Broadway's New Wave: How Queer Voices Are Changing the Stage

Broadway's New Wave: How Queer Voices Are Changing the Stage

By Amanda Kang

The “Golden Age” of Musical Theater spanned from the late 19th century to the early 20th century. As its name implies, it is considered one of Broadway’s brightest periods of growth. However, this time in theater and U.S. history was also one of the most oppressive eras. Subsequently, these narratives were controlled by a White, heteronormative ruling class. This led to many minority groups being completely left out or parodied. 

However, a new wave of musical theater revivals has been reinterpreting exclusionary takes to include a wider breadth of performers and modern stories. Leading the charge are queer creators and performers who reimagine these texts in which their identities were completely erased to create innovative and exciting new forms of musical theater.

One key example is Oklahoma, a staple of the musical theater canon. The first musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Oklahoma, follows the romantic rivalry between cowboy Curly McLain and farmhand Jud Fry for the courtship of farm girl Laurey Williams. Secondarily, it also follows the romance and comedic chaos between cowboy Will Parker and his fiance Ado Annie. Through Curly and Jud’s conflict, Rodgers and Hammerstein explore the larger tension between ranchers and farmers living in rural communities. While Oklahoma helped build much of the modern musical theater canon, it subverts it in several surprising ways. Most notably, in the final moments of the play, Curly is almost held responsible for killing Jud after a physical altercation. However, the musical ends on a high note as Curly is found to be innocent, and the couple depart on their honeymoon. 

The plot of Oklahoma is rife with traditionally gendered and heteronormative tropes. Yet the timeless nature of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s score and the feuding families trope, uniquely situates Oklahoma to be reimagined over and over again. This is what director Bill Raunch thought in the early 90s when the idea of putting on Oklahoma with same-sex couples first occurred to him. However, Raunch did not dare pitch the idea to his supervisors at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival until nearly 20 years later. 

The 2018 production that Raunch ended up directing featured two same-sex leading couples—Laurey and Curly were both played by women, and Will Parker’s fiance was changed to Ado Andy. Further, the character of Aunt Eller is played by a transgender actress. What was originally a celebration of the American West and traditional values transforms into one of queer community.

As Raunch explains to the New York Times, straightforward plot points and lyrics take on new meaning in the context of queer relationships. When Laurey and Curly fear “People Will Say We’re in Love,” the audience understands this to be a much larger fear than that of admitting their affection to one another. The significance of Will asking Andy for a monogamous relationship also speaks to the complexities of establishing commitment once gay marriage has been legalized. The dream ballet also takes on new meaning as Laurey struggles to choose between Curly, who is a woman, and Judd, who is a man, and the implications of presenting herself as a queer woman.

As the New York Times states, this revival ultimately argues that “love is love.” The final image of Laurey and Curly riding off into the sunset is an idealized moment that places queer romance in the context of the many many heterosexual romantic tropes. While the moment is more traditional, it is also powerful. For an audience that may not have seen a queer couple as romantic leads, this allows for a moment of universal recognition while continuing to innovate and celebrate queerness from a modern perspective. The end result is a blend of traditional aesthetics with modern ideals that brings Rodgers and Hammerstein’s timeless score into the 21st century.

In a similar fashion, the latest revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company gender swaps almost every role in the show, seeking to make a commentary on gender politics and the 21st-century gay experience. Sondheim’s Company follows bachelor Bobby, on his 35th birthday, surrounded by his many married or at least dating friends. The musical is notably presented in a series of vignettes, each exploring the concepts of love, marriage, and divorce. Throughout the piece, Bobby is confronted with the decision to marry or face a life of solitude. While left open-ended, Company is ultimately a meditation on its title, on what it means to spend a life surrounded by friends and loved ones. 

The 2018 revival complicates this idea by swapping Bobby for Bobbie, a 35-year-old single woman. The production also switches the dialogue of many of the different couples. (The woman in the relationship says the man’s lines and vice versa.) The production also features a gay couple, replacing the character Amy with Jamie. 

Notably, Jamie is the character that most closely deals with the concept of marriage. His song “Getting Married Today” deals with the stressors of commitment in a modern setting. While still about the fears of a panicking fiance, Jamie’s rendition of the song also breaks down the heteronormative concept of marriage and what a terrifying unknown that can be. This production even went so far as to add a line in the scene following Jamie’s song. “Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.” While the production has gotten some mixed reviews from critics, this moment feels truthful and grounded in a production that can, at times, be dizzyingly paced.

Company also seeks to subvert many traditional gender roles. Most notably, the societal expectations of Bobbie as a single woman in her thirties are much different than those of her male predecessors. The other switched roles also create the unexpected dynamic of very dominant woman partners paired with more submissive men, exposing the often unnoticed misogyny present in theatrical productions. It is queer theory that first presented gender and heteronormative roles as a social construction. The concept of doing or performing gender is often referred to when describing traditional heterosexual dynamics. As put by authors Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook, doing gender is defined as “the interactional process of crafting gender identities that are then presumed to reflect and naturally derive from biology.” In Company we see characters deconstruct their gendered behavior, creating many entertaining and surprisingly impactful moments throughout the production.

While one could argue that the revival could have pushed the deconstruction of gender and other societal expectations further, it is still a useful and entertaining step forward for the theater world, opening the door for further innovation and representation.

Several other productions have continued this pattern of building upon older theater shows. The 2019 Pasadena Playhouse revival of Little Shop of Horrors starred the trans actress Michaela Jaé Rodriguez. The currently running Broadway rendition of Little Shop also stars drag queen, Jinkx Monsoon. Another mode of reinvention is the creation of new works based on classic tales. The currently running & Juliet asks the question “what next” after Shakespeare’s classic tale. The show features many queer characters and romantic plotlines. Most notably, Juliet’s best friend, May, is nonbinary and embarks on their own romantic journey throughout the show. Altogether, these productions demonstrate how outdated and even offensive stories can be redefined to advocate for and celebrate representation. However, to do so, we must acknowledge the White and heteronormative culture that these works came from as problematic and continually influential. Once we do so, we can begin to subvert traditional ideals.