The Riverside Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

The musical comes at a time when trans rights are under attack and its message of self-acceptance and respect for all was echoed across Broadway, from a revival of Parade to a Black actor-led Death of a Salesman to the new play Ain’t No Mo’ and new musical Kimberly Akimbo. So one of the things that was really, really important to us is just to create human-scaled characters going through some extraordinary experiences.”

“Sometimes the best way to treat a character with dignity is to let them be flawed and scared and funny and brave and human. “The only thing we wanted to do was to be honest and we wanted to treat these characters with dignity,” said Matthew López, who wrote the Tony-nominated book with Amber Ruffin and has a Tony already for the play The Inheritance. But this time, the dress awakens something in Ghee’s character, akin to a transformation from a caterpillar to a butterfly. Like the movie, there are men in dresses trying to pass as women. Harrison Ghee, who all got nominations, the show follows two musician friends who disguise themselves as women and join an all-girl band to flee Chicago after witnessing a mob hit. With songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and starring Christian Borle and J. Some Like It Hot, a Broadway musical adaptation of the cross-dressing movie comedy that starred Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, waltzed away Tuesday with a leading 13 Tony Award nominations, putting the spotlight on a show that is a sweet, full-hearted embrace of trans rights.

The Riverside Shakespeare by William Shakespeare