''The Big Gay Musical'' is a 2009

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

-themed

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

written by Fred M. Caruso and co-directed by Caruso and Casper Andreas. The film follows a brief period in the lives of two young actors, one who is openly gay, the other

closeted ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for LGBTQ people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual identity and sexual behavior. This metaphor is associated and sometime ...

to his parents. The openly gay actor struggles with whether he should be sexually

promiscuous Promiscuity is the practice of engaging in sexual activity frequently with different partners or being indiscriminate in the choice of sexual partners. The term can carry a moral judgment. A common example of behavior viewed as promiscuous by man ...

or seek a

life partner The term significant other (SO) has different uses in psychology and colloquial language. colloquialism, Colloquially, "significant other" is used as a gender-neutral language, gender-neutral term for a person's partner in an intimate relatio ...

, while the closeted one wonders if he should

come out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

to his

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

, religious parents. Throughout the film, there are a series of musical numbers with

tap dancing Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...

angel An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

s, a re-telling of the

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...

story, protests from

televangelists Televangelism (from ''televangelist'', a blend of ''television'' and ''evangelist'') and occasionally termed radio evangelism or teleministry, denotes the utilization of media platforms, notably radio and television, for the marketing of relig ...

, and a

deprogramming Deprogramming is a controversial tactic that seeks to dissuade someone from "strongly held convictions" such as religious beliefs. Deprogramming purports to assist a person who holds a particular belief system—of a kind considered harmful by thos ...

camp that tries to turn gay kids straight. By the end of the film, the characters realize that life would be better if they just accepted themselves the way they are.

Plot

Paul (Daniel Robinson) and Eddie (Joey Dudding) have just begun previews of an

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

titled ''Adam & Steve: Just the Way God Made 'Em''. The movie follows both the storyline of the musical, and the lives of the two main leads.

Adam and Steve

After God expels Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, he decides to put a gay couple, Adam and Steve, in charge of Eden. Out of spite, Eve writes the Bible to teach the future generations to hate gays. Five thousand years later, Steve is reincarnated in a Christian household and sent to a

conversion therapy Conversion therapy is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to change an individual's sexual orientation, romantic orientation, gender identity, or gender expression to align with heterosexual and cisgender norms. Methods that have ...

camp, where he encounters Adam. They feel an instant connection and abandon the camp, accepting themselves as gay men. An angel appears to take them to New York City, where they find their families. God appears to confirm that they are "just the way he made 'em". Their families finally accept them, and God joins their souls forever.

Paul and Eddie

Paul's main conflict is seeking the ideal male partner, and Eddie finds that his religious upbringing conflicts with his

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

. Paul is falsely accused of being HIV-positive and his boyfriend dumps him. He becomes disenchanted about monogamy and tries being promiscuous and online dating, but he finds this lifestyle unsatisfying and finds out he craves a loving, stable relationship. He constantly bumps into Charles, a fan that has developed a crush for him. Eventually, Charles wins him over by visiting him at a karaoke bar and serenading him with a love song. Eddie is closeted to his conservative parents, but after they announce they will attend his opening night, he comes out to them to a chilly reaction. Despite feeling conflicted about Eddie's sexual orientation and the theme of the show, they decide to attend anyway. Watching the show they have a change of heart and come to accept the fact that Eddie is gay. At the end of the opening show, Charles presents Paul with flowers and they kiss, starting a relationship, and Eddie's parents make amends with him.

Partial cast

Lena Hall Celina Consuela Gabriella Carvajal (born January 30, 1980), known professionally as Lena Hall, is an American actress and singer. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Tony Award for her performance as Yitzhak in the 201 ...

as Wife / Eve * Daniel Robinson as Paul / Adam * Joey Dudding as Eddie / Steve * Jeff Metzler as David * Casper Andreas as Usher * Liz McCartney as Patty-Maye * Edward Miller as Stage Manager * Brian Spitulnik as Michael * Andre Ward as Jose * Steve Hayes as God * Jim Newman as Bruce * John Hillner as Benny * Michael Schiffman as Charles * Marty Thomas as Dorothy * Kate Pazakis as herself *

Michael Musto Michael Musto (born December 3, 1955) is an American journalist who has long been a prevalent presence in entertainment-related publications, as well as on websites and television shows. He is best known as a columnist for ''The Village Voice'', ...

as himself * Jack Aaronson as himself * Brent Corrigan as Hustler *

Rick Crom Rick Crom (born March 15, 1957) is an American actor, singer, comedian, lyricist, and composer. He has appeared in numerous television shows and specials, Broadway and off-Broadway musicals, as well as written several off-Broadway revues, and h ...

as Drunk

Production

The directors chose to cast openly gay Broadway actors for all the film's key roles. Principle filming began October 24, 2008. Cast includes theatre veterans, Liz McCartney, Jim Newman, Joey Dudding, Marty Thomas, Andre Ward, Daniel Robinson, Jeff Metzler, Brian Spitulnik, Josh Cruz, Lena Hall and Steve Hayes, and features the choreography of Shea Sullivan with songs written by

. It was the first feature film for stage actors Daniel Robinson and Joey Dudding. The two leads were at first concerned with the manner in which sex scenes were to be handled in the film, with Robinson originally turning down the role. He is reported as stating, "It was a little too over the top for me. I wasn't comfortable with the sex scene and the nudity. It was too nude and gay for me." He expanded, "A huge reason why I didn't take the film in the first place was that I didn't want to be seen as a gay actor. Big Gay Musical was like putting a tattoo on my body." He eventually decided the film was a good opportunity, and in looking back on the production, acknowledged that the sex scene "was harder to read than to do." Another of his early concerns were fears about having his naked body exposed on film forever. Robinson and Dudding both offered that the most difficult aspect to their respective roles was portraying two different characters with different story lines and motivations within the same film.

Critical response

In speaking about the film, ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' wrote of one of the film's many segments, and made special note of one dealing with

, by writing that "Seldom has blasphemy been so entertaining, and if only Caruso were capable of sustaining such wit (and energy, as agile lensing and editing keep things lively), the movie could have stuck to documenting his stage show." They expanded on flaws by writing "subsequent numbers stall, with lame caricatures of Tammy Faye Bakker and long stretches at an ex-gay conversion camp offset by an eye-candy male cast parading about in hot pants and angel wings." The added that to the film's credit, "the directors insisted on casting openly gay Broadway actors in all the key roles, trading the usual daytime-soap-caliber cast of equivalently low-budget, L.A.-produced gay fare for multitalents with real singing and dancing chops." They concluded that the film was "more than adequate for festival and DVD consumption." After Elton shared that the film's structure is "a little unusual" in that after the prologue the film opens with "a rather extended musical and dance number from a preview performance of a stage play, ''Adam & Steve Just the Way God Made Em'', which tells the story of the Bible from a decidedly gay perspective." They called the film "a surprisingly pleasant romp," writing that "this little gay musical has what seems to be about two full months of flawless preview performances!" ''New York Cool'' reviewer Frank J. Avella wrote that his first response was negative, but when he read of the involvement of Casper Andreas in the project he became more interested in the film and learned, contrary to his original impression, "no one breaks into song without a good reason." Avella made special note of how the storyline revolves around the players and cast of the stageplay ''Adam and Steve Just the Way God Made Them'', a musical production within the film itself which presents the

Genesis creation narrative The Genesis creation narrative is the creation myth of both Judaism and Christianity, told in the book of Genesis chapters 1 and 2. While the Jewish and Christian tradition is that the account is one comprehensive story, modern scholars of ...

from a gay perspective. He wrote "The film continuously and cleverly returns to the stage show, using it as a framing device of sorts" as a means to underscore the film's greater story of acceptance-of-self. In summarizing, the reviewer offered that "production values are terrific and the ensemble is, for the most part, admirable". He wrote that Daniel Robinson was "quite impressive" and his slut song "brings down the house", but expanded that Joey Dudding playing a "sweet and sensitive Eddie" truly moves the audience by giving an accurate portrayal of a guy on the cusp of coming out.

Awards

Merlinka festival The International Queer Film Festival Merlinka or Merlinka Festival is an annual LGBT-themed film festival which is annually organized in Belgrade (since 2009), Sarajevo (since 2013) and Podgorica (since 2014). The Belgrade edition is organized ...

International Queer Film Festival, Belgrade Serbia - Best Queer Film

Release

The film first screened July 20, 2009, at the

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Q Fest and had its official theatrical premiere August 9, 2009, in

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...

, before screenings at multiple

LGBT LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The gro ...

film festivals through 2009 and 2010.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was scheduled for release on July 14, 2009. The CD includes all the original music from the film as well as some contemporary tracks that were also featured in the movie. The songs featured in the soundtrack were written by Rick Crom, Fred M. Caruso and Jack Aaronson. :1, "Overture" :2, "Creation" :3, "The Party Isn't Over" :4, "Eve's Lament" :5, "Christian Medley" :6, "I Will Change" :7, "I Wanna Be a Slut" :8, "I'm Gonna Go Straight" :9, "Someone to Sing Me a Love Song" :10, "Musical Theatre Love" :11, "Someone Up There" :12, "God Loves Gays" :13, "As I AM" :14, "Finale" :15, "I Am Alone"

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Big Gay Musical 2000s musical comedy films 2009 LGBTQ-related films 2009 films American musical comedy films American LGBTQ-related films American independent films LGBTQ-related musical comedy films Gay-related films 2009 independent films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language independent films English-language musical comedy films 2009 musical films