Last Christmas we kicked off the festive season in the campest, most colourful way with A Christmas Gaiety at London’s Royal Albert Hall presented by the legend herself, Peaches Christ and superstar conductor, Edwin Outwater. The event was such a major success that the duo will be returning this Christmas with an even more outlandish edition on 12th December.

The pair have conjured up the greatest Yuletide extravaganza variety show, this year with performances from Sandi Toksvig, Baga Chipz, La Gateau Chocolat and the iconic Sister of Perpetual Idulgence, Sister Roma. Also joining them will be the ballroom’s Jay Jay Revlon, the LGBT voices The Fourth Choir and the BBC’s Concert Orchestra.

A Christmas Gaiety is such a special night, taking over one of London’s most historic venues and creating a queer space, allowing the community and allies to celebrate Christmas how it should be done – with crude carols, glamour and tomfoolery!

Edwin, great to talk to you. We’re already getting hyped for your return this year! How is everything coming along?
Great. I think A Christmas Gaiety is going to be even more outrageous, more heartfelt, more everything this year. It’s just a wonderful mix of things. We’re thrilled about it. We have our full line-up now which is just amazing. Sandi Toksvig is joining us and she is just the coolest person ever. She is just so game for whatever comes up.

And you have Sister Roma herself joining you too this year! We love Sister Roma!
Roma is just an incredible person. Her role in the show is to bring the comedy and to be made fun of by Peaches. But sometimes Roma gets a moment to have her own laugh at Peaches. I remember our first year in San Francisco we performed Jingle Bells. They passed out bells to everyone onstage and then Peaches gave Roma a cowbell.

Haha….and who else is attending this year?
Jay Jay Revlon is bringing the ballroom. The fourth choir is coming back which is an LGBTQ choir. We sing the twelve gays of christmas and you can just imagine what the five rings are. Anna Lapwood is an amazing artist in residence at The Royal Albert Hall and played the pipe organ there, so we had lots of organ jokes last year. Maybe we will have less this year because we made them all last year! Haha…

How great to be having this at The Royal Albert Hall too.
Absolutely. I remember talking to Marisha Wallace last year and she was like, ‘How did you guys get in here?’ I’m really grateful to them for bringing us here. It’s important for them as well to make The Royal Albert Hall a queer space. They went all out by doing this.

Does A Christmas Gaiety 2024 look hopeful?
I will say that without giving anything away it is looking very bright for us in the UK. We’re expanding a little bit this year and going to The Glasshouse in Newcastle as well. So the whole idea of what we are doing is growing for sure. The more support we get, the more likely we are to keep going.

The Ghost of Christmas Future! What about the past? How did it all begin? Take us back in time…
At the very beginning, six years ago, Peaches and I were almost assigned the idea by the San Francisco Symphony. Like many venues they put on a lot of entertainment over the Christmas period. Then, Richard Lonsdorf, a friend of mine at the Symphony said to me, ‘You know what about people who don’t have kids?! Or the people who just want to go out and have an adult holiday night out?! They need something!’ The holidays also have a special meaning for queer people. It can be a very sad time for a lot of them in terms of relationships with their families. Many of them feel isolated. So A Christmas Gaiety has taken on a deeper meaning every year. It’s more about chosen family being together, celebrating Christmas the way they want to.

And what about the structuring of the show?
The idea was like, ‘Let’s do a Peaches Christ Christmas Show with Edwin.’ Then we both came up with the idea of doing a variety show format because I grew up watching variety shows, like Carol Burnett or The Muppet Show. So we were like, ‘What happens if you do a really campy Variety show where you really have no idea what’s coming next.’ It has its outrageous moments and its emotional moments.

Have you noticed a difference between US and UK audiences?
Some things are definitely different in the UK. They participate more. They stand up. They sing. I think there is more of a singing culture, partly because of pantomimes. I would say the BBC concert orchestra was less shocked by what we were doing than the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. They were absolutely game and they came up with things that I didn’t even expect, things that I had no awareness of. Everyone gets what we are trying to do, but the UK gets it a little more easily. I grew up on British Humour, shows like Monty Python, it’s great to be part of it in a certain way.

What else are you working on at the moment?
I’m musical director of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Right now I’m in the middle of a classical concert cycle. Last week I was with the Royal Philharmonic in Orlando actually. We did shows on consecutive days, first with Harry Connick Jr then with Diana Ross, then two Broadway Stars and then a Choral Concert. I’m exhausted! But I did have my special diva moment with Diana Ross last week. When you looked out into the audience at her concert there were plenty of gays out there and she saw them too. It was a wonderful connection when she went out and shook hands with people. She is so fabulous, she is nearly 80 years old and did four costume changes with no intermission.

Talking of divas, we are named after the biggest-selling single of 2001. So we always ask what is your favourite Mariah Carey song?
Her cover of ‘I’ll Be There’ from Unplugged is a life-changer, unbelievable. There is not a year that we don’t do…wait, are we doing it this year? It’s almost unimaginable that we could be doing A Christmas Gaiety without ‘All I Want For Christmas Is You’.

I’m happy to hear your performance in the show but I never need to hear her sing that song again.
Haha…I’m happy she got all that money, she deserves it!

A Christmas Gaiety takes place at London’s The Royal Albert Hall on 12th December.
Tickets are onsale now at www.royalalberthall.com