Op-ed: Wait, I'm Doing a Musical?

Performing in a musical is the last thing I expected to be doing in my 30s. Like any self-respecting gay boy, I was obsessed with Rent and West Side Story in high school, and even dabbled in college. When I graduated, I swore off the nasty habit. Musicals require belting and prancing, two things any self-prescribed “manly” gay must never do. I didn’t want to spend time singing “clang clang clang went the trolley,” and while I do think Judy Garland is absolute genius, I do not want to be her. So, in a nutshell, musicals were decidedly frothy things and most definitely not for me.

Getting asked to audition for one isn't something that happens every day, though. Actually showing up for tryouts was definitely out of character, but it was getting a role that scared the bejesus out of me. You see, I've always been seeking a small slice of indie music cred. For 10 years I've written, produced, and performed my ownmusic. I've put out six albums, toured America, and for the most part, it's been pretty awesome — I've got some stories, let me tell you. However, during a break from recording my new pop-dance record, I randomly Googled “gay bullying” (more than a little leap of logic, I know), which landed me smack-dab in the middle of Dan Savage's It Gets Better Project.