Decent list of musicals with canon LGBT rep thatâs not only cis white gay boys:
Some obvious ones out of the way that people here are well-acquainted with:
Falsettos (happy lesbian couple supporting characters Dr. Charlotte and Cordelia, as well as heavy focus on Judaism)
Rent (supporting cast includes Collins, a gay Black man and anarchist, Angel, his GNC Latinx partner, Joanne, a Black lesbian lawyer, and Maureen, her performing artist partner who is implied to be bi or a lesbian depending on the version of the show)
Fun Home (protagonist is butch lesbian Alison Bechdel, plot centers on her complicated relationship with her closeted gay dad, and Alisonâs college girlfriend, Joan, is very commonly played by women of color)
Some more Iâd recommend or at least would like to discuss:
If/Then (plot focuses on two different timelines created by one choice the protagonist makes at the start of the show. Thereâs Lucas, who is an openly bisexual housing activist and has male and female love interests respectively in the different timelines, David, his sweet boyfriend who is usually Asian-American, Kate, a Black lesbian kindergarten teacher, and Anne, whose relationship with Kate works out in one of the timelines and thereâs a really touching song about it. Also theyâre played by Anthony Rapp, Jason Tam, LaChanze, and Jenn Colella respectively in the original cast, so howâs that for all-stars?)
The Color Purple (the protagonist is Celie, a dark-skinned Black lesbian living in the 1930s who faces intracommunity misogyny and abuse and comes out of it surrounded by the love of many women in her life, including her bisexual lover, Shug Avery, and is also able to see herself as having inherent value and beauty.)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (the protagonist is Hedwig, described by the writer as âa gender of oneâ, who performs in a rock band and tells the audience the story of how she got bottom surgery and left East Berlin to find her soulmate. The show culminates in her accepting that she is a complete person in and of herself.)
Kinky Boots (The co-lead, Lola/Simon, is a Black drag queen who helps in a project to design high-heeled boots strong enough for AMAB people to wear. She also has an arc of reconciling with her father who had previously turned his back on her. Iâm not crazy about the way the book is written and I remember there being some transphobic jokes both made at the expense of Lola and by Lola herself, but Cyndi Lauper did write some pretty good bops, so make of it what you will.)
A Chorus Line (one of the dancers, a young gay Puerto Rican man named Paul, gives a major emotional monologue in the latter part of the show about his coming of age.)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (the protagonists are two men, Luis and Valentin, who become lovers in an Argentinian prison. Iâve only listened to the cast recording once and am not all too familiar with it, but I get the impression itâs a classic and Chita Rivera was in it.)
First Lady Suite (one of four of the plots in this show focuses on the love affair between Eleanor Roosevelt and her reporter, Lorena Hickok.)
Bring It On (one of the supporting characters, La Cienega, is an explicitly trans Afro-Latina girl and everyone treats her with respect.)
Some to be on the lookout for:
The Prom (you know people have been talking about this one! Itâs about a gaggle of Broadway performers, wanting to be relevant again, hear about a couple of lesbian teenagers, Alyssa and Emma, who got banned from their school prom in Indiana and go out to fight for them. Very sweet fun show, got all the MLM/WLW solidarity you could want. A live recording of the songs can be found on YouTube.)
Head Over Heels (jukebox musical using music by The Go-Gos set in a fairytale world, starring Peppermint, a Black trans performer who competed on RuPaulâs Drag Race and will be officially the the first trans performer to be in an original Broadway cast. Also itâs got an interracial lesbian romance, Pamela and Mopsa, and apparently thereâs also a non-binary character.)
The Civility of Albert Cashier (the protagonist is Albert Cashier, a young trans man who fought in the Civil War and fell in love with one of his fellow soldiers. The young version of him in the show is played by a transmasc actor. Thereâs no official cast recording yet, but there are demos of the songs up on their website.)
Invisible Thread (Griffin Matthews wrote the show with his real life partner, Matt Gould, as a fictionalized account of his own experience doing volunteer work in Uganda and navigating the unique way he exists there as a gay African-American man and befriending the people there. Itâs fallen off the radar for a while now and there arenât any available recordings of all the songs, but the cast has done a lot of great talks that you can watch on YouTube, some of them from when the show was still going by the title âWitness Ugandaâ.)
Interstate (the show has a majority Asian-American cast and creative team and the leads are Dash, a trans man who performs spoken word, and his best friend Adrian, a lesbian songwriter. They are in a band together and the show is about them going on tour and connecting with with their fans. It has performed at the New York Musical Festival at The Acorn Theatre.)
The View UpStairs (this show is based on the real life events of the 1973 arson attack at the UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans. The protagonist is our framing device, a young gay Black fashion designer from the current day named Wes whoâs having a rough time with his anxiety and finds himself transported to the UpStairs Lounge, connecting with his communityâs history. The cast album is available on Amazon and iTunes.)
Lizzie (based off the 1892 murders of Abby and Andrew Borden, and the trial of Lizzie Borden, running off of the theory that Lizzie and her neighbor, Alice, were in love. You can find it on Amazon, Spotify, and YouTube. Thereâs a lot of loud noises- itâs a rock musical)
Volleygirls (itâs about what youâd think it would be about, high school girls playing volleyball. There is a Latina lesbian named Marisol who sings an absolutely adorable song about liking girls, which youâve probably heard a few different people cover like Adrienne Warren and Lilli Cooper. My favorite is Monica Raymund, who I think is the original actress. As far as I can tell, the show has never been staged or recorded for an album, but you can watch them perform all the songs at 54 Below on YouTube.)
Across The Universe (pretty well-known jukebox musical of The Beatles directed by Julie Taymor set in the cultural landscape of America and Britain during the Vietnam war. Prudence is a Vietnamese-American lesbian who is part of the main group of friends. I do wish she had more story, but she sings an absolutely beautiful and tender version of I Wanna Hold Your Hand.)
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