Fifty Shades of Gay

We've talked on now for a bit about the influences on Urinetown from both the African-American and Jewish-American traditions, so it's time to set our targets on another important minority group:  Homosexual-Americans.  I know that this is beginning to sound like the beginning of an incredibly offensive joke:  Into a bar walks a cripple, a black, two gays, and a Jew...

Gay men have comprised an inordinately high percentage of Broadway's singers, dancers, directors, choreographers and designers; it's difficult, if not impossible to ignore how Broadway itself addressed this issue, starting in the late 60s and early 70s.

It seems self-evident that if there is any place on earth that ought to be safe for a homosexual, it ought to be the Broadway stage.  And in many ways, that's true.  Broadway's treatment of homosexuality came out of the closet way earlier than that of either film or TV, but not always in the most progressive ways. Broadway's first openly gay character was that of Sebastian Baye in Coco, 1969.  A musical adaptation of the life of Coco Channel (starring Katherine Hepburn, of all people, in a musical), the show was poorly reviewed, and didn't last too long.  It may have been the first to feature a gay character, but as expected, Sebastian was portrayed in an incredibly hateful manner, as a stereotypical rude fashion designer.

This was followed the very next year by Applause, 1970 (another show you probably don't need to ever see), based upon the 1950 film All About Eve.  Here we meet Duane, a gay hairdresser, still playing to type, but at least this character was likeable. Applause starred another female film star not typically known for her vocal abilities:  Lauren Bacall.  And for you connoisseurs of gay stage history, Applause was also the first Broadway show to feature a scene set inside a gay bar.  Times, they was a-changin'.

A few years later, Tommy Tune won a Tony award for his portrayal of an openly gay choreographer in Seesaw, 1973, continuing our list of shows that you will probably never see, the omission of which should never bother you.  In the early 70s, a raft of shows with gay themes started to appear, but most of them were mounted off-Broadway, well outside the mainstream consciousness.  It wasn't until 1975 that the gay experience came crashing through the door of a genuine Broadway hit:  A Chorus Line.

A Chorus Line, 1975 was the first Broadway book musical to allow its gay characters to discuss, in both song and dialogue, the sexual aspects of their lives. Marvin Hamlisch's brainchild, the show portrays 17 dancers auditioning for a spot in the chorus of a Broadway production, and delves into each of their backstories.  It was groundbreaking at the time for showing both the joy and the heartbreak involved in living a life on the stage.  It ran for 15 years in the same theatre, and won a slew of awards.  To be gay was beginning to be mainstream, at least in the narrow world of Broadway.

But even A Chorus Line couldn't reasonably be called a gay show, though it featured some gay characters.  Charles Strouse and Alan Jay Lerner came a little closer with 1983's Dance A Little Closer, featuring Broadway's first romantic homosexual couple, who even exchange marriage vows.  The composer of Annie, and the lyricist of My Fair Lady;  I can hear you asking, "why haven't I heard of this show?"  Because Dance A Little Closer was dreadful, and it closed after one performance.  (During previews, it was known as Close A Little Faster.) 

Still, it had a few interesting songs that it seems a shame to waste.  In spite of the fact its opening night was its closing, somehow a cast recording still got made, even though it is out of print and hard to find. As a special treat, I give you the rarely heard, first gay duet performed on a Broadway stage, sung by a couple of male flight attendants in love (stereo-typing again).  Here's Why Can't the World Go and Leave Us Alone?:

In a way, it's a good thing that Dance A Little Closer closed so quickly; only a few short months later, Broadway debuted its first completely gay-themed musical, and this one was a hit:  La Cage Aux Folles, 1983, the Jerry Herman extravaganza.  For the first time, blue-haired ladies who never would have gone to see "gay theatre" cheered for the story of a middle-aged gay couple struggling with homophobic in-laws, and for the defiant gay anthem I Am What I Am. Watching George Hearn perform this song during the Tony Awards that year was one of the all-time electrifying moments in Broadway history, and I was glad to have seen it live.  Here's George for those that have never seen him perform this signal song:




After La Cage, a raft of shows opened on Broadway which contained gay themes, without apology. Falsettoland 1990; Kiss of the Spiderwoman, 1992; Hedwig and the Angry Inch, 1998; The Boy From Oz, 2003; Kinky Boots, 2012.  These musicals portrayed homosexuality as simply another facet in the complex prism of life, and never poked fun of gay men in an unflattering way.  I am pleased to say that Urinetown avoids this easy slandering as well, and some might not even notice the placement of at least one gay character among the groupies in Cladwell's retinue.  The script gives him no room to hide, however, as we have already discussed Urinetown's naming conventions, and we can easily identify the gay sycophant in the un-subtly named, McQueen.

Modern theatre so commonly includes gay themes today that Broadway has taken it upon itself to poke fun of its commonality.  Here's the opening number from the 2011 Tony Awards, hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.  Enjoy!