Pittsburgh Arts, Regional Theatre, New Work, Producing, Copyright, Labor Unions,
New Products, Coping Skills, J-O-Bs...
Theatre industry news, University & School of Drama Announcements, plus occasional course support for
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni.
CMU School of Drama
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
Producers Respond to Homophobic Audience Outbursts at Dolly Parton Musical
www.broadwayworld.com: Producers have responded to a recent event that took place during a performance of Here You Come Again, a Dolly Parton-inspired musical currently touring the UK, when homophobic abuse was directed at the stage.
When i saw the headline for this article i immediately thought to myself and asked why on earth would anyone go to a dolly parton musical if they are homophobic… that math simply does not math. Musicals are kind of honestly the gayest thing ever, even more so if the musical at hand is about queen dolly parton herself. Laugh out loud. What's crazy to me is that this happened on multiple occasions from both men and women. I'm sorry. How are you going to be a man going to see a dolly parton inspired musical and yell some hate speech at the stage. You're talking to a mirror bro. Check yourself. I think the staff at the theater and theater company handled the situations accordingly and wisely. Get those freaks out of the audience. To be honest it is also such a slay that the statement released online was in hot pink with glittery font, truly awesome.
Fascinating how a grown adult can find, look into, and purchase tickets to a MUSICAL about DOLLY PARTON can be shocked and appalled that the icon that famously took her look after her town tramp would inspire a queer story. Really it’s whoever purchased the ticket's fault. There’s something to be said about audiences' willingness to interrupt live performances, especially post-pandemic, and the self-centered way people experience art. There’s a massive mentality that if something isn’t for you then it isn’t worth existing, this perception possibly feeding into someone's willingness to heckle a performance when the subject matter doesn’t perfectly adhere to their ideal worldview. It is also not lost on me that this is happening post-election, now with more open discrimination against LGBTQ in our government and media bigots feel like they’re untouchable. This entitlement definitely plays a part in this situation. For this to be a weekly situation that the show has to deal with is vile.
Homophobic outrage isn’t something I would expect to witness in a musical of all settings, musicals have some of the most progressive stories and characters so you would think that one going to a musical( especially a Dolly Parton musical) would be accepting of all types of people but I suppose that some people can still irrationally hate even with all those context clues. I really appreciate how they dealt with them though, that kind of behavior has no place in any theater so I’m glad they didn’t just let them be to maintain peace that wouldn’t be fair not only to the actors but the others in the audience as well.( I myself would probably be super uncomfortable for the rest of the show if something homophobic was said and nothing was done about it)
3 comments:
When i saw the headline for this article i immediately thought to myself and asked why on earth would anyone go to a dolly parton musical if they are homophobic… that math simply does not math. Musicals are kind of honestly the gayest thing ever, even more so if the musical at hand is about queen dolly parton herself. Laugh out loud. What's crazy to me is that this happened on multiple occasions from both men and women. I'm sorry. How are you going to be a man going to see a dolly parton inspired musical and yell some hate speech at the stage. You're talking to a mirror bro. Check yourself. I think the staff at the theater and theater company handled the situations accordingly and wisely. Get those freaks out of the audience. To be honest it is also such a slay that the statement released online was in hot pink with glittery font, truly awesome.
Fascinating how a grown adult can find, look into, and purchase tickets to a MUSICAL about DOLLY PARTON can be shocked and appalled that the icon that famously took her look after her town tramp would inspire a queer story. Really it’s whoever purchased the ticket's fault. There’s something to be said about audiences' willingness to interrupt live performances, especially post-pandemic, and the self-centered way people experience art. There’s a massive mentality that if something isn’t for you then it isn’t worth existing, this perception possibly feeding into someone's willingness to heckle a performance when the subject matter doesn’t perfectly adhere to their ideal worldview. It is also not lost on me that this is happening post-election, now with more open discrimination against LGBTQ in our government and media bigots feel like they’re untouchable. This entitlement definitely plays a part in this situation. For this to be a weekly situation that the show has to deal with is vile.
Homophobic outrage isn’t something I would expect to witness in a musical of all settings, musicals have some of the most progressive stories and characters so you would think that one going to a musical( especially a Dolly Parton musical) would be accepting of all types of people but I suppose that some people can still irrationally hate even with all those context clues. I really appreciate how they dealt with them though, that kind of behavior has no place in any theater so I’m glad they didn’t just let them be to maintain peace that wouldn’t be fair not only to the actors but the others in the audience as well.( I myself would probably be super uncomfortable for the rest of the show if something homophobic was said and nothing was done about it)
Post a Comment