The Big Gay Musical

Sorry to burst a stereotype, but I’m not a big fan of show-tunes or musical theatre, so The Big Gay Musical had its work cut out in winning me over. By and large it succeeded.

By giving itself such a title, The Big Gay Musical is under no pretence about what it is – appropriate given the movie’s central message of being true to yourself. Mind you, it’s a shame they didn’t use the name of the off-Broadway play-within-the-movie: ‘Adam and Steve, Just the Way God Made ‘Em’.

The story focuses on the two attractive, young stars of the musical. Paul is gay, confident and optimistic that he’s found Mr. Right; Eddie is also gay, but not out to his parents and still a virgin. Both are looking for love, not one night stands.

Eddie has told his religious parents that he’s starring in ‘Adam and Eve, Just The Way God Made ‘Em’ and panics when they tell him they’ve booked seats for opening night! In turning to Paul and the other male dancers for support, Eddie ends up immersing himself in the gay scene, but is this new-found freedom going to get him any closer to what he really wants?…

Meanwhile, Paul is dealing with his own issues and starts looking for relief in anonymous sexual encounters, believing that he’s been naive in holding out for someone special.

Much of the appeal of The Big Gay Musical is in the casting: the acting is better than in many low-budget gay movies (their collective Broadway experience showing through) and the leads are very likeable. Daniel Robinson, with his deep voice, is refreshingly un-camp and has a lot of presence on screen (particularly naked!).

The movie isn’t all singing and all dancing and much of the action takes place off-stage, taking time to explore issues like safe sex and peer pressure on the gay scene, but not in any great depth, this being light entertainment at the end of the day.

The musical numbers themselves are often inventive and as good as anything in the current crop of populist shows on Broadway and the West End. Writer Fred M. Caruso has injected some wit into the script and there’s genuine laughs to be had in watching the movie.

For all the movie’s right-on messages it is very loaded with beautiful men and the camera lingers over their perfect physiques, making me wonder who’s standing up for the average joe exactly, but that’s a common fault of gay movies in general.

You could say that The Big Gay Musical achieves exactly what it set out to achieve: it’s big; it’s gay and it’s certainly musical!

And look out for a fun cameo by Brent Corrigan playing a gay hustler – this guy has range!

The Big Gay Musical is out on DVD and Blu-ray on 6 April.