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2024 Tony Awards: Monumental Night for LGBTQ Theatre Stars

Queer icon Ariana DeBose hosted the Tony Awards event for the third year. It proved to be a star-studded night with numerous LGBTQ winners.

Glee star and theatre prince Jonathan Groff is the proud winner of a very overdue Tony Award. The 39-year-old won Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical for his performance as Franklin in Merrily We Roll Along.
 

Jonathan Groff Gives Amazing, Emotional Tony Awards Acceptance Speech

These are the LGBTQ Winners at the 2024 Tony Awards
2024 Tony Awards: Monumental Night for LGBTQ Theatre Stars
All The Gay Stuff From the 2024 Tony Awards Show
Tony Awards 2024: Complete List of Winners

American Horror Story star Sarah Paulson won a Tony Award following her first-ever nomination. The 49-year-old queer icon won the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play for her performance as Toni in the play Appropriate. She was up against Betsy Aidem, Jessica Lange, Rachel McAdams and Amy Ryan. Paulson’s date to the Tonys was her actress girlfriend Holland Taylor, 81. The pair took to the red carpet in coordinating black and white looks ahead of the ceremony.
 

American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins accepted the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for Appropriate.  The darkly comic production, starting Paulson, centers on a white family discovering some disturbing artifacts in their late father’s estate that leave them to confront their family’s past. The 39-year-old has a hugely impressive career; he is a MacArthur Fellow, a Guggenheim Fellow, an Obie winner, and a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist.

Also among the Tony Award winners were David Adjmi for Best Play and Tom Scutt for Best Scenic Design of a Musical. And LGBTQ ally Daniel Radcliffe wins acting award for 'Merrily We Roll Along.'

[Source: Emily Maskell, Pink News, June 2024]

Broadway Grosses Analysis: Jinkx Monsoon Sends Pride Week Chicago Grosses Skyrocketing
New Musical "From Here," Dealing With Pulse Tragedy, to Make New York Debut
Ben Platt is Broadway's New Gay Romantic
The Wiz Returns to Broadway Starring Wayne Brady

Boy George Takes the Stage in 'Moulin Rouge'

Chita Rivera, Pioneering Tony-Winning Dancer/Singer/Actor, Dies
Andrew Garfield and James McArdle: Angels in America
Tony Awards: No Script, but Plenty of Song, Dance, High Spirits, History

Boy George on Broadway: Stars in Moulin Rouge

How LGBTQ Excellence Helped Shape Broadway

LGBTQ Relationship to Broadway

Cultural platform... providing representation... fostering acceptance... celebrating diversity...

Broadway theatre has historically had a significant relationship with the LGBTQ community, characterized by mutual influence and support.
 

Broadway has often been at the forefront of representing LGBTQ characters and stories. Plays and musicals like "Angels in America," "Rent," "Hedwig and the Angry Inch," and "The Boys in the Band" have tackled LGBTQ themes, characters, and issues, contributing to greater visibility and understanding.

Many iconic Broadway productions have become cultural touchstones for the LGBTQ community, offering narratives that resonate with their experiences. These shows often provide a platform for discussing issues like identity, discrimination, love, and acceptance.

Broadway has been a space where LGBTQ artists have found opportunities for artistic expression and success. From playwrights and composers to actors and directors, many LGBTQ individuals have made significant contributions to Broadway’s creative landscape.

Mary Kate Morrisey (Wicked) at NYC Pride: Gravity

Ben Platt is Broadway's New Gay Romantic

Jinkx Monsoon Kisses Corbin Bleu, Hangs With Patti LuPone, Slays in Little Shop

Discover Shakespeare’s Hidden Queer History: Globe Theatre’s Pride Guided Tour

Broadway has been supportive of LGBTQ causes and advocacy efforts. Productions have frequently participated in events like Pride Month celebrations, fundraisers for LGBTQ organizations, and awareness campaigns for LGBTQ rights.

Broadway theaters have been considered safe spaces for LGBTQ audiences, offering a sense of community and belonging. The inclusive atmosphere created by many productions has welcomed diverse audiences and fostered connections within the community.

Through its stories and performances, Broadway has played a role in promoting social change and challenging stereotypes. LGBTQ representation on Broadway has helped shape broader societal attitudes towards LGBTQ issues.

Overall, Broadway theatre has been a vital cultural platform for the LGBTQ community, providing representation, fostering acceptance, and celebrating diversity through its rich tapestry of stories and performances.

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Gay Playwright Matthew López: First Latino to Win Tony Award for Best Play

Neil Patrick Harris: It’s Not Just for Gays Anymore

Boys in the Band Finally Nominated for a Tony Award

Boy George Takes the Stage in 'Moulin Rouge'

The Wiz Returns to Broadway Starring Wayne Brady

How a Black Gay Actor Became Aladdin's Longest-Running Genie on Broadway

Braden Summers: LA-Based Gay Photographer Adds Fresh Color to LGBTQ Spectrum
Chita Rivera, Revered and Pioneering Tony-Winning Dancer/Singer/Actor, Dies at 91

This Year's Tony Nominations are Filled With so Many LGBTQ Gems
Jim Parsons on Stage: Man of No Importance

2023 Tony Awards: Highlights

Smack dab in the middle of the writer's union strike, the 2023 Tony Awards program was presented to recognize top talent on Broadway. The event was hosted by Arianna DeBose (West Side Story).  Among the top winners were these members of the LGBTQ community:

Michael Arden - Best Director/Musical
Sean Hayes - Best Lead Actor/Play
J. Harrison Ghee - Best Lead Actor/Musical

Alex Newell - Best Featured Actor/Musical

Jodie Comer - Best Lead Actress/Play

Joel Gray - Lifetime Achievement

NPR: Takeaways From the 2023 Tony Awards

GMA: Big Winners at 2023 Tony Awards
Entertainment Weekly: Best and Worst Moments of the 2023 Tony Awards
USA Today: Tony Awards 2023 Top Moments

Queerty: LGBTQ Moments From the Tony Awards
Hollywood Reporter: Tony Awards: Winners List

Alex Newell and J. Harrison Ghee Make History at the Tony Awards

--History was made. Alex Newell, in a sparkling gold dress, won the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for their role in Shucked. They were the first nonbinary actor to win a Tony. Newell was visibly emotional when their name was called, naming them the winner of Best Featured Actor in a Musical for their work as a sexy whiskey distiller in Shucked. "I have wanted this my entire life," Newell said. "As a queer, non-binary, fat Black little baby from Massachusetts, to anyone that thinks they can't do it, you can do anything you put your mind to."

--J Harrison Ghee made history as the first openly non-binary actors to win Tony Awards. Ghee won Best Actor in a Musical for their portrayal of Daphne/Jerry in Some Like It Hot amidst stiff competition in a category alongside Ben Platt, Josh Groban, and more. "For every trans, non-binary, gender non-conforming human, who was told you couldn't be seen, this is for you," Ghee proclaimed. "Thank you for letting lives be seen." Their wins come in the midst of ongoing debate over whether the awards should include gendered categories.

--Two plays about antisemitism won big. Parade, a revival of a 1998 musical about the trial, imprisonment and 1915 lynching of a Jewish man in Georgia starring Ben Platt, and Leopoldstadt, Tom Stoppard's chilling drama about the Nazis' effect on one large Viennese family, both won their categories.

--Michael Arden has steadily been building a reputation as a superb director of revivals and he reached new heights with this season's production of Parade, starring Micaela Diamond and Ben Platt. He deservedly nabbed the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. He used his time on stage to loudly celebrate the LGBTQ community and reclaim a homophobic slur. "Growing up, I was called the f-word more times than I can count," he said. "But now, I'm a f– with a Tony." The remarks, which CBS bleeped, drew uproarious applause from the audience, most particularly Platt and fiance Noah Galvin, who jumped out of their seats shrieking. It was the perfect blend of pride and defiance.
 

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Ben Platt is Broadway's New Gay Romantic
The Wiz Returns to Broadway Starring Wayne Brady

Boy George Takes the Stage in 'Moulin Rouge'

Discover Shakespeare’s Hidden Queer History: Globe Theatre’s Pride Guided Tour

Chita Rivera, Pioneering Tony-Winning Dancer/Singer/Actor, Dies
Andrew Garfield and James McArdle: Angels in America
Tony Awards: No Script, but Plenty of Song, Dance, High Spirits, History

Boy George on Broadway: Stars in Moulin Rouge

How LGBTQ Excellence Helped Shape Broadway

Gay Playwright Matthew López: First Latino to Win Tony Award for Best Play

Neil Patrick Harris: It’s Not Just for Gays Anymore

Boys in the Band Finally Nominated for a Tony Award

A Powerful Force for Change

The world of theatre has long been a bastion of creativity and artistic expression, pushing boundaries and challenging societal norms. One of the most significant and enduring influences on theatre has been the LGBTQ community. From actors and playwrights to directors and designers, LGBTQ individuals have played pivotal roles in shaping the evolution of theatre, both on and off the stage. Let's explore the profound impact of the LGBTQ community on theatre and how it has contributed to a more inclusive and diverse landscape.

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Boy George Takes the Stage in 'Moulin Rouge'

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Braden Summers: LA-Based Gay Photographer Adds Fresh Color to LGBTQ Spectrum
Chita Rivera, Revered and Pioneering Tony-Winning Dancer/Singer/Actor, Dies at 91

This Year's Tony Nominations are Filled With so Many LGBTQ Gems
Jim Parsons on Stage: Man of No Importance
Sondheim's A Little Night Music Gets a Queer Twist
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Broadway Tribute to Stephen Sondheim

Stevie Sings “Maybe This Time” - Schitt’s Creek

Historical Perspective - Historically, the LGBTQ community faced immense prejudice and discrimination, leading many individuals to seek refuge and acceptance within the world of theatre. The theatre has served as a sanctuary for LGBTQ artists, providing a platform to express their authentic selves and tell stories that reflect their experiences. Iconic playwrights such as Tennessee Williams and Oscar Wilde, both of whom were gay, created timeless works that explored themes of identity, love, and societal expectations.

Breaking Stereotypes - The LGBTQ influence in theatre has also played a significant role in breaking stereotypes and challenging traditional gender norms. Productions like "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" and "Rent" have featured genderqueer characters and non-conforming relationships, helping to normalize diverse expressions of gender and sexuality. These productions have been instrumental in fostering understanding and acceptance among audiences.

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Stephen Sondheim, Musical Theater Legend, Dead at 91
Out Acclaimed Shakespearean Actor Antony Sher Dies at 72
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Visibility and Representation - One of the most powerful contributions of the LGBTQ community to theatre is its emphasis on visibility and representation. LGBTQ characters and narratives have become increasingly common on stage, allowing audiences to see a broader spectrum of human experiences. This visibility helps LGBTQ individuals feel seen and heard, reducing feelings of isolation and promoting acceptance.

Advocacy Through Art - Theatre has also been a powerful tool for LGBTQ advocacy. Productions like "The Normal Heart" and "Angels in America" tackled the AIDS crisis head-on, shedding light on the devastating impact it had on the LGBTQ community. These plays not only raised awareness but also spurred action and support for those affected by the epidemic.

Creating Safe Spaces - Theatres have often been safe spaces for LGBTQ individuals to express themselves openly and without fear. LGBTQ theater companies and festivals, such as the renowned "Pride Plays" in New York City, provide a platform for emerging LGBTQ playwrights and performers to showcase their talents and share their stories. These spaces celebrate diversity and continue to be important hubs of LGBTQ artistic expression.

The influence of the LGBTQ community in theatre cannot be overstated. It has shaped the industry by challenging norms, fostering diversity, and providing a voice for those who have been historically marginalized. Theatre has not only reflected the experiences of LGBTQ individuals but has also been a catalyst for social change, helping to advance LGBTQ rights and acceptance. As theatre continues to evolve, the LGBTQ community remains a driving force in ensuring that stories of all backgrounds are told, celebrated, and embraced.

Broadway legend Chita Rivera has sadly passed away at age 91

Stephen Sondheim, Musical Theater Legend, Dead at 91

The gay composer and lyricist of greats like Into the Woods and Company died suddenly after reportedly spending Thanksgiving with friends. Out songwriter and composer Stephen Sondheim died November 2021 at the age of 91. Sondheim’s work reshaped American musical theater and has influenced generations of songwriters.

His death was announced by his lawyer and friend, Richard Pappas, according to The New York Times. Pappas said Sondheim wasn’t known to be ill, and his death was sudden. The Broadway legend had spent Thanksgiving with some friends, Pappas said.

Stephen Sondheim, Master of Musical Theater, Dead at 91
Remembering Stephen Sondheim: The Best There Ever Was
Stephen Sondheim, Legendary Broadway Composer and Lyricist, Dies at 91

Sondheim’s success stretched from the 1950s, writing lyrics for West Side Story, to the 1990s, writing for such musicals as Assassins and Passion. The first Broadway show that he wrote the music and lyrics for was the 1962 comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. It won a Tony Award for best musical.

The Times noted that the 1970s and 1980s were his “most productive” years. His works in those decades included Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, and Sunday in the Park With George.

“If you think of a theater lyric as a short story, as I do, then every line has the weight of a paragraph,” he wrote in his 2010 book Finishing the Hat, which was the first volume of his collection of lyrics and comments.

Sondheim majored in music at Williams College in Massachusetts, going on to study with avant-garde composer Milton Babbitt after graduation, reports the Associated Press.

Stephen Sondheim, Master of Musical Theater, Dead at 91
Remembering Stephen Sondheim: The Best There Ever Was
Stephen Sondheim, Legendary Broadway Composer and Lyricist, Dies at 91

According to a 2013 HBO documentary, Six by Sondheim, he liked to write his music lying down and would occasionally have a cocktail to help him write. He also revealed in the documentary, directed by frequent collaborator James Lapine, that he only fell in love after he turned 60. Most recently, he had been in a relationship for several years with Jeff Romley.

In April of 2020, at the height of lockdowns, musical theater luminaries came together in a virtual event to celebrate Sondheim’s momentous birthday with Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration. The event was hosted by Raúl Esparza and included performances from Neil Patrick Harris, Patti LuPone, Ben Platt, Jake Gyllenhaal, Beanie Feldstein, Bernadette Peters, Mandy Patinkin, and Katrina Lenk, among so many others. The comedic showstopper of the evening arrived courtesy of Christine Baranski, Audra McDonald, and Meryl Streep, who delivered a boozy “The Ladies Who Lunch.”

During a 2010 event renaming the Henry Miller Theatre on Broadway as the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, Sondheim said, “I’m deeply embarrassed. I’m thrilled, but deeply embarrassed,” according to the AP. “I’ve always hated my last name. It just doesn’t sing.”

[Source: Alex Cooper, Advocate Magazine, November 2021]
 

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Mart Crowley: Boys in the Band Playwright Dies

Playbill: Regional Companies Leading the Charge in Gay Theatre

Three Theatre Titans: Mart, Larry, Terrence
 

2020 saw the loss of three gay giants in worlds of theater and activism: Mart Crowley, Larry Kramer, and Terrence McNally. McNally passed at 81 of the novel coronavirus. The four-time Tony Award-winner wrote many pioneering plays, including The Ritz, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, and Love! Valour! Compassion!, which told the heartfelt story of a circle of gay men friends grappling with the AIDS epidemic. Kramer, who died at 84, was the playwright of the Tony-winning The Normal Heart, a fictionalized account of Kramer’s early AIDS activism as he cofounded Gay Men’s Health Crisis and ACT UP. The Normal Heart was later adapted into an acclaimed HBO movie by Ryan Murphy. Murphy also helped bring Crowley, who also died at 84, to a new generation with the Netflix adaptation of The Boys in the Band, which centered on a gay dinner party and societal stigma. A 2018 Broadway revival with the same all-gay cast won a Tony for Best Revival of a Play.
 

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Renowned Shakespearean Actor, Author and Playwright Sir Antony Sher Dies of Cancer at 72
Avenue Q: If You Were Gay

Out Plays: Landmark LGBTQ Plays of the 20th Century

American Theatre: New Generation of LGBTQ Theatre

Torch Song Trilogy: 35 Years Later

Hamilton: Schuyler Sisters Miscast

Billy Porter and Kinky Boots Cast: Marriage Equality Curtain Call Speech

Essential Plays, Books, and Movies for Understanding the History of Queer Liberation

Alison Bechdel: Winner of McArthur Grant
 

Alison Bechdel, a lesbian artist and writer from Vermont, was the winner of the 2014 Mac Arthur Foundation Fellowship award, commonly referred to as the Genius Grant. She is known for such literary works as Fun Home, Dykes to Watch Out For, and Are You My Mother?  Alison Bechdel is a cartoonist and graphic memoirist exploring the complexities of familial relationships in multilayered works that use the interplay of word and image to weave sophisticated narratives. Bechdel’s command of sequential narrative and her aesthetic as a visual artist was established in her long-running comic strip, Dykes to Watch Out For (1983–2008), which realistically captured the lives of women in the lesbian community as they influenced and were influenced by the important cultural and political events of the day.

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Gay Playwright Matthew López: First Latino to Win Tony Award for Best Play

Meet the Cast: Eddie Izzard in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations

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Brief History of Queer Theatre

What do we mean by ‘Queer’? Well, once a derogatory slur, it’s now an umbrella term reclaimed by the LGBTQ community and  means someone who is not heterosexual and/or does not conform to the established ideas of sexuality and gender. It’s also important to say that Queer artists have existed throughout history and, as a society, we’re still very much at the beginning of bringing these stories into the mainstream. Moreover, there is not one singular ‘Queer’ experience or narrative. There are certainly commonalities in experiences, but we do a disservice to the complexity of LGBTQ stories by conflating everything. Part of the beauty of the Queer community lies in its diversity and its rejection of heteronormativity. ‘Queer theatre’ doesn’t have to be defined being a ‘play’ or ‘musical’. Queerness exists in all mediums: in drag, dance, burlesque, circus, cabaret etc., and we are seeing these lines blurred more and more often with new shows incorporating aspects of all disciplines. So, where do we begin?

It’s often forgotten that up until 1968, British theatre was at the mercy of censorship. All plays intended for public performance had to be approved and licensed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Office, which was a legal requirement under the Licensing Act of 1737 and the Theatres Act of 1843. Essentially, this was to prevent anything indecent, offensive or blasphemous taking place in theatres; censorship was particularly strict on homosexuality.

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Whilst openly or overt Queer work was banned from our stages, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t there. Elements of Queerness can be seen in the works of Shakespeare (A Midsummer Night’s Dream / Twelfth Night) as well as in the actual performances of his plays with men cross-dressing (as women were banned from performing until the 1660s). Check out Goran Stanivukovic’s book Queer Shakespeare, Desire and Sexuality for more on this. The act of cross-dressing in theatre has been popular since the Medieval period and is a particularly important part of one of Britain’s most-treasured traditions – panto!

Queer activities were merely pushed underground particularly during the Georgian era with the proliferation of Molly Houses in the 18th and 19th centuries. The clampdown on ‘morality’ came during the Victorian era, which ushered in an openly hostile environment towards ‘deviants’, perhaps most evident in the treatment of writer Oscar Wilde.

The aggression towards Queerness pervaded throughout society in the first half of the 20th century yet, in spite of this, Queer nightlife flourished in London with well-known Queer-friendly bars and cabarets including The Cave of the Golden Calf and The Shim Sham Club. Frequented by artists, writers and musicians, The Shim Sham Club was also a reputed safe space for Queer Black and Jewish patrons. Check out this great article on Bohemian London to learn more.

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During this time, there was also an increased persecution of Queer people in the United States, yet, like in the UK, the arts were a centre of resistance, particularly in the successful plays The Drag by Mae West and The Captive by Édouard Bourdet, the latter being one of the first plays to deal with lesbianism. It’s also interesting that some of the most famous and respected playwrights and performers of the ‘30s - ‘50s were Queer (whether publicly ‘out’ or not), including John Gielgud, Noel Coward, Ivor Novello, and Terrence Rattigan to name but a few. It’s as if Queer people were only acceptable within certain parameters, set and defined by straight people.

Attitudes towards homosexuality showed signs of change when the Wolfenden Report was published in 1957, which recommended for the decriminalization of homosexuality. However, it was still impossible to show same sex relationships on stage. Despite this, Joan Littlewood and her Theatre Workshop Company staged Shelagh Delaney’s A Taste of Honey here at Stratford East in 1958. Ground-breaking in many ways, Delaney’s play evaded censorship and featured Geof, a gay student (played by Murray Melvin) who lives with protagonist Jo and helps her through her illegitimate pregnancy. This marked a change in depicting gay people with sensitivity rather than as a joke or miscreant.

When homosexuality was decriminalized in England and Wales in 1967 (and 1981 in Scotland, 1982 in Northern Ireland), Queer artists were no longer under the threat of legal persecution. Whether the public actually wanted to see Queer work was another question. As a result, Queer artists were confined to the fringes – both of society and the theatre landscape. 1967 was also the year that influential Queer playwright Joe Orton was murdered by his partner. His black comedies and satires would go on to inspire countless artists (check out Loot and Entertaining Mr Sloane).

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Falsettos: Falsettoland

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The 1970s saw the emergence of Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company, whose aim was to counteract the prevailing perception in mainstream theatre of what homosexuals were like. Performing at theatres, festivals and working men’s clubs across the country, their sell-out first season took place at InterAction’s Almost-Free Theatre in Soho and included plays Thinking Straight by Lawrence Collinson and Ships by Alan Wakeman. Read more about Gay Sweatshop’s fascinating history here.

Artists Jane Boston, Tash Fairbanks and Debs Threthewey created the band Devil’s Dykes, later Bright Girls. They were part of the company that formed Theatre Against Sexism and then in 1979 the feminist theatre company Siren. Venues such as The Drill Hall (now RADA Studio) were dedicated to platforming gay, lesbian and bisexual work. Other key shows of the ‘70s include Martin Sherman’s play Bent and Richard O’Brien’s musical The Rocky Horror Show, which began life at the Royal Court Upstairs in 1973 before going on to become one of the most influential cult classics of all time.

As we enter the 1980s, moral reformer Mary Whitehouse attempted to prosecute director Michael Bogdanov for his production of The Romans in Britain by Howard Brenton at the National Theatre for procuring an act of gross indecency as defined by the Sexual Offences Act 1956. The prosecution lost, but there were further attempts at censorship throughout the decade. Queer work and writers persisted regardless with plays such as Sarah Daniels’ Ripen Our Darkness, Julian Mitchell’s Another Country, Hugh Whitemore’s Breaking the Code, Kevin Elyot’s Coming Clean and Harvey Fierstein’s acclaimed Torch Song Trilogy.

The first play produced in Britain to address the AIDS crisis was Louise Parker Kelley’s Anti Body in 1983, years before any film or TV series. A wealth of work came in the following two decades that defined the gay experience of HIV and AIDS with artists such as Neil Bartlett and plays including Robert Chelsey’s Night Sweat, Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart (the first play about AIDS in the West End), Janet Hood and Bill Russell’s Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens as well as Tony Kushner’s monumental Angels in America.

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Gay Playwright Matthew López: First Latino to Win Tony Award for Best Play

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In 1988, Jackie Kay’s Twice Over was Gay Sweatshop’s first play by a Black playwright and helped raise the profile of the women’s company within Gay Sweatshop. Kay’s other influential work includes Chiaroscuro (recently revived by Bush Theatre). 1988 also saw Gay Sweatshop’s widely celebrated play This Island’s Mine by Philip Osment.

Perhaps partly down to the likes of Danny La Rue in the ‘70s, we also began to see the transition of Drag from the nightclubs to the theatres in the ‘80s with Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman’s La Cage Aux Folles playing the London Palladium in 1986.

The ‘90s saw a stream of important Queer works such as Phyllis Nagy’s Weldon Rising, Kevin Elyot’s My Night With Reg, Jonathan Larson’s Rent, Diana Son’s Stop Kiss, Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing and John Guare’s Six Degrees of Separation to name but a few. It was also the decade of the ‘in yer face’ movement with dramatists such as Mark Ravenhill and his play Shopping and Fucking. The Drill Hall continued to be a centre for LGBTQ shows, including work from performance artists Djola Bernard Branner, Brian Freeman and Eric Gupton, otherwise known as Pomo Afro Homos (Postmodern African American Homosexuals) – their show Fierce Love played at the venue in 1992.

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Avenue Q: If You Were Gay

Broadway Star Joel Gray: Multifaceted Artist

Playbill: LGBTQ Theatre Heroes Who Inspire
Purple Circuit: Most Influential LGBTQ Plays  

The turn of the century saw a continuation of gay plays as well as new venues specifically dedicating their programming to Queer work, including Above The Stag (founded in 2008). Key shows included Alan Bennett’s The History Boys, the Boy George musical Taboo, Jonathan Harvey and Pet Shop Boys’ musical Closer to Heaven, Tarrell Alvin McCraney’s Wig Out!, Joe DiPietro’s Fucking Men and Nicholas de Jongh’s Plague Over England. There was also the hugely successful Australian musical Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

In 2012, Jo Clifford became the first openly trans playwright to have a play in the West End with her adaptation of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations. Prolific playwright Rikki Beadle-Blair had several plays performed here at Stratford East including Bashment in 2005, which tackled homophobia in the hip-hop scene. He would later write and direct Summer In London in 2017, which was the first full-scale show to featuring an all-trans cast on a mainstream stage in the UK. In 2015, The Lyric Hammersmith staged Laura Wade’s adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel Tipping The Velvet showcasing an upfront and unapologetic celebration of sexuality.

In the last few years we’ve seen several Queer productions hitting the mainstream including a musical adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Matthew Lopez’s The Inheritance and blockbusters Kinky Boots, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Death Drop and &Juliet.

We also have performance artists and theatre makers including Travis Alabanza, Le Gateau Chocolat, Temi Wilkey, Tabby Lamb, Scottee, Mika Onyx Johnson, Chiyo, Alexander Luttley, Daisy Hale, Debbie Hannan and Zachary Hing who are now shaping our perceptions of Queer work and making waves in mainstream venues. Plus, Queer bars like The Glory, Royal Vauxhall Tavern and Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club continue to pave the way as training grounds for emerging Queer talent.

But what’s next? It’s obvious that major progress has been made since the days of censorship with Queer stories being told on our stages. However, the work is far from done. There is still a lack of voices from marginalized sections of the LGBTQ community, particularly trans/non-binary voices, working class voices, disabled voices and Black, Asian and Latinx voices. Our physical spaces may currently be shut, but it’s never too late to start learning, reading and sharing more work by Queer artists.

[Source: Holly Adomah Thompson and Sean Brooks, Stratford East, February 2021]

Boy George Takes the Stage in 'Moulin Rouge'

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Evolution of Contemporary Gay Theatre

It seems almost inconceivable today, with the abundance of openly gay playwrights and gay-themed plays, that less than 50 years ago a drama critic for The New York Times felt the need to call for “social and theatrical convention” to be “widened so that homosexual life may be as freely dramatized as heterosexual life, may be as frankly treated in our drama as in contemporary fiction.” The impetus for Stanley Kauffmann’s 1966 article was his contention that three unnamed “reputed” homosexual playwrights—clearly identifiable then and now as Tennessee Williams, William Inge, and Edward Albee—were presenting a “badly distorted picture of American women, marriage, and society.” Although Kauffmann’s premise is highly debatable, he does end up advocating that the gay playwright be free to write about himself and his world without having to “disguise his nature.”

Less than two years later a play opened in New York that portrayed gay life onstage in a way it had never been before. In the words of another Times critic, Clive Barnes, it was “by far the frankest treatment of homosexuality I have ever seen on the stage.” Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band made theatrical history for gay theater just as Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, being performed at Juilliard this month, had done in the previous decade for African-American drama.

The Boys in the Band played 1,001 performances Off Broadway and was then filmed by William Friedkin with the original cast, marking a cinematic milestone as well. Over the years critics within the gay community have criticized Crowley for presenting stereotyped characters and an excessively negative view of gay life. Yet this play, staged a year before the Stonewall riots that are often cited as the beginning of the modern gay civil-rights movement, portrays the humor and resilience of the characters as well as their pain.

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Essential Plays, Books, and Movies for Understanding the History of Queer Liberation

Earlier this year, on the occasion of a new production of The Boys in the Band in New York, New York Times writer Patrick Healy interviewed several openly gay playwrights about the ways in which they had been influenced by The Boys in the Band. For Tony Kushner, “It was the first time I saw gay men represented in any other way than as a pathetic fuddy-duddy old bachelor or a figure of complete hatred and mockery.” Larry Kramer commented on the professional aspect of the play, noting that “it showed me as a writer, as a gay person, as a gay writer, what was possible in the commercial theater.” Doug Wright responded, “Personally it helped me to stop hiding. It showed me that there was a world where I could talk to other gay men and write about gay people and live in a manner consistent with myself.”

Two of the first “gay plays” to be performed on Broadway could not have been more different and established a pattern of diversity and the exploration of the past as well as the present that continues to this day. Martin Sherman’s Bent opened in London with Ian McKellen in 1979 and then in New York with Richard Gere. Sherman dramatized, in fictional form, the plight of gay men in Nazi Germany who were arrested and sent to concentration camps for their sexual orientation. Bent not only brought to audiences’ attention tragic historical events of which they may heretofore been unaware, but provided a symbol for the modern gay movement in the pink triangle, which became a badge of pride rather than opprobrium as it had been under the Nazis.

In a completely different vein, Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy, originally produced in 1978 and 1979 as three separate plays by La MaMa E.T.C., became a one-evening trilogy Off Broadway in 1981 and 1982. It moved to Broadway later in 1982, ran for more than 1,200 performances, and won Tony Awards for Fierstein in both the best play and best actor in a play categories. A contemporary comedy about a gay man’s relationship with his lover, ex-lover, mother, friends, and adopted son, the play touched on such topics as gender identity, coming out, gay bashing, and gay parenting well before these issues were being discussed and analyzed the way they are today.

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Essential Plays, Books, and Movies for Understanding the History of Queer Liberation

When Fierstein’s next Broadway production—an evening of three one-act plays titled Safe Sex—opened in 1987, the gay community had been galvanized by the AIDS pandemic that was causing widespread devastation through its ranks. Just as AIDS transformed the gay community as a whole, it transformed gay playwriting as well, becoming an almost unavoidable source of subject matter. The irony that AIDS made the gay community more visible than it had ever been before was not lost on Ghee, one of Fierstein’s characters in Safe Sex: “Now they know who we are. ... We’ve found our voices. We know who we are. They know who we are. And they know that we care what they think. And all because of a disease. A virus. A virus that you don’t get because you’re Gay, just because you’re human. We were Gay. Now we’re human.”

Two years earlier two major nonprofit Off-Broadway theaters had produced plays that represented the opening salvo in the theatrical war against AIDS. One of these works, As Is by William Hoffmann, presented at the Circle Repertory Theater and then moved to Broadway, was more personal in nature, portraying a man with AIDS and his relationships with family, friends, business associates, and an ex-lover who stands by him throughout his illness. To show the widespread effect of AIDS, however, Hoffmann intersperses the scenes of his narrative with choral voices that present a variety of perspectives and responses to the pandemic.

While Hoffman wrote of AIDS primarily with sorrow and compassion, Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, the longest-running production ever presented at Joseph Papp’s Public Theater, is suffused with anger and outrage at the lack of response to the crisis by the medical establishment, politicians, society as a whole, and the gay community itself. Based on Kramer’s own experiences as an early gay activist and founding member of Gay Men’s Heath Crisis (G.M.H.C.), it is part polemic, part call-to-arms, and part love story—The Normal Heart pulled no punches in confronting its audiences with the enormity of AIDS and its devastation of the gay community.

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Although many successful plays dealing with AIDS followed in the 1990s—including Terrence McNally’s notable Love! Valour! Compassion!—none had a more profound and lasting impact than Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, the first part of which, Millenium Approaches, was given its New York premiere in 1992 at Juilliard when Kushner was a playwright-in-residence at the School. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for drama and two successive Tony Awards for Millenium Approaces and Perestroika, it was later filmed by Mike Nichols for HBO with a cast headed by Al Pacino and Meryl Streep, and is currently opening the Signature Theater season devoted to Kushner’s work. Subtitled A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, Angels in America mixes historical and fictional characters, humor and heartbreak, to dramatize not only the effect that AIDS had on gay Americans but how they are inextricably bound into the fabric of American life.

Certainly AIDS is not the almost unavoidable topic of gay theater today that it was 20 years ago, but it continues to be addressed and many playwrights are investigating both positive and negative aspects of gay history. In the 2009-10 season one play, Looking for Billy Haines, sought to acquaint audiences with a real-life, openly gay actor whose successful film career in the early days of Hollywood was ended when he refused to live in the closet and pretend to be straight. Another play, The Temperamentals, told the story of Harry Hay and the founding of the Mattachine Society, one of the first gay rights organizations established in the 1950s. This past summer the New York International Fringe Festival presented Veritas, dramatizing a witch hunt designed to drive gay men from Harvard in the 1920s and The Twentieth-Century Way, based on an incident in which the Long Beach, Calif., police department hired actors to entrap gay men in public restrooms in 1914.

While the case can be made, as Patrick Healy did in an article earlier this year in The New York Times, that gay theater today focuses more on personal relationships than political and social issues, the genre has arrived at a point where it is impossible to categorize it in any particular way. Geoffrey Naufft’s Next Fall does present a crisis precipitated by an accident rather than a health crisis, but it also dramatizes the tensions in a relationship where one man’s religious beliefs prevent him from being open about his sexuality to his family. Alexi Kaye Campbell’s The Pride, an English play that centered on the relationship between two men and a woman, showed the contrast between life for gay men in the 1950s and today. And on the horizon is Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, which opens at the Public Theater in March 2011 and promises Kushner’s usual mix of the personal and the political. Whatever their differences in time period, subject matter, and point of view, most of these plays combine comic and serious elements—perhaps the only generalization about gay theater, both then and now, that can ultimately be made with any degree of certainty.

[Source: Roger Oliver, The Julliard Journal, 2010]

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La Cage Aux Folles

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LGBTQ Thespians: Theatre, Drama, Plays

Lizard Boy - By Justin Huertas

Getting There - By Dipika Guha

Funny Girl - Starring Beanie Feldstein

Fun Home - By Alison Bechdel, Adapted by Kron, Tesori
Kinky Boots - By Harvey Fierstein, Cyndi Lauper

My Son’s A Queer - By Rob Madge
Bare - By Jon Hartmere Jr., Damon Intrabartolo
Spring Awakening - By Sater, Sheik
Dear Evan Hanson - By Benj Pasek, Justin Paul
Unnatural Acts - By Tony Speciale
Man of No Importance - By Flaherty, Ahrens,McNally

Avenue Q - By Lopez, Marx, Whitty
Invisible Thread - By Gould, Matthews
The Prom - By Beguelin, Sklar, Martin, Mitchell
Rent - By Jonathan Larson
Angels in America - By Tony Kushner
Hedwig and the Angry Inch - By JC Mitchell, S Trask

Standing on Ceremony: Gay Marriage Plays
The Boy From Oz - By Nick Enright

Laramie Project - By Moises Kaufman
Taboo - By Boy George

Frank and Percy - By Ben Weatherill
Torch Song Trilogy - By Harvey Fierstein
Bent - By Martin Sherman
Falsettos - By Finn and Lapine
Telling Moments - By Robert C. Reinhart
La Cage Aux Folles - By Harvey Fierstein
Jeffrey - By Paul Rudnick
The Sum of Us - By David Stevens
Cabaret - By Kander, Ebb, Masteroff
Boys in the Band - By Mart Crowley
The Pink Unicorn - By Elise Forier Edie

 
 

Broadway Star Joel Gray: Multifaceted Artist

La Cage Aux Folles (Film)

Avenue Q: If You Were Gay

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Mart Crowley: Boys in the Band Playwright Dies

Neil Patrick Harris: Medley of Broadway Songs

Little Shop of Horrors: With Trans and Gay Leads

Acclaimed Shakespearean Actor Antony Sher Dies at 72

The Iterations of La Cage Aux Folles

1973 - La Cage Aux Folles - French play written by Jean Poiret

1978 - La Cage Aux Folles - French-Italian film directed by Édouard Molinaro, starring Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Serrault

1983 - La Cage Aux Folles - America musical play by Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Herman

1996 - The Birdcage - American film directed by Mike Nichols, staring Robin Williams, Nathan Lane  

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Stephen Sondheim, Musical Theater Legend, Dead at 91
Out Acclaimed Shakespearean Actor Antony Sher Dies at 72
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Jinkx Monsoon Kisses Corbin Bleu, Hangs With Patti LuPone, Slays in Little Shop
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LGBTQ Broadway Performers  
 

Tallulah Bankhead - Actor (Dark Victory, Little Foxes, Private Lives, Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore, Streetcar Named Desire)

Noel Coward - English Playwright, Composer, Director, Actor, Singer

Joel Grey - Actor (Cabaret, George M, Chicago)
Harvey Fierstein - Playwright (La Cage Aux Folles, Torch Song Trilogy, Kinky Boots)

Stephen Sondheim - Playwright

Derek Jacobi - Actor (Much Ado About Nothing)

Antony Sher - British Shakespearean Actor, Author, Playwright
Andrew Rannells - Actor (Book of Mormon, Hamilton, Falsettos, Boys in the Band)

Neil Patrick Harris - Actor (Hedwig and the Angry Inch)
Jesse Tyler Ferguson - Actor (Take Me Out)

Jonathan Groff - Actor (New Brain)

Billy Porter - Actor (Kinky Boots)
Tina Landau - Director (Brother Sister Plays, Hot L Baltimore, Spongebob Squarepants)
Gavin Creel - Actor (Book of Mormon, Holly Dolly, Hair, Waitress)

Mart Crowley - Playwright (Boys in the Band)
Todrick Hall - Actor (Chicago, Kinky Boots, Waitress)
Nathan Lane - Actor (The Producers)
Jenn Colella - Actor (Come From Far Away, Me and the Sky)
Ben Platt - Actor (Dear Evan Hanson)

Jonathan Burke - Actor (Choir Boy, Tuck Everlasting, Cats)

David Archuleta - Actor (Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat)

Charlie Carver - Actor (Boys in the Band)

 
 

LGBTQ Heroes in Theatre

LGBTQ-Related Broadway Musicals

List of LGBTQ-Related Musicals

LGBTQ Experiences on Stage

Best LGBTQ Plays and Musicals  

Ian McKellen - Actor (Frank & Percy)

Alison Bechdel - Playwright (Fun House)
Tituss Bergess - Actor (Guys and Dolls, Little Mermaid, The Wiz)

Alan Cumming - Actor (Cabaret)
John Tartaglia - Actor (Avenue Q)
Ben Levi Ross - Actor (Dear Evan Hansen)
Javier Munoz - Actor (Hamilton)
Beth Malone - Actor (Fun Home)

Jerry Mitchell - Actor (Hairspray, Full Monty, Rocky Horror Picture Show)
Lisa Kron - Playwright (Fun Home, 2.5 Minute Ride)
Chita Rivera - Actor (Kiss of the Spider Woman)
Grey Henson - Actor (Book of Mormon, Mean Girls)
Laverne Cox - Actor (Rocky Horror Picture Show)
William Finn - Composer, Lyricist (Spelling Bee, Falsettos)
Indina Menzel - Actor (Rent)
Rory O'Malley - Actor (Book of Mormon)
Taylor Trensch - Actor (To Kill a Mockingbird, Dear Evan Hansen, Wicked)

Andy Mientus - Actor (Spring Awakening, Les Miserables)

Michael James Scott - Actor (Aladdin)

Joe Locke - Actor (Sweeney Todd)


 

Only Us: Dear Evan Hanson

Broadway Star Joel Gray: Multifaceted Artist

Stevie Sings “Maybe This Time” - Schitt’s Creek

LGBTQ Theatre Makers to Pay Attention to Right Now

Little Shop of Horrors: With Trans and Gay Leads

Avenue Q: If You Were Gay

I Am What I Am: Song From La Cage Aux Folles  
Only Us: Laura Dreyfus and Ben Platt

Broadway Backwards: Sixteen Going on Seventeen

Neil Patrick Harris: Medley of Broadway Songs

LGBTQ Theatre Companies
 

Aputheatre Buddies in Bad Times

Celebration Theatre

Five Lesbian Brothers

Frank Theatre Company

Pomo Afro Homos

Split Britches

Stage Q Theatre Offensive

Theatre Rhinoceros

Triangle Theatre Company

Who Wants Cake Theatre

 
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