One reason I started this blog was to highlight diversity in musical theatre. Recently, I’ve fallen off that bandwagon somewhat. To partially remedy this situation, today I would like to shine a spotlight on a handful of musical theatre songs written for gay male characters. While this probably goes without saying, I’ll say it anyway: gay men have played a massive role in the development of musical theatre over the years. To name several gay and bisexual male theatre writers: Cole Porter, Noël Coward, Arthur Laurents, Larry Hart, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Kander and Ebb, Leonard Bernstein, Harvey Fierstein, William Finn, Henry Krieger, Elton John, Howard Ashman, Stephen Flaherty, Andrew Lippa, Michael John LaChiusa, Marc Shaiman, Scott Whittman, Jake Heggie… the list goes on and on, really. Notably, many were/are Jewish as well.
I think it’s fair to say that musical theatre is, and has always been, very very gay (which is, of course, perfectly A-Okay). In fact, musicals have always been a safe haven of sorts for many individuals within the LGBT community. However, there is still more work to do in terms of increasing diversity within musical theatre productions and beyond. A full list of LGBT-themed musicals can be found here. Below are several of my personal favorite musical theatre songs written for gay male characters (in chronological order). Some of these selections are serious and heart-wrenching while others are a bit more light-hearted and fun. Enjoy!
P.S. Need help finding musical theatre repertoire to sing? Check out my professional repertoire guides here.