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I don’t think they should have to explain anything. 

Moulin Rouge

As in “Cabaret,” there is an insinuation of homosexual characters, but even more elusively. It was named after it first appeared in her 1985 comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For as "a little lesbian joke in an alternative feminist newspaper."

Bechdel's work - and life - are revolutionary and Fun Home is a glimpse into her wonderfully queer world.

The Color Purple

One of the most important aspects of the queer experience is the intersectionality of several struggles, such as race and gender, that define the fight for equality.

But every award is well-earned. Jackson’s wide-ranging intravaganza takes a deep dive, often barely coming up for breath, into a whirlpool of ambition and frustration as his alter ego—a would-be musical dramatist named Usher—struggles to define himself in a maelstrom of sex, race, family, body shame, religion and entertainment. There are only two new ones this year..

It would be ludicrous to argue that Gay Broadway is on the wane, when more than a dozen Broadway shows are participating in a free block party tomorrow celebrating Pride Weekend, and one of the brightest and most feted new stars on the Great Bright Way is Cole Escola.

(Sunset Blvd. The Color Purple was originally a novel by Alice Walker that depicted the experiences of several black girls and women in the old South each facing a unique yet interconnected struggle. (In an interview shortly after the musical debuted on Broadway, Madjus said portraying the character was an adjustment: “I had to go buy heels at TJ Maxx for my audition.

Everything about this show screams queer, from the celebratory cacophony of corsets, stockings, and rock ballads, to the deeply homophobic reviews it got that it steamrolled past to become a cult classic across all media formats.

Honorable mentions

While this list has named a few select titles that have played on Broadway in the recent decade or so, there is a legacy of queer identity as a defining feature of theater itself.

Book writer Jeff Whitty and co-composer Jeff Marx—joined by future double-EGOT winner Robert Lopez—bring a recognizably modern gay sensibility to the show, as exemplified by the characters of Nicky and Rod, Avenue Q’s take on Sesame Street’s resident odd couple, Ernie and Bert. Adapted by Harvey Fierstein from a French stage comedy and film, La Cage depicts the lovingly tempestuous relationship between the manager and star of a Saint-Tropez nightclub that specializes in glitzy drag shows.

It’s taken me two years for me to feel comfortable dancing in heels.”)

Oh, Mary

Many argue that “Oh,Mary” reflects a gay sensibility — which one can most safely define as a show to which gay theatergoers are eager to buy tickets.

gay broadway shows

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Been there, done that?

The first Broadway musical to put gay characters center stage, La Cage Aux Folles is the fairy godmother of LGBTQ+ musical theater. Here are a few honorable mentions of titles that have redefined Broadway.

  1. Rent: A rock musical that follows struggling young artists in Lower Manhattan during the AIDS epidemic.
  2. Kinky Boots: Charlie hopes to save his father's shoe factory by forming an unlikely alliance with drag queen Lola.
  3. Hedwig and the Angry Inch: A rock musical that follows a fictional band with a genderqueer East German singer, inspired by androgynous 70's glam rock and the likes of David Bowie, John Lennon, Lou Reed, and Iggy Pop.
  4. La Cage aux Folles: The first Broadway hit centered on a gay couple, this musical follows Georges and Albin, their drag nightclub, and the comedy that ensues when they run into a conservative politician.
  5. The Boys in the Band: A groundbreaking depiction of gay life in 60's and 70's New York.
  6. A Chorus Line: One of the first Broadway productions to highlight queer stories by way of young dancers auditioning for a musical.
  7. Angels in America: A nuanced and extremely complex exploration of the AIDS epidemic, often considered to be a "turning point in the history of gay drama."
  8. Torch Song Trilogy: A play centered on a Jewish gay man, drag queen, and torch singer who grapples with a disillusionment with love in 70's New York.
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a jukebox musical that pairs pop music with a road trip, a string of comedic errors, and two drag queens and a trans woman heading to perform at a drag show on the other end of the Australian desert.

A Strange Loop

This Tony Award-nominated production, billed as the “Big, Black, & Queer-Ass American Musical,” is one you cannot skip in a list of LGBTQIA+ shows on Broadway, and there's one very poignant reason why: it isn't just a darn good queer musical, it's also just a darn good production overall.

A Strange Loop follows a man named Usher, who works as an usher and is a Black queer man writing a musical about a Black queer man writing a musical.

The closeted Rod is in love with the straight (but very supportive!) Nicky, and their arc is both funny and touching. It follows a Jewish-American writer and gay activist named Ned Weeks who attempts to raise awareness around the "silent killer," against a wall of silence and apathy from those in power, a trend that continues even today when the horrific experiences of queer people of this era are brought to the forefront.

The Rocky Horror Show

An experimental, counterculture musical production that explored gender fluidity, sexuality, liberation, and freedom in the 60's, Rocky Horror is a timeless masterpiece of social commentary wrapped in a glittery bow.

I’ve been to lots of bars
SALLY: And did you and Bobby have an affair?
CLIFF: Did he say that?
SALLY: He implied it.
CLIFF: I see.
SALLY: Cliff – if you don’t mind – I should like to withdraw the question. In the world that Escola has created on stage, Abraham Lincoln is — not what you could call out and proud, most definitely not a role model for the community.

With heaping amounts of attitude and glamor thrown in, for good measure. A headlong blast of queer energy, Hedwig is the ultimate antibinary musical, dissolving boundaries—between male and female, cis and trans, rock and roll and musical theater—in a messy, cathartic and ultimately joyful public struggle with questions of acceptance, control and self-love.