| Genuine question: are LGBT people well-represented in Broadway musicals? | |
| Posted by: GrumpyMorningBoy (grumpymorningboy@yahoo.com) 06:21 pm EDT 10/29/17 | |
|
|
|
| I know. It's easy to laugh and wonder why we're even asking this. But watching FALSETTOS reminded me of something very stark. We pretty much never see happy gay couples in Broadway musicals. Here's what we have seen a whole lot of: tragic gay people. Gay people who die. Gay singles who are unlucky in love. Gay people who can't accept their sexuality, or are the scourge of an unaccepting community. And, a handful of cliched gay sidekicks or drag characters, who are typically de-sexualized, played for laughs, and seemingly innocuous. Lesbian characters are astonishingly rare; bisexual and trans people are essentially invisible. I do recognize that it seems a bit absurd to even ponder this question. Is there anything gayer than the American Broadway musical? But we seem to have far more Broadway gay icons who are themselves heterosexual women (Mama Rose, Effie White, Auntie Mame, Fanny Brice) than actual iconic gay characters. Of course, it's not like we don't have any representation at all. But I think that if we take the LGBT characters on the whole -- spread across shows like FALSETTOS, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, RENT, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, THE PRODUCERS, AVENUE Q, THE BOOK OF MORMON, KINKY BOOTS, FUN HOME -- I'm not sure that we're getting a particularly well-rounded representation, folks. I see a whole lot of people for whom their sexuality IS the source of their drama. Being gay brings about a tragic outcome, or it becomes something for straight people to laugh about. Are Broadway's creators so lacking in creativity (or courage) that they couldn't imagine an LGBT person who has no issue with their sexuality and simply has some sort of other compelling story to tell? I think we have a lot of catching up to do. For all our illusions about the Broadway theater being a home for progressive voices, we're still making a whole lot of art that's worried about whether or not it'll play Peoria. If someone's written serious journalism that explores this question the way 1995's brilliant documentary "The Celluloid Closet" explored LGBT representation in film, I'd love to read it. In the meantime, what should we do to encourage greater, more well-rounded representation of LGBT people within new musicals? - GMB |
|
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | NEW - KNIVES IN HENS - Talkin' Broadway's Review - T.B._Admin. 07:04 pm EDT 10/29/17 |
| Next: | re: Genuine question: are LGBT people well-represented in Broadway musicals? - TheOtherOne 08:51 am EDT 10/30/17 |
| Thread: |
|
Time to render: 0.048145 seconds.