous Drag Race experience cause you to approach Slaysian Royale as a different kind of competitor?

Yuhua: Absolutely! I’ve learned that if it’s not now, it’s never. If you feel like you’re going to save something, whether it’s an outfit or a thought for later, there might not be a later. 

CCNews: So if there’s a training montage of you preparing for this new competition, what’s the song that plays, and what are the various activities we see you doing, to strengthen mind and body?

Yuhua: RuPaul’s Cover Girl. It’s a song you can perform, runway walk, do your make up to, dance, sing. or just prance around in your room.  The melody is such a bop and the lyrics are so self-motivating, for you to just be yourself and own up everything that you are, The song is great for training mentally, physically, and spiritually that can make you slayyyyy on Drag Race!

CCNews: The advice and hindsight you gave in your “It Gets Better” PSA (be a boy, be a girl, or just be yourself) was great. At what point did you begin to live that for yourself? And what else can we say to a young person for whom the “It Gets Better” time seems like a million years away?

Yuhua: Through drag, I ended up learning that what we put on ourselves are…. just clothes. These are all gender roles and duties that were placed by society for us to do what they want us to do. If you like something for yourself, then do it! For instance, a lot of people are having a hard time wrapping their heads around whether men can wear dresses or not, and the answer is: Absolutely! About 100 years ago, it was considered breaking the law and too perverted for a woman to cut their hair short and wear pants. And now? They’re slaying it! I think if we just normalize clothes as just clothes, then we would be less judgy of each other and allow ourselves to be our most authentic selves.

CCNews: Talk about the upcoming show at the Stonewall. Short of giving us the whole set list right now, what can the audience expect; old stuff, new stuff, music comedy, dishing, etc.?

Yuhua: Expect a blast! I love to have fun on stage and love to see the audience having fun as well!  Expect new stuff and some old favorites: Comedy, music, and of course–draaaaag!!!

CCNews: Did your drag artistry, your personal outlook, your performance style change during your reign as Miss Stonewall? What distinguishes that space from the other many venues you’ve played?

Yuhua: For sure! I think even as humans outside of being artists, we’re constantly evolving and learning.  Since Miss Stonewall, I’ve learned to be even more detailed with everything that I do because preparing and during a pageant, you have to be super detailed with everything. I thank the pageant system for helping shape the person that I am today, especially by starting it out at Stonewall. It is such an honor because it is such a landmark and part of our Queer History–I respect it too much.

CCNews: Of the queens you’ve shared gigs with over the years, who has been an especially fun and successful comedy partner? What performers, and what types of comedy, make you laugh? 

Yuhua: Lagaja Estranja! That queen is a mess! A chaos! And a disaster! But she’s so great to work with and we bounce off of each other so wonderfully!

CCNews: Thanks for Q&Aing with www.ChelseaCommunityNews.com. Feel free to use this space to mention anything not covered in the above questions. And our sister website (www.LGBTQCommunityNews.nyc) launches on October 7, 2025. Will you return then, for another Q&A with us? 

Yuhua: Yes.

An Evening with Yuhua is performed on Wednesday, August 6, 7pm at The Stonewall Inn (53 Christopher St., NYC). Tickets are $22 for general admission or $34 for VIP tickets that include reserved front table seating and a meet-and-greet/photo op. You must be 21+ with valid state-issued ID to attend. Please note that there is also a 2-drink minimum. Tickets and info at www.SpinCycleNYC.com.

ALSO UPCOMING; Yuhua is doing two show at The Foundry (in the Berkshires), Click Here for info on Saturday, August 23’s 3pm Drag Story Hour and Click Here for info on Saturday, August 23’s 7:30pm performance of An Evening With Yuhua.

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