What's on in London: Oscar at the Crown

Oscar at The Crown is an immersive musical - set in a dystopian future.

Taking place in a bunker, this is a post apocalyptic world where the only things that have survived are reality TV, glitter balls, and the complete works of Oscar Wilde.

The show has been running in London for a few months but a cast refresh has seen Jan Sport take on the role of Oscar. Jan is a drag performer known for her work with Stephanie's Child, as well as appearances on Drag Race.

Jan will be appearing in Oscar at the Crown until 16 November and the show is booking through until 4 January.

The cast also includes Kelis Alleyne, Elizabeth Chalmers, Ella Daini, Estelle Denison-French, Luke Farrugia, Zak Marx, Ran Marner, Elinor Morris, Isidro Ridout, Zofia Weretka, and Natalie Yin.

There's a lot going on with this show.

Mashing together the biography of Oscar Wilde, a celebration of reality television, a protest against fascism and homophobia, and a challenge to the erasure of women from history, the narrative isn't particularly coherent but it's best not to overthink it.

What this show has in spades is energy. The volume is turned up, the singers are belting it out, and the dancers are a non-stop throb of dynamic choreo.

The show is designed as a night out. The audience is standing as the performance takes place - it's a one-act, 90-minute production. The expectation is that everyone then stays on to drink and dance.

If you approach this as a fun night out where talented performers are giving it their all, then you'll have a good time.

Jan Sport on How To Date Men

For our podcast, How To Date Men, we caught up with Jan Sport for a behind-the-scenes look at the show.

In the conversation, we talk theatre aspirations, the power of community, and giving Oscar Wilde the Jantasy.

Listen to the episode

This show was created by Mark Mauriello and Andrew Barret Cox - you’ve previously worked with Mark and Andrew before on some of your music releases? Did you have a connection with Oscar at the Crown before the production came to London?

I've known Mark and Andrew for over a decade now, and this show actually was conceived a decade ago in Boston. Mark went to Harvard, I went to Boston Conservatory, and Andrew went to Emerson. And so they wrote the music and the show and the concept of it, and I was merely one of the characters just having a good old time.

I feel like not a lot of people get to say that they've been working on a production for 10 years and it suddenly ends up in the West End. So it's really amazing.

The role of Oscar was originated by Mark Mauriello - did you have to stick to a fairly specific brief on how to play that character or are you giving Oscar a bit of the Jantasy?

It's honouring a lot of the groundwork that Mark has put onto this character for the last decade but also I definitely am putting my own twist on it. The Jantasy is alive and well in the bunker.

How much did you know about Oscar Wilde before being cast in the production? Was he someone that you felt much of a connection with?

It's a show within a show about Oscar Wilde's life - through the guise of this dystopian show.

There's definitely still the flamboyant and fun, crazy out-there Oscar Wilde that we have known and read about. But at the same time, there definitely is a lot of groundedness to it. And we kind of go through the cracks of what Oscar was putting out there and what was actually the truth.

There’s a lot going on in this show - it tells the story of Wilde’s life, set in an underground bunker in a dystopian future, performed as a high-energy musical, as an immersive experience. Is this the musical theatre role that you’ve always dreamed of?

It is. Like, for real.

I started my drag career with a very theatrical sensibility. And so to be able to kind of use what I've learned through drag and be able to bring it to this character is really amazing.

I love what my friends have written - both in the script and in the music. It's definitely something that I know is right up my alley and I'm having such a great time playing it. It's definitely a dream come true.

And London is my favourite city. I'm so happy to be here. It's just all very full-circle, very all-encompassing.

I'm still giving the character of Jan that I've created, but also being able to play a part and be able to really do some more meaty work, as we like to say in the industry. And so it is very nice to be able to kind of marry those two together.

While the show was created 10 years ago, the themes that it's touching on and the emotions it's tapping into seems to resonate really profoundly with a lot that's going on around the world today?

The themes of this show definitely are carrying such weight right now in the world. It's kind of one of those things where it's like if we're not too careful and we don't speak up for who we are and what we believe in and what we believe we were born to be, that we can get down to this dark path that the show kind of takes place around.

The show closes with a song called Glimmer of Light and it's very, very beautiful. It's basically just about the community coming together and looking for a beacon of hope and knowing that the strength of the community coming together can really really bring us closer to that light and I always say it's definitely important right now, especially for the LGBTQIA+ community, but specifically the trans community at this moment. I feel like it's just such a warm embrace through this show and I feel like anybody who's feeling a little lost during these times or feeling a lack of community or any sensibility like that it's a great place to come to just feel like you're a part of something and that you're seen and that you're not alone.

We've got a new season of Drag Race hitting the screens in the UK. Do you have anything that you wish someone had advised you about or told you about before hitting the screen of Drag Race? Any words of wisdom that you think you should be whispering in these girls' ears?

It's such a tough one because I would love to tell somebody else like how I think they could maybe win the show but at the same time like I feel like I was just so authentically myself trying to win the competition that I kind of, I wouldn't say got in my own way, but there was definitely a lot of real emotion that came out of me.

I think that at the end of the day, people wanted to see that and resonated with that story more than me winning. And so it really is just like, stay true to yourself and you don't know what's going to happen.

I mean, I had a viral moment with the face crack after the Madonna Rusical. Although that was a sad moment for me. It's definitely an iconic moment - if I'm able to make merch out of it and have that sell, then I know I did something right.

So it's finding a balance of trying to do your very best, but also staying true to yourself and following those emotions.

You're performing Oscar for a limited run? What are the logistics of that?

I was originally only supposed to be here until October 30th and now I'm going to be here until November 16th. So I'm very excited about that. It's great. The longer I can be here, the better. I'm very happy to have extended, you know, the people liked what they saw and people are buying tickets to come see it. So I am very happy.

The show is now also booking through January 4th, 2026. So I'm just extending for a little bit longer and then someone else will come in and get to play this fabulous role.

Have you thought beyond the end of your run as Oscar? What's next for Jan after this?

I feel like I'm on a slow trajectory back into the theatre scene. I did Drag - the Musical, off-Broadway. Now, I'm doing the West End. And so I'm hoping to go back and do a little Broadway in 2026. And I feel that that's coming for me. So we will be Janifesting a Broadway role in 2026.

What do hope that people feel when they come and see Oscar at The Crown?

I just hope that they feel, one, entertained. I don't know how you would leave this show not feeling entertained. The sensorial experience that you have with the lights, the sounds, and the music just so blaring in your face is nothing like I've seen before.

So I hope that people are entertained by that and also just togetherness and community and belonging - it's so important right now that we all come together in these queer spaces.

Whether you are queer watching the show or not It's wonderful to have everybody come together to just feel like there's a safe place for us to be who we are and to kind of let loose.

Because you see the show but there's a whole pre-show - you get to drink and you get to hang out with your friends and this really cool space. You don't have to leave right after the show. So we just want to try to curate an experience for people where they feel really good about coming to this space and they know that they're going to have a good time and that they feel welcomed.

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