The Big Gay Musical (I KNOW I'm Offended!)

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 7:09pm

I was just looking at their web site that is being promoted here on BWW, and they are announcing that they have t-shirts to order.

Am I missing something, because I think it's one of the most offensive t-shirts I've ever seen for a show.




Web Site

Updated On: 5/20/09 at 07:09 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 7:21pm

That, and the whole F.A.G.S. thing.

I wrote the producer and he wrote me back saying, "I'm sorry if you find the shirt offensive... you might have to see in context to the movie. Most people find it very funny."

I responded, "If you have to explain something, then it's not really funny, is it?"

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 7:22pm

It looks like it's meant to be an ironical parodisticak type-thing.

"Foundation Against Gayness Society" is very clunky though. Nowhere near as good as the fundies Million4Marriage.

Updated On: 5/18/09 at 07:22 PM

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 7:26pm

It looks like a shirt they would wear at a conversion camp.

When I hear the title, THE BIG, GAY MUSICAL!, this is not what comes to mind as a good idea for a t-shirt.

Besides, I just watched the clip they have and they are using the Gypsy overture.

I'm sure Jule Styne is spinning in his grave.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 7:42pm

My guess would be conversion camp would figure into the musical. The pitch: "It's like a cross between 'Another Gay Movie' and 'But I'm a Cheerleader...' and 'Camp' and 'Saved' but with songs, like 'Saved' and 'Saved: The Musical' only totally ORIGINAL!!!"

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 7:48pm

Maybe the shirt should reflect that in some way...

They wrote me back asking what I found offensive and I told him:

"For a show called THE BIG, GAY MUSICAL!, it looks like a shirt they would give to someone at a treatment facility where they try and make you straight.

The image of someone giving Jesus head...
F.A.G.S... (That's sort of like a black person wearing a shirt that says N!GGER on it)

I don't know, take your pick...

And I'm not even going into copyright laws about using the overture from Gypsy on the trailer..."

[Eris0303]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 8:20pm

Actually, it looks like the guy is facing us and Jesus is behind him.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 8:52pm

Then that makes it all better,doesn't it? :P

[AndAllThatJazz22]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 8:59pm

Wow. This is awful

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 9:36pm

So, it's not just me...

I think the logo of the show should take up the whole back and this 'logo' on the front, but small and on the left breast.

It just looks like a conversion therapy t-shirt.

[SNAFU]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 9:37pm

Eris. I was going to say the exact same thing.

[Eris0303]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 9:45pm

"Then that makes it all better,doesn't it? :P"

Well, it certainly changes things

"Eris. I was going to say the exact same thing."

WMTA lol

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 9:49pm

It'smostly the FAGS thing.

Besides, in this day and age, when gays are asking for human rights, this sort of thing just gives the other side another reason to hate us.

I don't think it's funny at all, and I'm not religious, but you know the conservatives are going to say we are making fun of them.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 10:33pm

I'm a straight Christian conservative who supports gay rights, and this logo kinda feels like a slap in the face to us as well.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 10:52pm

If you are offended, let the producer know:

[e-mail]

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 11:11pm

Sent my email.

[skb2010]

Posted: 5/18/09 at 11:28pm

I'm a straight Christian conservative who supports gay rights, and this logo kinda feels like a slap in the face to us as well.


Stole the words right out of my mouth.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 12:06am

But then again, I don't really care if straight conservative Christians are offended. I don't tend to work against them, the way they do me. So, sorry. Welcome to the world of being offended. And before you say you're not the kind of straight conservative Christian who works against me (one of my best friends is that), then you shouldn't be offended.

Let me tell you a founding lesson of progressive activism that comes up, for example, when people who are white feel "offended" by discussions of racism (because THEY'RE not racist!) or people with money feel "offended" by discussions of classism (because THEY'RE not classist!). The lesson is this: take what you can use from the discussion and leave the rest.

You don't really need to prove you're not like that or those which are being satirized. More harm has been done to gay people by Christian conversion therapy than conservative Christian straight people have been harmed by a "slap in the face." Besides which, Jesus spoke pretty directly about what you should do when you're slapped in the face (while forgetting to ever mention gay people), and complaining is NOT what he admonished you to do.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 12:21am

Michel Musto thinks it's funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOm9fJKEyfc

[PalJoey]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 12:35am

It seems to be a big, silly musical with a cast that consists of Liz McCartney and just about every chorus boy in New York including such BroadwayWorld favorites as Daniel Robinson, Joey Dudding, Marty Thomas, Jeff Metzler, Andre Ward, Joe Komara, Timothy Mandala, Jordan Bass, Joshua Cruz, Brandon Rubendall, Constantine Rousouli and Matthew Kilgore, with comedy contributed by Kate Pazakis, Todd Buonopane and Rick Skye as Liza.



Here's the synopsis. I think you all may be judging it a bit harshly and missing the parodic element to the ex-gay camp in the movie and on the t-shirt.

From what I can tell, it's all supposed to be silly and frothy and fun.

===

Paul and Eddie have just begun previews for the new Off-Broadway musical "Adam and Steve Just the Way God Made 'Em." Their lives strangely mirror the characters they are playing. Paul is looking for the perfect man and Eddie is dealing with how his sexuality and faith can mix. After yet another disastrous dating experience, Paul has an epiphany. He is done dating and just wants to be a slut like the sexy chorus boys that share his dressing room. Eddie has to tell his parents that he's gay and is starring in a show that calls the bible the "Breeder's Informational Book of Living Examples". Eddie comes out to his family and Paul goes on Manhunt. Eddie's parents are destroyed by the news and Paul can't even have a good one-night stand. But after musical numbers with scantly clad tap dancing angels, a retelling of Genesis, tele-evangelists, a camp that attempts to turn gay kids straight, and a bunch of showtunes, everyone realizes that life gets better once they accept who they really are. And they are just the way God made 'em.

Updated On: 5/19/09 at 12:35 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 12:49am

Art imitates life. I came out to my family on Manhunt!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 1:38am

"I'll unlock but only if you don't give me a hart time about it."

[scott68]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 2:35am

I think it's a lazy parody, but still not worth getting offended over. It seems ham-handed, intensely derivative (I'm pretty sure I've seen similar things on at least three South Park episodes), and just plain not actually funny, but it's not meant in a bad way, and they're not worth getting flustered over.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 5/19/09 at 5:17am

To be honest, it offends me, too. I am a Christian and sitting across the table from my very beautiful girlfriend so I feel a little caught up in the middle of all of this. I think it's really difficult to claim that we want to be taken seriously and treated fairly while bashing the core belief system of the opposition. If we say, "Not only are you completely wrong, but what you believe is totally ridiculous," and then we make fun of it in a truly offensive manner, then I feel like they have a right to say whatever they want back. At some point, someone has to show some compassion. There has to be a common ground to get to and things like this just cause another stumbling block on the way to finding it.

/end rant

Updated On: 5/19/09 at 05:17 AM

Posted: 5/19/09 at 11:21am

I'm only offended that gay people, known for centuries (literally) for their artistic innovation and creativity would produce such a derivative, unoriginal film.