RuPaul's Drag Race

RuPaul's Drag Race, its quest to find "America's next drag superstar", is a reality television marvel, surpassing eight seasons. The (all ages) live spin-off, Battle Of The Seasons, has now reached Australia for the first time. Billed are eight of the series' stars — including past winners Sharon Needles, Jinkx Monsoon and Violet Chachki — with judge Michelle Visage, supremely professional and glamourous, as host. (There's no RuPaul.)

The inaugural tour date is at Melbourne's Festival Hall — not the most alluring locale for an "extravaganza", especially in winter. But the show itself is resplendent, being a full celebratory revue with musical numbers, choreographed routines and runway struts. Video clips are screened between.

Early on, Visage quips, "Contrary to popular belief, I was born a biological woman," and expresses her adoration for Kath & Kim. However, the evening's star is Needles — that controversial goth drag artiste from Pittsburgh who trumped Season Four. She brilliantly covers David Bowie's Space Oddity — Lady Gaga would be jelly — and, in the comic Snatch Game slot, affectionately impersonates Caitlyn Jenner. Visage, a '90s house diva, joins the queens for a Broadway-worthy tribute to The Rocky Horror Show before closing the night after 11pm performing Madonna's Take A Bow.