Are BWW(or musical theatre fans) mostly Gay???- Page 4

[matt schneider]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:41pm

I'm straight and I love broadway, I get made fun of for it, but it is who I am, a broadway fan.

[rflpfl2]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:48pm

What I think it really comes down to is: theater and especially musical theater is generally labeled as being "gay" and in high school is relatively considered a place for the social outcasts to congregate- so therefore gay men feel comfortable and may be attracted to something that is already labeled and earmarked for them.

Many straight men who feel the pressures of society will say they don't like theater because it is "gay" and therefore don't experience it.

[BwayBaby18]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:56pm

There are no gays in theatre. Just many confused young men.

But here is the real question, how many lesbians work as stage hands? Now that is food for thought.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 3:59pm

gay? broadway? surely you jest!

[vmlinnie]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 4:14pm

Oh Papa, you're too much.

[mathewbrock]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 4:17pm

I applaud everyone on this post who, whether gay or straight, admits to having some INTEGRITY.

Specifically, I mean the straight guys who say, "I'm straight and I love Broadway and I don't care what people think." I also mean the gay guys who say, "I'm gay and I get made fun of for being a theatre queen and who the hell cares?" Integrity is being true to your word and to yourself. Thank God most of the Broadway community has an ounce or two of it.

Life is way too short to worry about what people say about you. Like what you like, avoid what you don't, and if you are having a problem with the people around you (i.e. you don't like what they think of you), find people who will appreciate you for who you are. Oh, and don't be too quick to judge other people's opinions. Everyone has a different opinion. No one is right or wrong. And in the grand scheme of things, no one's opinion really matters.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 4:29pm

I am still unclear on what banging men has to do with musicals?

Or the classic gay lover line "You could go far with a man like me behind you."


Updated On: 8/2/06 at 04:29 PM

[Fiction Writer]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 4:50pm

In high school, theatre was a refuge. I think that might be a reason.

[ILoveWicked330]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 4:52pm

I love Broadway and I'm straight. I don't see how liking actors do their job also requires you to like the same sex. One thing has nothing to do with the other...

[latheatrelover]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 5:17pm

muscle23ftl, I know you tried to straighten (no pun intended) out the title of this header but it comes out funnier now..."Are BWW (or musical theater fans) mostly gay?" By "mostly gay", it made me think for a moment that you meant, is a Broadway fan 80% gay and 20% straight? LOL. Of course, you meant fans as a whole. But then I realized you probably mean males who are theater fans, since females are mostly probably not. But your query got me wondering how many females on the board are? Your question has lots more possibilities.
Updated On: 8/2/06 at 05:17 PM

[mustard]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 5:27pm

I even think that saying they are drawn to theatre as a refuge or place to express themselves is overthinking it. I think they just like it. Why? Who knows. Maybe it's in the genes. I don't even know why *I* like theatre, but I do. It was just there.
Updated On: 8/2/06 at 05:27 PM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 5:42pm

I am straight, and I love Broadway. I always get asked if I'm gay by people when I mention my Broadway love and its annoying, but I don't mind it. Because it really shouldnt matter if someone is gay or straight. Broadway isnt discrminatory toward either group- Broadway can be for anyone.

[Kringas]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 5:44pm

Are you sure it's the Broadway thing that makes people think you're gay? It couldn't maybe be the Cheyenne Jackson thing?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 6:11pm

I pretty sure it not the Cheyenne thing.
Half the people who come up to me don't even know who he is.
Plus I dont flaunt my Broadway love around, half the time I'm wearing a musical t-shirt and people ask me.

If was gay, I would it really matter?

[Phantom2]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 6:13pm

Now that Brendan and Jose' are gone, I think we're becoming more even.

[Kringas]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 6:18pm

It might matter to Cheyenne.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 6:19pm

Excuse me, Kringas. Why would you say that?

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 6:20pm

bsobw2 -- I never understood the correlation either.

And what's funny is how many straight friends I know who've gone to shows coming out A)loving them and B)drooling over a chorus girl or some female in the cast. That's a HUGE plus for us straight guys - "dozens of girls wearing nothing but pearls..."

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 7:00pm

People DO make fun - and until they get to know you, don't actually believe that ANY man is straight if they like musicals.

God help us if a straight white male is ever the target of ridicule. Do you honestly expect sympathy? Being insulted for your hobby is nowhere near on the same level as being insulted for who you are. I think it's worse that you're so offended someone would insinutate that you are gay than it is that they would joke about it in the first place.

My father introduced me to theatre; my mother didn't really like it and preferred ballet. I've never had an issue with accepting that straight men can like theatre, so I don't get why it's an issue in the first place.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 8/2/06 at 7:07pm

Why be called something you're not?

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 10:33am

Ok, first of all, I'm really not gay but it is the truth that the theatre community is mostly gay and I'm ok with that. And yes, RightAmerica is what's wrong with America. It's like having Clayton Bigsby on a message board.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 11:46am

Musical theater and being gay are inextricably tied for me, but musicals didn't make me gay.

My family discovered I was gay when I was 6 years old. They took me to an Easter Sunday matinee of The Music Man starring Van Johnson.

When the curtain rose, they had to shush me because my little voice rang out, "Oh, my god! That set is FABULOUS!"

Halfway thorough the opening scene, I tapped the shoulder of the lady in front of me and asked could she please remove her Easter bonnet.

"What a polite young man," she said. "I'm terribly sorry. Can you not see over my hat?"

"No," I replied. "I want you to remove it because it's hideous."

Later during the "Wells Fargo Wagon" number, I leaned over to my mother and said of the boy playing Winthrop Paroo, "If he doesn't do SOMETHING about that sibilant S, I'm afraid life will be VERY unkind to him."

After the show, over cocktails ("Rum and Coke, hold the rum, please") and dinner (Steak Diane, which arrived at the table flaming, n'est-ce pas?), my parents were discussing the recent separation of Van Johnson and his wife Eve. "Oh, please," I said, lifting my Scalloped Potatoes world-wearily, "you know, don't you, that he left his wife for that chorus boy?"

"What the HELL puts things like that in the boy's head?" my father asked.

"I didn't know he was minty," my mother said, intruigued. "I'll have to ask Emilio." Emilio was my mother's hairdresser. He knew ALL the homosexuals.

"I heard it at intermission," I said. "These two men were whispering in the men's room, and they seemed QUITE in-the-know."

My family was never the same after that.

So you see, it wasn't musicals that made me gay. I would have been gay anyway.

Musicals just made me happy.

Updated On: 8/3/06 at 11:46 AM

[WithoutATrace]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 12:10pm

Wow. Awesome story, PalJoey! Thanks for sharing that with us.

[spiderdj82]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 12:15pm

I am straight and LOVE theatre.

And Joey . . . that is hillarious.

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 8/3/06 at 12:16pm

Joey - did they model the costume designer child in SCHOOL OF ROCK after you?

You seem oddly similar.