With a title like The Big Gay Jamboree, it should come as no surprise that the new off-Broadway musical is, well, big and gay.

The Big Gay Jamboree is like a Golden Age Jumanji meets Teen Beach Movie — and yes, the creative team welcomes both comparisons. It centers on Stacey, who blacks out drinking one night only to wake up trapped inside a Golden Age musical. From there, the show both sends up and celebrates the genre, with numbers like a twisted “Do Re Mi” to teach the townsfolk gay slang and a power ballad about desperately trying to become a Real Housewife.

The musical comes from the deranged mind of Marla Mindelle — best known for writing and starring as Celine Dion in smash cult musical Titanique — who also stars as Stacey, with Jonathan Parks-Ramage co-writing the book and Philip Drennen co-writing the music and lyrics. 

INTO sat down with Mindelle, Drennen, and Parks-Ramage to learn which Golden Age shows are the gayest, how The Big Gay Jamboree turns tired tropes on their head, and why Harold Hill was maybe (definitely) bottoming in River City.

L-R: Jonathan Parks-Ramage, director Conor Gallagher, Marla Mindelle, and Philip Drennen. Photo by Andy Henderson.

Hey Marla, Jonathan, and Philip! Congrats on creating this absolutely hilarious musical. If each of you had to wake up trapped in a musical, which one would you choose?

JONATHAN PARKS-RAMAGE: I would probably wake up in Diana: The Musical.

Wow, that answer caught me so off-guard.

JP: It may be the greatest musical of the modern era. So for that reason, I would wake up there.

PHILIP DRENNEN: In all seriousness, I would wake up in Caroline or Change, because if my appliances were belting at me every day — that would be like my heaven, if my washer could just sing to me every morning.

MARLA MINDELLE: Oh, this is hard. I want to say The Secret Garden, but everyone had cholera, so I don’t think I want to do that! But I love that musical. Or Ragtime? That would be a great one. But they don’t seem fun; they seem oppressive.

Great shows; not so great to live through. One of your show’s songs is an ode to the Real Housewives in all their glory (except for Dubai — if you know, you know). Who’s your favorite housewife or your favorite series in the franchise?

MM: I feel like it’s RHONY. I feel like that is quintessential, classic. You start from season one, and you just go on a roller coaster where everyone has the highest of highs and lowest lows, and I’m here for every second of it.

PD: I’m a Beverly Hills girlie, and my favorites go back and forth. But I mean, Lisa Rinna is and forever will be an icon.

JP: For me, I would say Countess Luanne is one of the original OG classics. All other housewives are made in her image, I feel, because she is just one of the most classic of all time.

Paris Nix and Marla Mindelle at a press preview of The Big Gay Jamboree. Photo by Andy Henderson.

Marla, for your character Stacey, waking up in a Golden Age musical is a nightmare. But how do you actually feel about the genre?

MM: Oh, I love them. I grew up on them. I watched Easter Parade on repeat when I was a child. I remember when Rent came out, I was anti-Rent. I was like, “Modern musicals are not it. It’s all about the classics.” So the fact that we get to write a classic musical together that is inspired by a contemporary character is amazing to me.

Those old shows all feel pretty gay, but The Big Gay Jamboree brings their implicit queerness to the forefront. How do you feel about bringing queer culture to this often problematic genre?

MM: I feel like no one ever talked about it. Let’s talk about it! And I also think it’s such a fun spin. That’s what I love about this, is that it takes the classic musical that we know and love and we completely turn it on its head, and we talk about the things that no one was talking about at the time. And the tropes: there was racism, there was misogyny, there was homophobia, and so we touch on all of that, but we are able to laugh the entire time, which is so important.

PD: I feel like we’re working through our own trauma a little bit, too. We all went to theater school, we all started out as actors, and all of us are gay, so to be constantly cast as straight people, constantly being told we’re too gay or we’re too this — I mean, we get to kind of release all that trauma doing this show.

JP: It’s like a screaming rainbow zebra of a musical that’s drunk and high.

MM: Just like me.

It almost feels like y’all found a way to get away with writing a classic musical in the modern day.

JP: Our love language is trolling. So we are simultaneously trolling the art form of musical theater, but it also comes from a deep love, and if you see the show, there are references to musicals from every single era. So this is a love letter that’s also a troll letter, because for us, those two emotions are tied up inextricably.

Clips from a press preview of The Big Gay Jamboree. Courtesy of DKC/O&M.

What existing Golden Age musical do you think is the gayest?

MM: I always want to say The Music Man, but The Music Man is so straight.

JP: You know that Harold Hill was taking it up the butt. He’s got trouble.

MM: Maybe Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? Because all those brothers also seemed like they were secretly gay behind the scenes.

JP: Is 42nd Street Golden Age? I find that pretty gay.

MM: Yeah, everyone’s tapping. Peggy Sawyer, just that name — I’m sorry my dear, but you are up for elimination. 

And Marla, for fans who know you from Titanique, how does this show scratch the same itch, and how does it feel fresh?

MM: I think that the fans will be, once again, gagged by how campy it is. It’s niche, it’s queer, it’s literally gay rights on the stage. But I think that they will be surprised by how much art there is in the musical as well. And I’m not playing Celine, so it’s gonna be a wild character change. Hopefully they like it just as much! But it’s just as funny, and it is, in my opinion, even greater, because it’s original. So I’m really excited about that. ♦

The Big Gay Jamboree is now in previews at the Orpheum Theater, with opening night on September 30. Tickets are available at BigGayJamboreeTheMusical.com.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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