In the Life: Ep. 1709, "Leading the Way"

on this month's in the life it's back to the 80s with xanadoo I mean we are taking this awful movie and putting it on stage marriage in Massachusetts we were in the midst of history in the making voices from Nepal there was this continuous moral policing out in Opera suddenly to be the only and to be gay it was just too much and a conversation with Judy Shepard stay tuned for these diverse stories about the gay experience in life is funded in part by the hfan amaran foundation and by Arcus foundation and by Ambrose monell foundation and by New paaul Foundation and by the Ted Snowden Foundation and these funders and by the annual support of in the Life members like [Music] you welcome to in the life I'm Michael Billy in this episode we celebrate Pride with a diverse collection of stories including a rare look at gay life in Nepal we'll spend time with Opera director Franchesca zambello featuring a special interview with Placido Domingo and finally we'll take a colorful and quirky look at the Broadway show xanadoo but first we have a very special interview I had the honor of having a conversation with Judy Shepard it was 10 years ago that her son Matthew was brutally murdered in laramy Wyoming since then she has become a champion for Education social justice and pride Matthew as a boy his coming out experience well he was 18 when he came out um he was in college a freshman in college and he called me in Saudi Arabia in the middle the night uh figuring out time zones for Matt was a really CH was a real challenge math was just not you know it's the same time everywhere in the world right so he called and said mom there's something I need to share with you about me and I said what would that be and he said I am gay and my response was what took you so long to tell me and then there's this pause at the other end of the phone he says how did you know before I knew and I said you know they tell me it's a mom thing I I really think I think parents know you know back here it's the bringing it forward that's kind of hard sometimes um that makes it real but I think I think parents know how can they not know yeah that's what I said I'm like seriously yeah come on right you've spoken to 1 million over 1 million has to be I think that's the number that yeah over 1 million students all across the country what has been in the past 10 years an experience to you that has meant so much um as a mom as as a leader uh I can't imagine the people that you've met the stories that you've heard but something that stands out oh wow you're right there have been so many really good stories but I think the one that keeps me going isn't really a happy story um a young man about 16 was uh trying to tell his mother that he was gay and she just was not listening to him and she was driving him to school one day before he had he didn't have his own car and she was driving him and he felt well I have a captive audience and now she can't be doing the dishes or you know anything else I'm going to tell her that I'm gay and he did and she stopped the car and opened the door and said I never want to see you again and that was the end of their relationship and that was 10 maybe 15 years ago it's like where do parents think that that's the right thing to do uh and that story has really kept me kept me going thinking how much um losing Matt meant to us but how much it must hurt kids whose parents reject them just because of who they are yeah yeah I can't I I had supportive parents I still do and I couldn't imagine how life would have been without that yeah and the good news is we're finding that more and more parents are supportive and not not negative that they are more educated and more ready to accept that their children might be gay and ready to help them rather than curse them that's a great step forward when I was 14 I was uh this about two years before uh Matthew's incident happened um I was assaulted in front of my High School uh by a group Gang of about 15 people um but I survived that uh and I lived through it and and I didn't do anything about it until until what happened to your son and thank you I would not have had my life if it was not for your family and uh I've always wanted to say that to you thank you it's a it's quite a responsibility that we bear but I appreciate you acknowledging that we hear you know from other young people your age that sometimes they went further in uh further in the closet or out of fear um but to know that you did not do that that's very that's very gratifying I'm still a little scared I think we all are so s we all are I spoke to my mother the other day uh because I told her I was going to be speaking with you and her question because I had to ask her what she would ask you how the Fear The Duality between wanting to protect your child and then wanting your child to be honest about their own life how do how do mothers and parents deal with that how how did how did you well I think we understood that Matt was now going to be the teacher we had to trust that he would make smart decisions uh and up until the end I think he pretty often did uh but how do you how do you let go you know all parents are afraid for their children gay or straight and you just have to acknowledge that they need to be uh autonomous at a certain point so that they can learn who they are you don't certainly as a parent you don't want your children to be sh Shadows of you or or you shouldn't want that they're individuals and Des deserve the opportunity to to learn how to be that uh sure it's hard you you you just worry you just are concerned all the time uh but it's understanding that unless you let go they they will never be really who they are in Nepal attitudes towards sexual diversity and gender are complex and sometimes contradictory in in some areas trans people are part of celebrated Traditions while some sexual minorities can face prison sentences up to 2 years during the summer of 2007 we gave Scott long of Human Rights Watch a home video camera to document his travels to Nepal he came back with some truly powerful stories from LGBT people working for Change and visibility beginning in 1996 Nepal was torn by a violent civil war between government and rebel B forces and although a peace agreement was signed in November of 2006 violence and political unrest persist as this country of nearly 30 million people faces an uncertain future and its move towards [Music] democracy hi welcome sir you need a [Music] [Music] the biggest challenges that the LGBT community fa are first of all um lack of community Nepal is a very very diverse country with almost a 100 languages spoken in it almost 100 ethnic [Music] groups there's no single lesbian or gay or transgender [Music] identity in Nepal again there's been the complicating factors of being poor and being economically disempowered and then not having any place to turn or or for a long time even any glimmerings of a sympathetic Community when you talk about is transgender the same as [Music] Okay founded in 2001 The Blue Diamond Society is the main LGBT organization working for the human rights and health of sexual minorities in [Music] Nepal in early 2001 when I uh started uh looking for for sexual minorities like mes gays lesbians bisexual transgenders here there was no organizations no program nowhere to go and I met a lot of people facing so many challenges abductions blackmail by the security forces also a lot of force [Music] marriages and um [Music] violence and a lot of man of sex with men transgenders did not have any knowledge in HIV AIDS terrible patterns of disappearances of people suspected of being Maus were suspected of forting discontent terrible repression and even though most of that was taking place in the countryside you still saw the effects of it in cities like Katmandu um which are where transgender people Mees msms and and and gay men and lesbians tend to go anybody who looked different or behaved differently or seemed to be a threat was a Target as the violence generally in Nepal worsened um so too the violence against queer communities tell me about the Poli and tell me about times that you so uh looking those uh all the problems and uh the needs that the community um uh have and having no Services no places to go uh I thought you know it's good that uh we organize uh something and then start uh providing Services education and also legal and other counseling support to the victims several people talked about attempted suicide and about intents despair but the other major challenges are really silence and fear and underlying that the lack of democracy I left home when people in the village when they spit on me then how can I go back to that place [Music] when I remember all those events and family and home back in my Village I just thought it would be better to hang myself to [Music] [Music] death sometimes metis are forced to work as sex workers to earn their living as they are not given any money or any other incentive by their parents there was this continuous moral policing of sex workers intravenous drug users and transgender people mates men who have sex with men queers um um it was a constant desire to just impose moral order on the whole society the Nepal govern government has not recognized our existence they have not allocated any cruising site for us so we can't cruise we can't look for customers and whenever we get together there's police and they try to Blackmail us saying they will disclose our identity to our family and others and then our families Force us to get married so that we'll get better and sometimes they beat us yeah on our first um weekend in catmandu we went down to rodna Park which is one of the major cruising areas and interviewed a group of Mees and men who have sex with men um including Outreach workers who were there from the Blue Diamond Society to hand out condoms and talk to them about hivas so we stayed in the park till 2: in the morning we went home not long after that the police descended on the place they they they seized these people five of them including the Outreach workers searched their bags forced them to strip and and and show their penises and they were inspecting their penises By the Light of the police's mobile phones to see if they could find evidence that they've been having sex so the police normally capture mty they beat metis's up and they also take whatever they have sometimes this is money they snatch whatever they have the police have raped me how when so two months ago the police captured me from Tam and they raped me how many police there were 10 people 10 policemen I can take your camera no you w Nepal has never had a functioning democracy and the bulk of the population most ethnic groups most women most people have been excluded from the political system so now we're at a moment when you know the maest and the government have come to terms around the need for a new constitution a real Constitution and the possibility of democracy and the challenge for the Blue Diamond Society is now with all this you know sort of chaos and clamor of people trying to claim A Place in the Sun in in in Democratic space well how can LGBT people make that claim and be heard human rights to me mean something intrinsic each individual has that right to have that choice if they want to live as a man or as a woman as this uh country is moving towards inclusive democracy and uh you know try to bring uh everyone's uh rights and protection through the new constitution there is a hope that uh we'll have a new Constitution that has uh you know protection clause for sexual [Music] minorities it's a claran call for change the question is what comes of it it's clear that it's sent a message and that the message has been heard across Society things have to change discrimination has to stop Parliament still has to act the Constitution is still being written and then once this actually is encoded into law the problem will be of course seeing it enforced seeing it implemented at every level of society um that that that's going to be a long long path the places which are leading the world today in in policy change in legal change around gender identity and sexual orientation it's not the United States it's not the Netherlands it's South Africa it's [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] Nepal this next story looks at the issue of same-sex marriage around the world countries like Uruguay the Netherlands Slovenia Norway the United Kingdom the Czech Republic and Canada have all adopted legal forms of same-sex unions like marriage and domestic Partnerships but here in the US there's only a few states where such unions are legally recognized this next story looks back at the Battle for same-sex marriage in Massachusetts through the documentary saving marriage [Music] you live your whole life going to weddings and being invited to celebrations and events that you will never get to participate in and I think many of us just go and it can be kind of painful and and wistful to sit there and as happy as you are for whatever friend or relative is having the most important day in their life um to know that you can't have the most important day in your life when you're really young before marriage has any meaning it's something that people do when they grow up it's just a fact of life there we goit one more and then as I got older and I realized that I was gay I realized that you know what maybe it it just isn't going to [Music] happen I had friends that i' told give me a call if you hear something keep an eye on your televisions keep an eye on on the news the decision is coming today I was just coming out of my office when a secretary ran down the hall saying you won't believe it you won't believe it I went to do something on the computer there was the news article is the first thing that I saw the headline read G is allowed to marry in Massachusetts the day in Massachusetts when same-sex couples could be excluded from the institution of civil marriage is over opposition set in in about one nanc this decision meant that we had a lot of work ahead of us marriage is a special institution between a man and a [Music] woman when I got to Massachusetts it was unlike anything I've ever seen I mean 4,000 people jammed the State House you know on both sides of the issue we were in the midst of history in the making we knew that we were documenting history and I think that made completing this film all the more important protecting this decision is the beginning and end of everything this is the moment in time this is the moment in history when loser draw History is going to be made in [Music] massachusett after a week of of shooting some of these things we we realized that that there was going to be there was going to be a huge social change that was going to take place in Massachusetts and we committed ourselves to following the story till the end there has been an amazing phenomena taking place in this legislature that I've never experienced on any other issue I've ever dealt with and I've lobed a lot of issues over the years there is a frenzied harried highly emotional tone in the building sodomy is sin it is not right you are rejecting life do you know Church from stat sep under the Constitution law of marriage you're not legal not God's will you can pray why did he speak to you if I was a homosexual I'd want somebody like me to warn me that I was headed to hell they don't object to gay marriage they object to gay human beings you can look over there and you see these little kids carrying these signs teaching [Music] hate those parents must be really proud of them can be really trying to have something that matters so much to you be sort of like a ball tossed around this wrangling and this political maneuvering I'm not sure that they understand that these are people [Music] [Applause] if you have an intention to marry and you have a number please ceue up and they gave us our number and we were couple number 82 no you can talk now Jason was the first person that when it felt good it was amazing and when it felt bad all I wanted to do was make it feel good again instead of just run [Music] away that's probably when I thought oh wow this is sort of what people do when are married you know like they they work things out you I made arrangements to propose to Paul on the same path that we went to the night that we met got him a small little frame inside was a black and white photo of the two of us and we had had taken like a month before in a little photo booth and then on the other side it said will you please spend the rest of your life with me I loved he said would you please spend the rest of your life just the fact that he put please in there there's so much that you get from just being safe with another person and feeling like as difficult as things may be or no matter what happens to us we're married and we'll be together and we'll work it out and you don't get that you don't get that prior to marriage all around the country there passing Constitutional Amendments or any some other kind of legislative action that defines marriage as only the union of one man and one woman you know they call them domas defens of marriage acts and Massachusetts is the only place where gay marriage actually had a chance to become legal before anyone was able to pass one of these domas and that's why Massachusetts is so important because it's the one place in this country where people can look and say what's the big deal so gay people can get married you know the sun is still Rising the next morning it's not really changing anyone's lives except for the people who are able to get married I think conservative people tend to make it an issue because frankly it's a good fundraiser and it's great at getting media headlines but for most people gay marriage doesn't affect them they don't really care about it one way or the other you know they care about their taxes and they care about education reform and they care about you know whether they're going to have health care and things like that and so I think that it gets a lot of headlines but it doesn't really affect people's lives unless unless you yourself are gay or someone you care about [Music] is time for voting is expired the cler display to tally 30 39 in the affirmative the 157 in the negative 39 in the affirmative the amendment does not [Applause] [Music] [Applause] pass I want each of you to look around and to realize that in a 100 years and in 500 years and in a thousand years there will be pictures of this Hall filled with you few people have the power to do what we have done together and that is to make a dream a reality that is what we have done my dream impact for this movie is that people will finish watching the movie and say now I understand why marriage is so important maybe it's not even because I necessarily want to get married but I understand that the existence of gay marriage is going to change the way that Society in general looks at gay relationships and if it changes the way that they look at gay relationships it's going to change the way they look at gay people and that's going to change the world that gay kids grow up in my first Pride event was in San Francisco in 1988 and I had never seen so many queer people in my life there were there were oceans of them and you could tell all the queers because we were all sunburned that day we'd been out early and sure enough I had a sunburned nose and for the next week everybody walking around the city where the sunburn you knew they were queer hi I'm Kate Bornstein and you are watching in the life recently s gun Lawrence K 8:15 in the morning a boy walks in with a gun and shoots him in the head in a in a computer lab yeah where is the press that Matthew had where was where's the attention why aren't we still focused how does that make you feel you know I feel really bad I feel really bad at all the hate crimes so not just G related but no hate crimes are reported in the paper anymore when how and how did you feel when you heard about Lawrence King well I was I was horrified that some young man thinks he's going to solve a problem like that with a gun whatever made him think that was the way to do it if he'd gotten a Valentine from a girl that he didn't really care for so much would he have shot her you know it's like where are the standards here this is crazy where are his parents why haven't we heard anything from his parents and Dennis and I were I said well at least this young man had the support of his family otherwise he wouldn't be going to school non non-gender conforming no it turns out he was living in a group home that's the most tragic aspect he never felt safe never felt safe and where was the community when all this was going on and and the school and why weren't they being more proactive about taking care of him you just so many questions that are not answered now in the press that we know there are answers too and we should know what they are [Music] the last eight years have hurt us greatly the Bush Administration has been not kind to us at all and it's given people like Sally Kern the permission to say what she thinks I guarantee you that if it had been any other social group that she had said that about oh it would be national news in a heartbeat but the gay community H maybe not so much what are some of the stories that have changed over the past 10 years from the students that you talked to high school college um grade school I did a middle school two middle schools that was really that was terrific I love doing that what's what's that like to talk to kids they have they they don't know that they can't ask certain questions you know they don't have that filtering system in place yet they asked the best questions the smartest most depth in-depth questions of all the audiences that I do and they were so basic well what makes gay different than being straight I mean really the only difference is who you love and I don't really get that it's like yeah hello tell everybody you know here's a 10-year-old going I just don't get how that a 10-year-old way more logical we should set that 10-year-old up with Sally Kern maybe they can have lunch together there you go he's proud of you you would say I I think so yeah um the work that you do uh as a mom as in your in your foundation the Matthew shepher Foundation what was the what could possibly be the grieving process when you went from that faithful night to just a couple days later here everything started it was no holds bar um and I don't think you you've ever stopped no do you think he would want you to to just take a break from the stress from the Press from the organization to have a different life yeah I think I think he might be concerned that I that I do this too much that this is too much of my life that I I have no other no other life and also that my husband and I are now he's in Saudi Arabia and I'm here we've been living this life for 10 years now and it's really hard on a relationship and I know Logan my younger son worries about about my my uh my health and my stress level and you know all of that but I just think there's just only a certain amount of time where we can make a difference where people will still remember Matt and and know who we are that I have to take every opportunity to do that in the world of theater nothing is grander than Opera big sets big voices big stories big egos it is a world dominated by the magnetism of the primadana whose star power often eclipses the very production itself that is unless it is a production by director Franchesca zambello long of force to be reckoned with in this Larger than Life World I see Opera the way I do today really because of Franchesca Zella her power and her strength comes from her Dynamic nature but also her ability to get that same kind of dynamic out of others she's a very passionate stormy kind of director so she demands much all the time from her participants which is both exhausting and [Music] exciting [Music] my love love explore that I'm passionate about what I do I'm blessed to do something that I love so fiercely I love the world that I live in the world of theater is is the world where I I want to [Music] be when renowned International director Franchesca zambello says she loves the world she lives in one may be surprised how big how rich and how expansive her world truly is she collaborates with the greatest artists Bears the weight of massive Productions and has taken the Heat or praise from the world's most critical eyes but as she juggles up to 10 operas and musicals at once what's ahead is always the only thing on her mind Franchesca zamb belo's world only spins forward I I think every director has a few things on the go because you're developing work furthering existing work and and everything is always at different stages of getting done a show takes 3 to 5 years to when it gets on the stage and I don't think people realize that it takes that amount of time most of the disciplines in the Opera world are traditionally malale dominated she's acknowledged to be one of the first who have really broken through that barrier big time really one of the most influential directors in the Opera world but it's no doubt that any work that you are thinking to do in your mind it pass Franchesca in addition to his role as Superstar tenor PLO Domingo also heads the Washington National Opera in the nation's capital he has tapped Franchesca zambello to direct some of his company's most ambitious Productions so if you know that Francesca is available and willing to do something you could be sure that she's going to deliver a great production but it was a long road of many operas that led to zambello having PLO Domingo's complete confidence hi everybody hi thank you it's a pleasure to be here what I'm going to talk about today I think are things that will benefit everybody uh that are more in the sort of practical side of things how do you make a career how do you get from this step to the next because that's I know what's the thing that interests everybody the most am I right yeah okay like how do I audition really being an artist means that you're being judged always you're being judged by your peers by The Audience by press and ultimately and most importantly by yourself you have to love and be committed to what you do more than anything [Music] else when I was growing up my mother was working and is still working as an actress I was backstage I was in dressing rooms I was watching shows from the wings and then when I was seven my parents took my brother and I to London and this was one of those trips where suddenly the whole world opens up Europe opens up before us and then one thing that made a huge impression on me was my father took me to see an opera it was madama [Music] butterfly and then we moved to Europe and we lived in France and Paris Vienna Austria Frankfurt Germany and London England with her International upbringing came an ability to speak five different languages for the start of her career zambello crisscrossed the Atlantic in pursuit of work and opportunity Hi how are you her journey to directing for the world's biggest stages began in 1984 on one of the smallest at Opera company in Milwaukee Wisconsin where for 7 years she was the co-artistic [Music] director I was really able to direct from Soup To Nuts for me it was a wonderful balance I would be there about half a year and then half a year I was working in [Music] Europe then in 1990 came a production that put her on the world world map War and Peace was a benchmark for me because it came around twice in my life I directed it first in Seattle it was the Goodwill games this production was just so momentous it really marked her out not only as obviously a very good director but a director who was fearless and had no trepidation about taking on the most humongous most daunting 10 years later zambello mounted a new production of War and Peace in Paris that was one of the most thrilling moments in my career I had a cast of about 50 principles about 150 in the chorus another 200 extras dancers I've had a real connection with big material big stories big dramas audiences crave that kind of Epic drama she has this way of humanizing epics of presenting all of the grander but at the same time you feel like you get close to the [Music] characters when you speak or when you sing your second most powerful tool is your eyes if you're going to close your eyes you better have earned it okay it's like a pause all right you better have earned that pause okay all right because otherwise you know the train is coming I say and get over those pauses all right let's railroad through it her concentration is fierce it is fierce and also her her stature and her Charisma and her presence Patricia set has sung principal roles in nearly a dozen Franchesca zambello Productions she's just one of those performers who I want to work with more who I'll do anything to get them in a show when she speaks people stop and they listen or they're in big [Music] trouble in 2002 the Opera world stopped and listened when Patricia rette a soprano with a leading international career said she was a lesbian in a cover story for Opera news it's such a validation and I remember just feeling just more in my skin as as as an artist as a director Franchesca zambello knows the value of having actors whose self-awareness matches their technical skills but her own journey to feeling more in her skin as an artist took many years I don't think I was one of those kids who knew I was gay I mean you know some kids you just don't know till much later I don't think I knew really until into my 20s it was a different time it's not that long ago but first of all being a woman in a job that was traditionally a man's job I mean I was a stage manager and assistant director I already was the only woman there so suddenly to be the only woman and to be gay it was just too much and then it was really when I moved to New York and saw the world and understood it all and figured out life to some degree not that you ever do I really don't think that I was out professionally until probably I was into my early 30s maybe she was in her early 30s when she met her life partner Manuel holterhoff how are our personalities different I'm very modest and retiring and Francesca just sucks the air out of her room that's why we need a larger apartment this is [Music] true this is lovely the wonderful thing about our time together is that it it hasn't just been in New York but it's been in Paris London Switzerland Vienna around the world I don't think we've gone anywhere that hasn't had some rationale to do with her career M well stop it that's true stop it you can't use it of course you can use it it's the truth but what about the trips where we go driving where I drive I think we we did maybe two in 18 yearsa we were in Germany and Mella always makes me go in and ask the directions and I thinking Mel was born in Germany she speaks perfect German I speak okay German I'm like why do I have to go in there and ask you go ask cuz you're the director and you're driving anyway why would I want to go in and ask the directions which I would then have to translate to her it it makes no sense What attracted me to her always was her great mind and that she was a thinker and loved the things that I loved and we share so much in terms of culture and art and worldviews I think having the support of a home and a relationship for me it makes it possible to function in the world when you work in the Arts or a field that you can come under great criticism you're out there putting your emotions out on the table 24/7 so it's wonderful to have an environment to go back home to somewhere where you know that you are really surrounded by people who you love and who love you [Music] back I think in the 25 years or so that I've been been working in the theater there has been enormous change I wish that in my earlier years I would have had a role model or I would have met women uh who who were doing fascinating things and were helpful in a way that I think both Franchesca and I are now anybody who's in some sort of group has encountered Prejudice and you just have to find a way to work past it go through it confront people and their prejudices try and change [Music] them I describe myself first and foremost as an artist and that that is the thing that has to speak the loudest about what I am [Music] stand I'm [Music] the demands placed on a director are astonishing you have to be a parent you have to be a babysitter you have to be a psychologist you have to have real Vision chesa was able to artfully embody all of those things and at her core she has a very quiet confidence all of the jittery nervous unhinged types around her myself among them divined that Center of calm and found it enormously [Music] reassuring I do not know where the energy comes from that when I want to collapse after 14 or 15 days of working straight and just lay around and watch movies she wants to climb the next mountain peak that combined with the fact that she's going to climb a mountain and then ring PLO Domingo from her cell phone she's completely able to do any kind of period any kind of [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] style I want to be creating theater for wider audiences new audiences families children introducing people to live theater in a way that they may never have seen it [Music] before I get up every day and I say thank God that I am lucky enough to be doing what I love to do that I have been given the chance to do it and the means and the places and the collaborators to work with around the world I want that live theater exists 100 years from now I want people to experience that magic [Music] forever this next story is full of color song dance and yes roller skates zanado do the movie became a cult classic even though it was a box office flop surprisingly xanad do the musical has quickly become one of Broadway's surprise smash hits the world for to why is zanado do why did I decide to do zanado do because you're so young cuz I'm so young I didn't know any better producer Robert aons was the driving force behind bringing xanadoo to Broadway as a new stage musical but nobody shared Aaron's initial enthusiasm including the man who had become the writer of xanad do's book Douglas Carter Bean the movie was a flop but the album was this huge success so it was actually given this opportunity that people sort of knew the premise knew the score everybody loved the score and I could write this new book I would like to open a roller disco how Timeless Timeless I mean we are taking this awful movie and putting it on stage and it's at the Helen Hayes theater I mean come on Helen Hayes the first lady of the American Stage and we're doing zanadoo there everybody all around the world got to tell you what I just heard every Broadway regular Tony Roberts plays Danny Jean Kelly's role in the film we were very surprised by what happened to zanadu we didn't know what would happen right up until opening night as I was filing out of the theater that night I saw Douglas carteran St sitting and standing in the audience getting reviews over his cell phone and that was the first time we heard that we were a hit all over the world everybody's the so hence when we got those amazing reviews these critics really got what we were trying to [Music] do it's deliriously over the toop it's silly and beautifully done like saying we're going to make this as silly and crazy as possible there's just a particular excessiveness and yet exquisiteness that gay guys wanting to make something really fun and over the top can do it's so weird that there's no there's nothing gay about the story but it feels like the gayest show I've ever seen on Broadway it's very interesting the gay label on the show which I wholeheartedly embraced there was an element of that I was really interested in writing with which was camp that there would be this awareness of everything of how horrible the movie is but also how horrible the state of theater is just kind of laugh at it all the muses are in Retreat creativity shall be styed for decades the theater why they'll just take some stinker room movie or some songwriters catalog throw it on a stage and call it a show there is something about laughing at the s sincity and the earnestness of everything that is certainly a gay [Music] Outlook there isn't a fear of of going gay in the show but at the same time a majority of our audience right now is from out of town so they're obviously getting it and enjoying [Music] it the non-gay plot line in xanadoo sits sely in the tradition of Boy Meets Girl I play clo uh a Greek goddess Muse so she is sent to Earth to inspire art in Sunny Malone this goddess has come to Earth and fall in love with a mortal which she's been forbidden to do by her father Zeus Kira strikes up the Forbidden romance with sunny just as two of her sisters begin plotting against and Zeus did not I'm Mel pom or Mel pom I I never pronounce it right who's the oldest of the muses who is very upset that she was passed over as lead Muse I need not tell you as first born I was entitled to the position of leader of the muses and yet Zeus did not Grant thusly what givs and so she enlists the help of kop yes to who The Muse of epics and I'm the Muse of tragedy to help her get Kira who was named UND do the heroin yeah the pretty girl hero would that I were a God I would Smite her sister sister you are such a what's the expression I'm looking for you're [Music] a they'll be like evil stepsisters they'll just be angry he wrote our parts for of us so he wrote for both of us so if it wasn't for him I mean you know who else but a middle-aged homosexual would have both of us in the same exactly cackling and hiding listen to us this is like Children's Theater for 40-year-old gay [Music] people Cheyenne Jackson plays the part of Sunny oh hi my name is sunny Malone and I'd like to rent this large Auditorium for an event I'm planning he arrived in New York City in 2002 and has quickly become one of Broadway's rising stars but the often closeted Journey promising actors take on their way to fame is not the road taken by this leading man being out of the closet it was never something that I really ever thought about I'm just a really open person For Better or For Worse my agents publicists people would perhaps want me to be less open but I just it's just the way I [Music] am I want my talent and my my character to speak for who I [Music] am I start the show on stage and if it's a really really gay crowd and they're really exuberant and and boisterous then we know what's going to work we love our gay audiences they're completely different like Cheyenne will come off and he's like ah the gays are [Music] here I love it I love coming to the theater I love the family I just love the story I love the unabashed joyfulness of it I really think it's the little show that could thank you for watching in the life to sign up for monthly air dat alerts or to download past episodes 247 please go to our website at in thee. or call 1 800 627 on TV we'd love to hear from you I'm Michael Billy thanks for tuning in and please join us next month tears still Rob my eyes was where sorrow yeah somewhere in my mind I know there's no tomorrow I see your Liv soon I guess you had your failure if I can't change your mind and no one world I not if I can change your mind now I oh yeah and I'll do throughout the gears never Str from you but do know that you suspect I'm somewhere else feeling sorry leing where that broken heart above you even I can't your mind one will if I can change of mind now I I know [Music] in life is funded in part by the hfan amering and foundation and by Arcus foundation and by Ambrose monell foundation and by New paaul Foundation and by the Ted Snowden foundation and these funders and by the annual support of in the life members like [Music] you