“RuPaul’s Drag Race Live” to Close at Flamingo

By Scott Roeben, on November 12 2026
2 min read 1 comment
Las Vegas Las Vegas Shows

Some deliberately oblique scoop we shared first has been confirmed officially. “RuPaul’s Drag Race Live” will close at Flamingo. This news is even more bittersweet because, coincidentally, Deliberately Oblique was the name of our band in high school.

We Tweeted about the looming closure of “Drag Race,” urging readers to get there ASAP, and the following day Entertainment Weekly magazine confirmed the news. The show closes on New Year’s Eve after more than 1,500 performances.

This story came as a surprise to even high-level executives at Caesars Entertainment, mainly because the show is a four-wall deal; Caesars is just the landlord. To those familiar with the show’s ticket sales recently, not a huge surprise.

No one has ever not had fun at a drag show.

We got word of the “RuPaul’s Drag Race Live” closure on Nov. 10, 2026. The intentionally cryptic post went fairly wide, including on Reddit, so it’s possible those rumblings created some pressure to make an official announcement.

Anyway, back to the meat, or possibly chicken cutlets, of the story.

“RuPaul’s Drag Race Live!” is based upon the Emmy Award-winning reality competition series “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” which debuted in 2009 and became a pop culture phenomenon.

The Las Vegas show features a rotating cast of drag queens from the TV show, combining elaborate costumes, lip-sync performances, comedy, singing and dancing with audience participation.

RuPaul doesn’t actually perform in the show, but he co-directed the production with choreographer Jamal Sims.

“RuPaul’s Drag Race Live” opened at Flamingo Las Vegas on Jan. 30, 2020, taking over the former Donny & Marie Showroom.

The show had run about six weeks before being shut down by the pandemic in March 2020. The show reopened Aug. 5, 2021, and has been a fixture at Flamingo ever since.

Do you know this blog at all?

According to Entertainment Weekly, “Among the alums who comprised the show’s elite, rotating casts were Aquaria, Coco Montrese, Derrick Barry, Eureka O’Hara, India Ferrah, Kahanna Montrese, Kameron Michaels, Kim Chi, Naomi Smalls, Shannel, Yvie Oddly, Jaida Essence Hall, Bosco, DeJa Skye, Aja, Latrice Royale, Kennedy Davenport, Lawrence Chaney, Nicky Doll, Plane Jane, Ginger Minj, Onya Nurve, Lady Camden, Kori King, Mirage, Kylie Sonique Love, and many more.”

Objectively, Onya Nurve just wins.

The closure follows on the heels of rumors of lower ticket sales, significant financial losses, cast downsizing and lowered compensation for the remaining performers.

It was probably time.

Mid-tier production shows have been taking a beating in Las Vegas as Sphere, headliners and sports have eroded the middle market’s disposable entertainment dollars.

Mostly, we blame F1.

We’ve heard chatter about a potential move of the show to Venetian, but those talks reportedly fell through. Stay tuned.

When we hear what’s next for the “RuPaul’s Drag Race Live” space, you’ll hear it here first.