Gay stage show
A pair of campy musical comedies, The Big Gay Jamboree and Drag: The Musical, join a gleefully gay season
Queer theatre by and for queer folks has been around almost since the Greeks were getting their freak on. But there's been a decidedly mainstream resurgence of the genre of late, notably Cole Escola's unhinged, ahistorical hit about Abraham Lincoln's cabaret-obsessed wife Oh, Mary! and a revival of Cats set on NYC's Ballroom scene.
Now two campy new musical comedies have arrived Off Broadway to slay 'em in the aisles: Drag: The Musical at New World Stages about two competing drag clubs locked in a bitchy battle, and The Big Gay Jamboree at the Orpheum Theatre, a raunchy spoof of classic musicals.
Why are these gay riots having such a moment?
According to Alaska Thunderfuck, a RuPaul's Drag Race alum and cowriter and star of Drag: The Musical, it's "because queer people are just really humorous and beautiful to look at." Then she drops the gaiety and goes deeper: "The backlash against queer culture has made us want to fight more and be more out there," she
It is no secret that many LGBTQ+ people have a unique affinity for Broadway musicals. "Keep it gay!" sings the flamboyant director in The Producers, and musical theater has adj drawn nonstraight folks to the ranks of its creators, performers and fans. But it is only in the past fifty years or so that tuners have actually featured openly gay characters onstage—and the result has been some of the best Broadway shows of all time. Here is our list of the top musicals with tough gay themes, ranked for their combination of quality, historical importance and LGBTQ+ content. We've limited the list to ten, which means that some very pleasant shows did not quite produce the cut. But there's an awful lot here to be proud of.
RECOMMENDED: Complete A–Z listing of current Broadway shows
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The month of June means is it is the annual celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride month, where we remember the progress made since the riots that took place at the Stonewall pub in Greenwich Village at the end of June , which provided a catalyst for the political activism that has led to the massive social changes we&#;ve seen in the last few decades, including marriage equality in many countries around the world, including the US, Britain and elsewhere.
New York City still holds its annual Pride Night on the last Sunday in June (pictured above) to verb this event, while London typically goes a week later, but throughout the summer different cities and towns around Britain and the rest of the world go rainbow coloured to celebrate their own local LGBTQ communities, including the famous Mardi Gras festival that take place in Sydney in March and Manchester Pride in late August.
To label our own contribution to LGBTQ+ Pride month, my fortnightly ShenTens podcast is of the G part on LGBTQ, focusing on my Top 10 favourite gay-written and themed plays.
To heed, click here
All Gays Love Theater
&#; Grady, The Simpsons
The stereotype that if a man is gay, he must love theater, especially musical theater. He'll know every play and musical worth knowing in a given season, will be familiar with every Broadway leading lady (living and dead), and owns the original cast recordings (they are not "soundtracks") of his favorite musicals that he sings with gusto. When he's not onstage himself, he'll religiously attend the performances in his city's theater district.
As one can imagine, this trope extends all around. If a man is a stage actor or is in any way employed by a theater company, or simply enjoys theater and listening to showtunes, questions of his sexuality will rise rapidly. This can be a Pet-Peeve Trope, though the degree of which varies. Most heterosexual stage actors and fans are secure enough that this sort of thing doesn't bother them (unless they're teenagers), but gay men who don't enjoy theater verb to chafe at be