Can you name some musicals with The lead character/s being lesbian?
Most plays deal with the gay male characters but rarely do I see lesbians...much more on the transgender, bisexual, intersex... Gender- non conforming characters.
In the theme of equal pay and equality in general... We should see more LBTIQQ's characters
Rent have LGBTs
Falsettos have LG
And the prominent musicals with gay male characters would be :
Priscilla
Kinky Boots
Birdcage
Producers
Jersey Boys
And more
So
If #PriscillaQueenOfTheDesert #TheBirdcage #TheProducers #KinkyBoots were
#GayMusicals...
Then #HeadOverHeelsMusical @HOHmusical would be the
#LesbianMusical
#TransgenderMusical
#BisexualMusical that we are missing
#HeadOverHills #OurLipsAreSealed #MadAboutYou #WeGotTheBeat #BayGotTheBeat
Support
Lesbian Musicals
Trans Musical
Bi Musicals
:)
There's The Color Purple, to an extent.
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/23/17
Broadway Star Joined: 8/11/05
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/22/14
It Shoulda Been You though that’s more of an ensemble show.
Is Hedwig trans? I don't they ever explicitly identify whether Hedwig wanted to actually transition or just did it for the visa
Valentina3 said: "Is Hedwig trans? I don't they ever explicitly identify whether Hedwig wanted to actually transition or just did it for the visa"
JCM has said Hedwig is gender fluid, not explicitly trans.
Chicago, if you count it, and The Wild Party have lesbian characters.
Featured Actor Joined: 8/15/16
Broadway Star Joined: 11/24/16
Hedwig is often though not always portrayed as either transgender or nonbinary
Maureen in Rent and Lucas in If/Then are bisexual main characters.
If/Then also has the lesbian couple, Kate and Ann, who are main(Kate much moreso)
I was researching this very topic a while back and found some obscure ones.
Bad Girls The Musical - based on a British prison TV drama. http://www.bigbroad.co.uk/productions/bad-girls-the-musical/
Aspects of Love - the bisexual leading ladies abandon their men briefly for an affair.
Zanna Don't! - an off Broadway riff on "Midsummer Nights Dream" in which characters switch between gay and straight via magic. Problematic but cute with several lesbian characters.
More info here:
http://www.afterellen.com/more/24247-the-problematic-history-of-lesbians-in-musical-theater
I would personally count The Color Purple, but I'm also allowing the novel to influence my thoughts and Celie is more clearly a lesbian in that, as opposed to the musical.
Jonathan Larson always said that Maureen was a lesbian, even though she had a relationship with Mark, so there you go.
If you're looking for ones where the lead of the show is a lesbian, however, I can only think of The Color Purple and Fun Home. The rest have supporting lesbian characters, but that's it.
Wow! I didn't realize how many more there are....and I also wanna add Rocky Horror Show with Characters in the Gender Fluid category...
Oklahoma! (Aunt Eller anyone?)
Mame (Vera Charles?)
Chorus Member Joined: 6/5/14
Guys, other LGBT rep in musicals is wonderful, but the OP specifically asked about lesbian leads, not bi or gender fluid.
Elsa in Frozen is definitely being portrayed in a gay light in the musical. Her second act constuming definitely gives off a butch vibe. She’s the only woman in the show who chooses to wear pants.....
Yes this is a sterotype, but its not as if her being a lesbian has anything to do with the plot.
"Elsa in Frozen is definitely being portrayed in a gay light in the musical. Her second act constuming [sic] definitely gives off a butch vibe. She’s the only woman in the show who chooses to wear pants....."
Wrong. Anna pulls on pants during the search for Elsa.
Grand Hotel - Rafaela (Elizaveta Grushinskaya's deeply devoted companion).
newintown said: ""Elsa in Frozen is definitely being portrayed in a gay light in the musical. Her second act constuming [sic] definitely gives off a butch vibe. She’s the only woman in the show who chooses to wear pants....."
Wrong. Anna pulls on pants during the search for Elsa."
Those aren't by choice....its all Christophe has in his bag, and later changes into a dress when she gets to the Wandering Oaken's Trading Post.
She could choose not to wear the pants; she already has a dress on at that point (just continuing a ridiculous discussion here - as ridiculous as equating trousers with Sapphism...).
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