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As the musical Hairspray gets ready to set and hold our attention at the Princess of Wales (it’s in previews and opens May 5), let’s come out and state the obvious. It’s hard to mount a musical these days without courting the gay demographic.
With recent musicals on Broadway and the West End by or about Boy George, Queen (er, the rock group) and Elton John, you can’t have a show without some queer content. Or queer contributors. But maybe it’s been that way all along.
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| Show | WEST SIDE STORY (1957) | A CHORUS LINE (1975) | CATS (1982) | THE LION KING (1997) | HAIRSPRAY (2003) |
| Story | Romeo and Juliet in the ’hood. | Broadway hopefuls audition for a musical chorus line. | Is there one? | Lion cub takes over dead dad’s crown. | Large-sized girl and drag queen mom fight racism and unpopularity in 1960s Baltimore. |
| Gay creators | Leonard Bernstein (composer) Stephen Sondheim (lyrics) Arthur Laurents (book) | Michael Bennett (conception, director) Nicholas Dante and James Kirkwood (writers) | Cameron Mackintosh (producer), proof that even gay men can lack taste | Elton John (music) | John Waters (original writer/director) Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (songwriters, a couple) Mark O’Donnell (book) |
| Gay content | Baby dyke tries to become a Jet… and does Tony really love Riff? | 80 per cent of the chorus boys turn out to be homos… surprised? | Not much, unless you’re a fur fetishist. | Uncle Scar is a classic gay baddy (“There’s one in every family,” he quips), while Timon and Pumbaa are obviously a couple. | Are you kidding? |
| Gay song | Somewhere | What I Did For Love | Memory | Hakuna Matata | I Know Where I’ve Been |
| What the song really means | “Some day there’ll be no homophobia.” | “We’re not above fucking our way to the top.” | “Gay guys have fun but die alone.” (Streisand covered it – convinced?) |
“Don’t worry, Simba, have fun with the boys!” | “I’m out, proud, won eight Tonys and am gonna run forever in Canada’s gay mecca.” |
