Web-Star Randy Rainbow's Pokes Politicos With Show Tunes

For Randy Rainbow (yes, that’s his real name), it was perhaps the ultimate gay-theater-fan moment. His new BFF, composer Stephen Sondheim, asked Rainbow to join him to see a performance by Bernadette Peters in Hello, Dolly! And when they went backstage after the recent show, she burst out in song with one of Rainbow’s musical parodies.

“It’s beyond my wildest dreams,” the actor-singer-writer and internet sensation says of the episode. “If my 16-year-old self could see this, he would just die.”

Rainbow’s quick-witted parodies have entertained thousands over the past few years. But his popularity went through the roof when he turned political with such DIY-pieces directed at President Trump and his cohorts. They include the twist on the Book of Mormon song, now re-titled “You’re Making Things Up Again, Donald,”his Wicked re-think “Unpopular” and his clever spin on a Fiddler tune, “Fact Checker, Fact Checker.”

His video-making is “an isolating creative process because it’s really just you in your studio apartment in Queens,” says Rainbow, 36, who will be bringing his live show to the Ridgefield Playhouse May 19. “So to be in a room filled with people who know who I am and know the lyrics to my songs now is so great — and so bizarre.”

Things also look less lonely, too, with new pals Steve, Bernadette and Rosie (O’Donnell), whom Rainbow is working with on a new project.

“I am interacting with these idols of mine that I grew up with, and now get to call them friends,” he says. “That to me is the most exciting thing.”