Sunday evening, I frantically grabbed my TV remote to change the channel. A kind congregant had just texted me a reminder of something I’d completely forgotten: The 79th Annual Tony Awards were airing, and I was about to miss them! My wife and I quickly found the channel and tuned in just in time to watch the curtains open, revealing musical sensation P!nk suspended in midair, dressed as Peter Pan.
The opening quickly moved to something much more in P!nk’s style. A familiar tune came over the speakers. One by one, the leading ladies of the nominated shows came to the stage to sing an adapted version of P!nk’s hit “Lady Marmalade.”
As more performers joined the stage, it became clear the lyrics were changed to highlight the aforementioned leading ladies (with one exception when some of the nominees for best actor sang, “Hey sister, soul sister. Don’t forget your bros, sister”).
The Leading Ladies Marmalade.
As the number progressed, the companies from each nominated show took the stage. The throng of performers grew, with cameo appearances by folks like musician Megan Thee Stallion and trans activist Dylan Mulvaney (both of whom just finished stints on Broadway). The number of performers was so large that they spilled onto the stairs and filled the aisles.
Even in the audience, the celebration grew. The crowd stood and danced, some waving clack fans, streamers and other celebratory items. People of all genders, including cis-presenting and trans, were dressed in all manner of costumes, depending on their show. On the floor, there was no separation between the performers in the aisles and the audience members dancing in front of their chairs. It was a performance that invited everyone in the room, performers and audience alike, to bring their full selves.
As I watched (tears welling up involuntarily), I couldn’t help but think to myself, “This is what heaven will look like.”
For Such a Time As This
The song ended to an energizing standing ovation before P!nk moved to her opening monologue. She talked plainly about the sociopolitical climate of our time and how damaging it is to all of us, but especially to those of us with marginalized identities.
She challenged us to rethink how we understand these shows. She argued that theatre is not escapism, but a way through which we understand and engage the challenges of the current moment.
“We go to a Broadway show to look at what the state of the world is. This year, the worst parts of history began repeating itself and we were given Liberation and Ragtime,” she said. “This year, our country became more divided than ever, and we were given Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York). This year, our trans siblings began to lose even more rights, and we were given Cats: A Jellicle Ball… Broadway theatre is brave.”
The revival of Cats, in particular, highlights this bravery amongst the queer community. The show was inspired by what’s known as “ballroom culture.” In the 19th and 20th centuries, ballrooms were secret, hidden places where LGBTQ+ people of color could fully and safely embrace their sexual orientation and gender identity. They would often engage in competitions to see who could dance the best, who could dress the finest, and so on.
The costuming reflected this inspiration; very few of the ensemble members were dressed like actual cats. Instead, the performers displayed the exuberance of drag, fashion, bright colors, and big, big hair, all trying to impress the ever-fabulous Andre de Shields as he played his character from a throne.
The Cats revival won Tony Awards for both best directing and best costume design. Directors Zhailon Levingston and Bill Rauch are both openly gay men, and the costume designer Qween Jean is the first openly trans designer to win any Tony Award as an out trans person.
Queer Joy
As we sit with what it means for us to celebrate Pride month in this season of life, the Tony Awards have shown us exactly what we need: more queer joy. As a queer person myself who deals with judgment in public settings, I need more queer joy. As a queer Baptist pastor who’s been experiencing an uptick in online harassment from folks without the theological imagination to accept the existence of a queer Baptist pastor … I. Need. More. Queer. Joy.
The queer community is vivacious and colorful, rowdy and silly, bold and resilient. We are able to find joy in impossible times because we know the truth that Shirley Caesar’s protest song highlights for us clearly: “This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me. The world didn’t give it, the world can’t take it away.”
Joy is the fuel of our faith. Joy is what gives us the energy to keep going when so many oppressive forces close in and try to convince us that our humanity is lacking compared to the “standards” set by the oppressive systems of heteropatriarchy and white supremacy.
But they don’t have the final say; God does, and God says we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
In the coming days, don’t let them take your joy. Remember, when addressing the exiled Israelites in the book of Nehemiah, the prophet Ezra reminded them that “the joy of the Lord is our strength.”
God gives us joy to remind us that oppressors don’t win—not in the end, anyway. Hold onto your joy, beloved. Let it be the fuel that drives you to keep going.
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A bivocational pastor, writer and spiritual director based in Williamsburg, Virginia, she currently works as a Spiritual Director at Reclamation Theology. Cawthon-Freels is the author of Reclamation: A Queer Pastor’s Guide to Finding Spiritual Growth in the Passages Used to Harm Us (Nurturing Faith Books), and a contributing correspondent at Good Faith Media.