When Ryan Raftery hits the stage at Joe’s Pub this week in Mother of the Year, a parody musical inspired by iconic Hollywood momager Kris Jenner, he’ll have something special in his arsenal: a wig that may or may not have sat on her head.
“Kris’ hair guy sent me a wig, but I’m not 100 percent sure it was Kris’ wig,” Raftery tells The Hollywood Reporter of the stylist who reached out after hearing he was doing a Jenner-inspired musical to “essentially say he wanted to be sure I got the look right.”
Raftery is less interested in confirming the wig’s rightful owner than expressing what it means to have it in his possession. “Whether or not it actually ever sat on her head, having a piece of wardrobe that, even tangentially, comes from her camp is major,” he tells THR. “It’s like putting on the Ring of Power from The Lord of the Rings.” (He’s also stoked about Khloe Kardashian’s recent Instagram comment asking “Is this real??? Don’t toy with me! A Kris Jenner musical!!!!!”)
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Mother of the Year marks Raftery’s seventh celebrity musical after tackling Anna Wintour, Andy Cohen, Martha Stewart, Calvin Klein, Ivanka Trump and Andy Warhol. Its wild (and completely fictional) plot follows Jenner to Laos for an experimental fertility treatment in order to have more children to manage. Something goes wrong and she’s afflicted with temporary amnesia and is forced to stay in Laos to be re-educated about the role she’s played in creating The Kardashians.
Upon finding out the experiment was successful, Jenner, who has new clarity on her parenting choices, must consider whether or not she wants to keep the baby while bumping up against the reversal of Roe v. Wade. The stage play and parody lyrics are written and performed by Raftery, set to songs by Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Alan Menken and Sara Bareilles.
Mother of the Year runs March 15-26 at Joe’s Pub, and the run will bring Raftery full circle. “My first show was about Anna Wintour and her decision to put Kim Kardashian and Kanye West on the cover of Vogue and the backlash it caused on social media. Mother of the Year, while I take vast dramatic license for comedic effect, pulls back the curtain on the woman who made that cover happen.”
