I think we all have heard that question before. And yes, many Broadway actors are gay, most of its male fans are gay, and even if you're not, if you like musicals, you're gay. Where does this stereotype come from? Let's begin with this idea, and I'm gonna take three of the early Broadways composers and lyricists: Cole Porter, Nöel Coward and Lorenz Hart.
Have you ever listened to a Cole Porter song? Like actually listen to it? Because he's often credited as one of the first lyricists to feature innuendos in his creations. Let me show you two examples here:
-"Anything Goes"- Anyting Goes
"In olden days, a glimpse of stocking
was looked on as something shocking,
but now, God knows,
anything goes."
-"Tom, Dick, Harry"- Kiss Me Kate
"I'm a maid mad to marry
and will take double-quick,
any Tom, Dick or Harry,
any Tom, Harry or Dick,
a-dicka-dick,
a-dicka-dick
a-dicka-dick
a-dicka-dick
a-dicka-dick
a-dicka-dick
a-dicka-dick."
Cole Porter was a not-so-secretly gay writer in the early 1900's who slipped these queer lyrics into his plays, which was as much as you could get in the 1940's, when Kiss me, Kate came out. Even though those lyrics are -obviously- open to interpretation, through the eyes of a gay audience, those lyrics are more than they appear to be. In a time when being homosexual was still unnacceptable, the only way out for a gay public was to enjoy entertainment made by and for them, disguised, of course, in a plot of heterosexual love and relationships.
Moving on to Nöel Coward, he was a bit more explicit with his lyrics; here's an example.
-"Green Carnation"- Bitter Sweet
"Faded boys, jaded boys,
come what may,
art is our inspiration.
And as for we are the reason
for the nineties being gay,
we all wear a green carnation."
It's worth to mention that this song was written long before the word "gay" meant what it means today, but the "green carnation" seals the lyric's intention, since that specific kind of flower in the early 1900's was a symbol of idolizing Oscar Wilde, a gay icon by himself.
The rumors of homosexuality surrounding Wilde's figure were still a big deal by the time Bitter Sweet came out.
And finally, we have Lorenz Hart, who still had a little bit more coding into his lyrics, as showed here.
-"I'd Like to Hide It"- Dearest Enemy
"I'd like to hide it,
I'd like to hide it,
I'd like to smother down
the flame inside."
This song is sung by a female character, which proves the fact that any kind of gay subtext must remain hidden underneath a heterosexual plotline.
It's important to mention that being "out" back then was nothing like being "out" today. So the only way to meet more people in the community was creating and consuming musicals with that sort of implicit homosexual mention.
Both queer actors and composers were performing as heterosexuals, wearing costumes and communicating their authentic personas through some kind of coded language (showtunes), all inside the theatre.
Of course not every single musical from the early 1900's has gay subtext, because, as usual, there are more straight than gay stories. But that meant something for the LGBTQ+ community back then, it meant that they had to read between the lines to find themselves represented.
All of this changed after the second half of the 20th century, when musical theatre started to grow stronger, and set the beginning of an era of worshipping divas. Ethel Merman, Barbra Streisand, Angela Lansbury, Bette Midler, Bernadette Peters, Judy Garland, Liza Minelli, Chita Rivera, Elaine Stritch, Audra McDonald, Patti LuPone and many others became and icon among the community.
There weren't many gay characters in early musicals, and the ones that existed were either evil or tragic. So why would the gay audience look up to these kind of representation when they could look up to a diva figure? There's Dolly (Hello, Dolly!), Fanny (Funny Girl), Mame (Mame), Velma and Roxie (Chicago), Joanne (Company), even the young Dorothy Gail features as a gay icon, since Judy Garland was and still is considered as a diva for LGBTQ+ people.
Many of the songs they performed embodied the struggle queer people go through, talking about their power and embracing it. As en example of that, we have Ethel Merman, whose fierce performances showed her as a different kind of girl that no one was used to see in a musical: the woman who's not there to get the guy, but to get what she wants.
This was also a huge step to fight gender norms, which would happen later with Elaine, Chita and Bette, who used their feminity as a way to empower themselves and appear like fearless, daring and strong women who didn't need anything but their own selves to succeed. In a world were gay men were attacked for being "feminine", these figures were just perfect for them to look up to.
Based on this, there's the 1964 Tony winner Jerry Herman, who dedicated his creativity to the Broadway diva industry, with shows such as Hello, Dolly! and, of course, Mame, using exaggerated feminity in order to represent an increible power too, when being a female became a symbol of strenght.
Even if there weren't many explicit gay characters in musicals, they weren't needed as much as they would be if divas didn't exist, becoming role models and reaching an icon status for a gay audience.
That was until Herman hit the musical theatre industry with a groundbreaking show: La Cage aux Folles, which featured a drag queen in the role of a diva, having an openly and explicitly gay character as protagonist. Also, giving the first showtune that worked as an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community, "I am What I am".
As time went by, Broadway culture became gay culture as well, since every character would face issues and struggles, solving them with a showtune, showing happiness in the face of unbearable despair. And in the last few years, musicals have been featuring more and more queer characters: Avenue Q, Falsettos, Fun Home, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Kinky Boots, Rent, Rocky Horror Show, Spring Awakening, The Book of Mormon etc., to mention a few, helping musical theatre to stop telling the story of closeted gay men speaking in riddles to now be one of the pillars of queer culture.
-A
There weren't many gay characters in early musicals, and the ones that existed were either evil or tragic. So why would the gay audience look up to these kind of representation when they could look up to a diva figure? There's Dolly (Hello, Dolly!), Fanny (Funny Girl), Mame (Mame), Velma and Roxie (Chicago), Joanne (Company), even the young Dorothy Gail features as a gay icon, since Judy Garland was and still is considered as a diva for LGBTQ+ people.
Many of the songs they performed embodied the struggle queer people go through, talking about their power and embracing it. As en example of that, we have Ethel Merman, whose fierce performances showed her as a different kind of girl that no one was used to see in a musical: the woman who's not there to get the guy, but to get what she wants.
This was also a huge step to fight gender norms, which would happen later with Elaine, Chita and Bette, who used their feminity as a way to empower themselves and appear like fearless, daring and strong women who didn't need anything but their own selves to succeed. In a world were gay men were attacked for being "feminine", these figures were just perfect for them to look up to.
Based on this, there's the 1964 Tony winner Jerry Herman, who dedicated his creativity to the Broadway diva industry, with shows such as Hello, Dolly! and, of course, Mame, using exaggerated feminity in order to represent an increible power too, when being a female became a symbol of strenght.
Even if there weren't many explicit gay characters in musicals, they weren't needed as much as they would be if divas didn't exist, becoming role models and reaching an icon status for a gay audience.
That was until Herman hit the musical theatre industry with a groundbreaking show: La Cage aux Folles, which featured a drag queen in the role of a diva, having an openly and explicitly gay character as protagonist. Also, giving the first showtune that worked as an anthem for the LGBTQ+ community, "I am What I am".
As time went by, Broadway culture became gay culture as well, since every character would face issues and struggles, solving them with a showtune, showing happiness in the face of unbearable despair. And in the last few years, musicals have been featuring more and more queer characters: Avenue Q, Falsettos, Fun Home, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Kinky Boots, Rent, Rocky Horror Show, Spring Awakening, The Book of Mormon etc., to mention a few, helping musical theatre to stop telling the story of closeted gay men speaking in riddles to now be one of the pillars of queer culture.
-A
