15 moments from the year in theater: Jonathan Groff’s throuple, Lea Michele’s final bow, Luke Evans’ royal romp & more

Don’t rain on our parade! While Lea Michele may have been thinking “I’m the Greatest Star” from her box office-breaking Broadway run in Funny Girl, she certainly didn’t say it. 

The former Glee star confessed in an interview, “When I got the call that I was going to play Fanny Brice, I said, ‘Okay, this could be really big for my career, but it’s also helpful to have this opportunity to introduce people to who I am now.’” And that she did through the final chapter of the show’s run, which ended on September 3. All is forgiven, Michelle. We still have Mean Girls to look forward to!

But Michele’s star turn was but one of many shining moments on Broadway and beyond. As the year winds down, Queerty looks back at some of the sexiest, unexpected, and standing-ovation-worthy shows of the year.

James Joyce liked it dirty in ‘Your Sexts Are Sh*t: Older Better Letters’

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Admittedly, we didn’t see this coming. Who knew 2023 would kick off with an Off-Broadway homage to James Joyce’s sexual fetishes (which included scat) juxtaposed with the mundaneness of modern-day texting? Rachel Mars’ solo show was just what we needed to warm up from the winter blues.

Kink, disability & humor converged in ‘Dark Disabled Stories’

Pride50 honorees Ryan J. Haddad and Dickie Hearts served next-level queer realness in Haddad’s Off-Broadway hit, Dark Disabled Stories. Haddad, who can be seen in Hulu’s limited series A Murder at the End of the World, proved a brilliant writer and actor, creating a much-needed space for disabled actors and diverse audiences.

Timothy Hughes bared it all for charity, then headed to Fleet Street

We first caught sight of Timothy Hughes in the ensemble of Hadestown, and we weren’t the only ones. At six feet, seven inches tall, the actor also piqued the interest of director Thomas Kail, who scooped him for the revival of Sweeney Todd starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford. 

You get a Tony, and YOU get a Tony!

The 76th annual Tony Awards weren’t without its shutouts. Despite receiving five nominations, including Best Play, James Ijames’ Fat Ham, a modern queer Black take on Hamlet, walked away empty-handed. Tony voters — we know where you live! 

But the evening wasn’t a total loss. Alex Newell and G. Harrison Ghee, both nonbinary, made history with their wins for Shucked and Some Like It Hot. And while their successes took two giant high-heeled steps forward for visibility, our friends at INTO called out Broadway’s larger “drag and trans dilemma,” writing, “Creative teams and producers who want to tell trans stories need to have trans people in the room and part of the creative process, not just in the audience.”

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EXCLUSIVE: Tony nominee J. Harrison Ghee is on fire in this show-stopping number from ‘Some Like It Hot’

Nominated for 13 Tony Awards, “Some Like It Hot” lives up to its name thanks to this number that brings down the house.

Jonathan Groff’s throuple turned a Sondheim flop into the revival of the season

Sondheim could have coined the term “frenemy” when he composed Merrily We Roll Along. The story of three friends (told backward) lasted 16 performances when it first premiered on Broadway in 1981. Now with Groff, Daniel Radcliffe, and Tony winner Lindsay Mendez at the helm, the musical is unstoppable. If you snag premium seats at $899 each, consider it a splash zone — Groff is known for excessive spitting when he sings.

Sweaty male bonding but gratefully no tap dancing in ‘Brokeback Mountain’ the musical

We entered with trepidation. Our favorite love-torn ranchers, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar … in a musical? Fortunately, what we discovered at this West End premiere was a play with music that heightened Annie Proulx’s novella with “the twangs of a steel pedal guitar tugging on the heartstrings,” according to one critic. It didn’t hurt to have Lucas Hedges and Mike Faist as shirtless, entangled lovers. Will Brokeback Mountain gallop to Broadway? We can only hope.

Sean Hayes starred in a tour de force about… who?

Admit it. Unless you’re a cinephile, you’ve likely never heard of Oscar Levant, the troubled but deeply talented musician known for his dry-witted sidekick roles in films like The Band Wagon and An American in Paris, and sharp-tongued appearances in the early years of The Tonight Show. Hayes harnessed it all for a Tony-winning performance in Good Night, Oscar, culminating in a thrilling live piano performance of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.” (Bonus: a charming supporting performance by Summoning Sylvia’s Alex Wyse.)

A queer twist on the legendary Bob Fosse

After the hit limited series Fosse/Verdon, starring Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams, it was only a matter of time before the choreographer’s work reappeared on Broadway. Bob Fosse’s Dancin’ lasted a mere 65 performances, but director Wayne Cilento (a former Fosse dancer) broke ground casting Kolton Krouse and giving them the creative freedom to express Fosse’s work (with the help of costume designers Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung) through a gorgeously nonbinary lens. Queerty gathered five of the queer performers for an exclusive photo shoot, and let’s just say they look even better close up.

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EXCLUSIVE: Go behind the scenes with the queer queens of ‘Bob Fosse’s Dancin’’

An insider’s look at some of the queer dancers from ‘Bob Fosse’s Dancin’.

With a serpentine strut and 6-pack abs, this Patrick Bateman had time to sing, too

Queerty dispatched writers around the country to check out theater happenings beyond the confines of Broadway, and what we discovered was a bloody good time in Chicago. American Psycho: The Musical (yes, you read that right) made its Chicago premiere at Kokandy Productions, known for its in-your-face immersive storytelling. And who wouldn’t want to get up close and personal with Kyle Patrick’s stripped-down Patrick Bateman in this “gory and darkly funny takedown of ‘80s excess”?

David Burtka brought daddy vibes Off-Broadway

Gay daddy David Burtka is no stranger to the stage, appearing as Tulsa in the 2003 Broadway rival of Gypsy starring Bernadette Peters. But Hollywood beckoned, and Burtka’s been busy acting and producing ever since. (Did you catch Drag Me to Dinner, co-produced with hubby Neil Patrick Harris?) The New York stage got him back for a brief stint playing a narcissistic parent in an Off-Broadway revival of God of Carnage. But in real life, Burtka is “150%” into his kids, telling Queerty, “I love that I’m a dad who doesn’t have to play that ‘masculine’ role all the time. Another great part of being a gay daddy is giving them great fashion tips.”

Gay besties got brutally honest in ‘Rough Trade’

Wonder what it’s like to be a millennial gay living in New York City? Playwright Kev Berry’s Rough Trade offered a window into the queer complexities of hook-ups, dating in an open relationship, and the sexual tension between friends. The four-character play offered plenty of twists and turns, culminating in one of the best scenes of the season, a knock-down, drag-out fight at — where else? — brunch.

Luke Evans enjoyed a royal romp as a gay footman

Luke Evans returned to the London stage for the first time in 16 years to play a queen to THE Queen in the world premiere of Backstairs Billy about the real-life relationship between footman William “Billy” Tallon and the Queen Mother. The pair spend plenty of time enjoying tea and tipple, but Marcelo Dos Santos’s play takes a gay turn in Act II when Tallon brings a hook-up into the royal home, and we get a glimmer of Evans’ captivating charisma.

Gavin Creel’s intimate trip to the Met

With eight Broadway shows to his name, including the recent Tony-winning revival of Into the Woods, Gavin Creel has performed works by some of the industry’s best composers, from Jerry Herman to Jeanine Tesori. For his latest appearance, Walk on Through: Confessions of a Museum Novice, Creel taps his songwriting skills as part of a MetLive Arts commission to wander the halls of the famed cultural institution. Creel, openly gay, gives the work plenty of queer twists, including a fascination with male subjects, fantasy sequences (co-star Sasha Allen’s star power stops the show), and plenty of sinewy hip swivels.

From beyond, Sondheim’s surreal final chapter

Stephen Sondheim, who died in 2021, had been working for years on a new musical inspired by two films by Luis Buñuel about a group whose dinner plans keep unraveling and another in which dinner party guests are trapped in their surroundings. Featuring a book by David Ives and co-starring some of our favorite actors, including David Hyde Pierce and Denis O’Hare, Here We Are asked us to bear witness to our bourgeoisie tendencies. The musical also left a stark emptiness, knowing that Sondheim’s final indelible notes had been written.

Spectacular, indeed! Dancing furries & cosplay at Radio City Music Hall

Who doesn’t love a pageant? While we can’t claim that The Christmas Spectacular starring The Radio City Rockettes includes any drag queens, we can all appreciate an over-the-top production number. From furry reindeer and toy soldiers to cosplay dolls and Santa’s burning confession — “People like to ask me if I have a favorite toy” — this show is gay Gay GAY. Queerty gathered a gaggle of queens to check out this year’s edition; it’s every bit as magical as one would hope and a captivating finale to the year in theater.

Featured image: (from left) Ryan J. Haddad, Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, Lindsay Mendez, and Alex Newell. Photos by: Joan Marcus, Matthew Murphy, and Evan Zimmerman. Photo illustration by Matthew Wexler.