Billy wear the headliner of Manchester Pride 2025, alter-egos and being a “multi-hyphenate”
‘I still find myself in the trenches’
There is not much to which Billy Porter did not put his name. He appeared in Broadway and the West End, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, strutting in the Met Gala, played the role of Fairy Godmother, launched his own makeup line, and he is now just out of the way to be named Egot.
Originally from Pittsburgh, the 55 -year -old artist is known for having created the role of Lola in Boots Kinky, after his debut on Broadway in 2013. His role as Tell prayer on the successful television program poses, strengthened him as a familiar name in the world and earned him Emmy and Golden Globe Awards.
And the next step as a chain on its arch of achievements will be a performance in mind at Manchester Pride this weekend. He will face the procedure, alongside the star of Little Mix Leigh-Anne, Saturday August 23) at the new Festival Tuesday Festival at Depot Mayfield.
Addressing The Manchester Evening News, Billy said that he was “delighted to come and live ”, Manchester, having properly visited a performance during the big evening of musicals at Area Ao at the start of the year.
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While keeping silent on what his performance will imply exactly, Billy teases that there are very special guests who join him on stage as he performs songs and classic songs from his latest albums by Black Mona Lisa.
“Black Mona Lisa is my alter ego,” said Billy to men in history behind the name of the album – who has since taken a more important meaning for the interpreter. “When I introduce myself as Billy Porter, it is the most traditional space I occupy. But when I make my consumer music, I am Black Mona Lisa.”
Billy says that, in a way, Black Mona Lisa is his version of the Lady Gaga de Beyonce. It is a stage name, yes, but it is also a completely different personality. This is another version of Billy Porter, he insists.
“I have been in this company for 35 years-I am a multi-hyphenate,” he explains. “People have taken Billy to wear at different times in their lives. Sometimes it creates confusion and sometimes it is really difficult to exploit all the public of different spaces.
“I have a fashion audience, I have a theater audience, I have a movie and television audience, I have a musical audience. I’m trying to bring them together, it’s like this mountain that I try to climb.
“The people of my theater do not know that my album exists, they always tell me about the fat **** of 30 years ago. Like, there is so much more work that exists that they like they don’t even know.
“What Manchester sees is the confluence of this. Yes, you see Billy Porter, and this version of Billy Porter is called Black Mona Lisa.
“This is exactly the heritage that I want to leave on this planet. The Mona Lisa is history, it is present and it is a future forever. I would like to disappear when I started from this land. I would like to continue to be influential once I went to the Kingdom.”
Between the two performing in Manchester Pride, Billy also represents the role of master of ceremonies in the Broadway Run of Cabaret. Marking the end of production, he appears alongside the former star of the famous Big Brother Marisha Wallace after their recent race together in the West End. And it’s historic.
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“I feel part of the resistance,” says Billy about the appearance in the show. “I am at the center of my goal and my vocation – do this kind of work at this particular moment is like my ministry. It is not lost for me that the three tracks of this production, at the moment, be black. This is something that has never happened in the history of 60 years of the series.
“The parallel of what is happening in America makes it very, very real and very premonitory. I feel part of the conversation through my art, which is actually the goal for me.”
He also prepares to work on the new film by Prequel Games Hunger Games, has just launched a new beauty line (also called Black Mona Lisa) and has just made a show in the West End. But it is his music where he currently exploits a large part of his energy – and he is ready to “throw my heart” in Manchester Pride.
“I still find myself in the trenches,” he explains. “With the film, television and all these other things, I am up there. But, in terms of music, I am always building a reputation in a general public space – in a space outside the theater.”
But Billy says he is still trying to stay anchored among all this, agreeing that stress does not seem good for him. “No, I’m not doing a pressure,” he insists. “I don’t like pressure. I do my best to maintain my mental health and my peace. I work very hard not to undergo the pressure from others. ”
However, Billy clearly has frustrations with the state of the world at the moment. This is one of the reasons why he says that pride is still important today, despite that he had hoped that such a need would have expired now.
“When I went out in 1985, we went directly to the fronts to fight for our lives, and pride was where we gathered,” he explains. “We could all come together in a single space and remember that we win together. I never thought we would be back here.
“We have to go to each other and to show and understand that it is only when we join what we conquered evil. What is happening at the moment is evil.”
And widening what pride means for him, Billy says that it is actually quite simple. “Pride is a community,” he explains. “Pride is love, pride is a manifestation and pride is a party.
“I am delighted to come and experience Manchester’s pride.”
Manchester Pride 2025 takes place from Friday to Monday (August 22 and 25). Billy Porter will occur on the Tuesday Gras stage, at Depot Mayfield, Saturday August 23.
