Perhaps no one is more excited about Broadway reopening than the LGBTQ+ community. It is one of the few places that has constantly represented the community. LGBTQ+ playwrights, directors, actors, crew and stories fill audiences with glee eight times a week.
While film and television shied away from queer content for decades – the surge of LGBTQ+ content on film and television has only happened in the past 10 years – theatre has been portraying them since the 1960s.
By telling these stories live, it allows the audience to experience the characters in a more intimate setting. Certain shows like The Boys in the Band and Hedwig and the Angry Inch allow for real-time stories being told, while others like Rent and The Prom speak on a larger platform about issues happening around us at the time of their premiere.
Queer actors also get their chance to shine onstage in both straight and LGBTQ+ roles, while straight actors get to do the same. Perhaps it is because of the live format every night, but there does not seem to be the same outcry of misrepresentation onstage as there is on film.
However, that does not mean that it does not happen. In 2010, Newsweek published a now-deleted article called “Straight Jacket,” which called out LGBTQ+ actors who were deemed “unfit” to play straight characters. The article singled out Sean Hayes who was playing a straight man in love with Kristin Chenoweth’s character in Promises, Promises. After the article, Chenoweth had a lot to say.
“Audiences come to theater to go on a journey. It’s a character and it’s called acting, and I’d put Hayes and his brilliance up there with some of the greatest actors period,” Chenoweth said in her response to the article. “I know how much it means to young people struggling with their sexuality to see out & proud actors like Sean Hayes, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris and Cynthia Nixon succeeding in their work without having to keep their sexuality a secret. No one needs to see a bigoted, factually inaccurate article that tells people who deviate from heterosexual norms that they can’t be open about who they are and still achieve their dreams.”
Luckily views have changed since that time and for Pride Month, we decided to take a look at 15 of our favorite LGBTQ+ shows that have graced the Broadway stages.
Drop a reaction below or tweet us at @celebsecrets to tell us which show is your favorite, or which show you love that we didn’t mention, and click through the gallery to see 15 of our favorite LGBTQ+ Broadway shows…
