LGBTQ+ Tropes in Musical Theater

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 5:28pm

Reviews for the film Love, Simon has commented on the rarity of a "happy ending" for a gay couple on screen. That made me curious to see how LGBTQ+ characters have fared in musical theater. I threw in some operas for good measure and began to tally.

From a list of 100 shows:
23 characters end up dead,
6 gay men end up single and pining for straight men,
8 male couples and 2 female couples end up married!

I've attempted to sort the full list into a chart here. Have a look and tell me who I missed?
http://threepanelmusicals.blogspot.com/2018/06/lgbtq-tropes-in-musical-theater.html

[raddersons]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 5:40pm

Grand Hotel has a few homosexual subplots that feel very shoe-horned in, but I can't not bring up:

-One bellhop hits on the other bellhop, calling him a "fancy boy"... very classic gay predator.

-Raffella is so so so in love with Elizaveta, but nothing ever comes of it and she just sings about how upset she is the entire show.

Man that show... is all over the place.  

EDIT: Now that I've read the chart properly, you already got this one. Check!

Updated On: 6/4/18 at 05:40 PM

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 5:51pm

Seems like opera is just here to up the "dead" numbers?

And does Billy Elliott count as a character that ends up pining for a straight guy? I mean, for a minor barely teenaged character, what else is he supposed to do?

[BroadwayConcierge]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 5:54pm

I admit I laughed at the fact that Gentleman’s Guide does indeed technically feature a gay cis male dying.

[raddersons]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 5:56pm

I seem to remember either Buddy or Terry being gay and closeted in the SideShow revival... does anyone remember if I'm correct?

Updated On: 6/4/18 at 05:56 PM

[Sally Durant Plummer]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 6:03pm

Buddy is gay. It’s implied in the original, very blatant and part of the plot in the revival/revival.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 6:05pm

haterobics - True Billy's friend Michael has few options. His two kisses with Billy seem to fit him in the category though. The movie does flash forward to an adult Michael with a partner, but the musical ends with him bidding Billy a wistful goodbye.

raddersons - Thank you! I'd remembered Raffella but had forgotten the Bellboy!

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 6:30pm

Don’t forget War Paint.

[haterobics]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 6:40pm

MrsSallyAdams said: "haterobics - True Billy's friend Michael has few options. His two kisses with Billy seem to fit him in the category though. The movie does flash forward to an adult Michael with a partner, but the musical ends with him bidding Billy a wistful goodbye."

Love Simon seemed to be about the lead characters having a happy ending, so to extrapolate that to any minor character in a musical seems a stretch. Of course, if you reduce musical theater to only shows with LGBTQ leads doing anything, then it is such a small chart...

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 7:10pm

I just remembered another one: Louis from American Psycho. I'm not sure where to put him on the chart though. He starts engaged to a woman. Then he becomes infatuated with Patrick. We see Patrick attack him late in act two but then reality is called into question so we don't know if it really happened.

[chewy5000]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 8:56pm

I laughed out loud when I scrolled down and noticed the "undead" category.

[raddersons]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 10:48pm

Not to veer this thread way off course, but I’m always fascinated by the “evil gay” trope. That is, anything that is remotely queer, flamboyant, or even butch (for a lady), is villainous. It’s harder to find examples in Theater than in TV and film, but here’s a few I can think of:

Ursula, The Little Mermaid
King Herod, JCS
Farwquaad, Shrek
Arachne, Spider-Man (she loved those shoes!)
Evil Bellhop, Grand Hotel (I’m counting it, dammit)
Frank-n-furter (and his whole castle, for that matter), Rocky Horror

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 6/4/18 at 11:48pm

And Floop in Spy Kids ^

[thebookofwhizzer]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 8:03am

Who is the LGBTQ+ character in Carrie? Also in Hair, are you referring to Woof? 

[JBC3]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 8:13am

I gotta work harder on being more of an evil gay.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 8:22am

Re thebookofwhizzer:

The revised book of Carrie gives Tommy Ross a small group of friends. One of them is closeted. A running gag is that he keeps flirting with Tommy only to hesitantly back off. He died at the prom with the rest of his class.

I believe the character in Hair who sings Sodomy is Woof. The lady who sings Air tells the audience that he's in love with Berger. I've also seen some Bergers play the character as bi but that's not really in the text beyond one joke.

[thebookofwhizzer]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 8:25am

Also, I would add that Peter in Bare a pop opera is also gay but does not die by suicide and ends up single.

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 8:28am

The best Claude I ever saw in Hair played the character as completely and openly gay. It made Jeanie a much funnier and more oddly sympathetic character, and her "He loves me..." got applause and huge laughs.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 8:28am

One more.

I remember the musical "Curtains" had a joke about the men's chorus being blackmailed for homosexuality. The detective said "What are you boys doing that you don't want your mothers to know?" Then they each quickly placed an arm around a female chorus member.

The rude director in that show was coded gay but I don't believe it's confirmed in the text.

[thebookofwhizzer]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 8:29am

MrsSallyAdams said: "Re thebookofwhizzer:

The revised book of Carrie gives Tommy Ross a small group of friends. One of them is closeted. A running gag is that he keeps flirting with Tommy only to hesitantly back off. He died at the prom with the rest of his class.

I believe the character in Hair who sings Sodomy is Woof. The lady who sings Air tells the audience that he's in love with Berger. I've also seen some Bergers play the character as bi but that's not really in the text beyond one joke."

Oh, of course! Now I remember him from Carrie! And yes Woof does sing Sodomy and Jeanie does tell them that he is in love with Berger. I believe Woof also mentions Mick Jagger as well.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 8:54am

More brainstorming

Cruel Intentions
Drowsy Chaperone (I'd forgotten Trix the aviatrix)
Loving Repeating (Gertrude Stein and alice Toklas)
Rebecca (Ms Danvers)
Tales from the City (hasn't reached NY)

Does the gay dad in Mama Mia have a boyfriend? I know the film paired Colin Firth with a chorus boy.

 

edit: The Life (a trans character gets a verse in the song "Someday is for Suckers"

Updated On: 6/5/18 at 08:54 AM

[kdogg36]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 10:08am

Very nice job on the chart!

For Aspects of Love, as you know, Rose and Giulietta have a minor fling. Rose ends up alone (widowed), but Giulietta - who I think is more clearly bisexual - ends up with Alex at the end of the show.

[uncageg]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 10:35am

Bob Crewe in Jersey Boys. Evidently attracted to Bob Gaudio it appears to be single. Unless the boy serving drinks in the apartment scene is his boyfriend.

[MyMeredithMonster]

Posted: 6/5/18 at 12:21pm

There are also Logainne's married fathers in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Carl and Dan.

[MrsSallyAdams]

Posted: 6/6/18 at 5:48pm

Vanity Fair's Richard Lawson recently wrote: "I want a gay thing about gay adults who are relatively well-adjusted and aren't dying, that is wistful, hopeful, fun."

He's talking about films but I'll apply it to musicals. I can't define "well-adjusted" but as for the rest of the categories I'd put the following:

Boy Meets Boy (1975)
La Cage Aux Folles (1983)
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (2011)
Tales of the City (2011) 
[title of show] (2008)
A Year With Frog and Toad (2003) (it's canon!)
When Pigs Fly (1996)