Looking for LGBT things to do in New York? Whether you’re looking for drag shows, parties talks & lectures, film screenings, theater, or cultural outings, Metrosource has got you covered. Our complete list of LGBT things to do is just a click away, but here are a few handpicked favorite queer events:
This week, you still have time to catch the final performace of The Boys in the Band, with our recent coverboy Zachary Quinto. Shakira will be shaking the walls of Madison Square Garden, and there’s an ultra-rare art exhibition of the work of David Wojnarowicz — the last one was more than a decade ago.
Roller Disco Night!
Friday, Aug. 10
Head back to the world of Xanadu and Starlight Express! Glide, ride, fly, get high! Studio50 H brings his Roller Wave Skate Party to the legendary House of Yes for an evening of roll bouncing, boozing and boogie. Get your workout in and your happy hour on at the same time. Headbands welcome, but not required. Arrive early, as limited skate rentals will be available at the venue for those who didn’t get a skate presale. Admission at the door is not guaranteed and the price increases to $15.
The El Dorado Tour: Shakira Live
Friday, Aug. 10
It’s a night her fans have waited almost a year to see: The Shakira El Dorado performance scheduled for January 17, 2018 has finally been rescheduled, and it’s lights up on Shakira at Madison Square Garden at last. Promoters say thqt the original tickets purchased in advance will be honored for Friday’s resscheduled performance date and will not require an exchange. And, they say, seats for Friday night’s concert remain available.
Hamptons Event Supporting LGBTQ Students in College
Saturday, Aug. 11
Take a day trip for a great cause! Join Hamptons locals in supporting LGBTQ students through Point Foundation Scholarships. You’ll meet other professionals interested in empowering the next generation of LGBTQ leaders through scholarship, community service, leadership training and development. There will be light snacks, cocktails, and good conversation. Point Foundation is the nation’s largest provider of higher education scholarships to LGBTQ students. There’s no charge to attend, but guests can donate $500 to receive membership in Point’s Cornerstone Society, a philanthropic group of individuals dedicated to helping to create a positive, lasting change in the LGBTQ community and the world through investment in education.
Second Tuesday Hosts David Breslin, curator of “David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake At Night”
Tuesday, Aug. 14
Second Tuesday at the LGBT Center hosts David Breslin, Whitney Museum Director and curator of “David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night” — the first major presentation of Wojnarowicz’ work in more than a decade. American painter David Wojnarowicz (1954-1992) came to prominence in the East Village art world of the ’80s, actively embracing all media and forging an expansive range of fiercely political, richly imagined and highly personal work. He was 37 when he died from AIDS-related complications. Whitney Museum director and co-curator of the Wojnarowicz show David Breslin will speak on Wojnarowicz’s life and work, drawing upon recently-available scholarly resources and the Whitney’s extensive holdings.
Straight White Men
Ongoing
Christmas Eve is typically a time to be merry — but what happens when Ed and his three adult sons are forced to confront their true identities in Straight White Men? Even matching pajamas can’t hide the fact that these men are the makers of their own destinies. Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name, The Social Network) stars alongside TV Star Tom Skerritt (M.A.S.H., Picket Fences) in this groundbreaking work by Young Jean Lee, the first Asian-American female playwright to be produced on Broadway.
The Boys in the Band
Ongoing
This is your last chance to see Broadway history in the making. It may have taken The Boys in the Band a half century to find a home on Broadway, but Matt Crowley’s now-vintage look at gay life in the late ’60s couldn’t have arrived in more style. With a cast that features Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory), Zachary Quinto (the big screen Star Trek reboot and American Horror Story), Matt Bomer (the Magic Mike movies) and Andrew Rannells (Girls and The New Normal), this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see a cast of all-stars explore what life was like before Harvey Milk, before Stonewall — when being gay was still considered a mental disorder. At the helm of this production: none other than Glee and American Horror Story imagineer Ryan Murphy.
The Donna Summer Musical
Ongoing
Where were you the first time you heard “I Feel Love?” In the world of Hot 100 radio, that track cut through everything around it — the arena rock of Fleetwood Mac and Bruce Springsteen, the disco of the Commodores and Jacksons — all of it. For those who were there, it sounded like a transmission from another galaxy.
But Donna Summer began her career in the musical “Hair,” becoming best known for refusing to take off her clothes in the show’s much-ballyhooed nude scene. She was a girl from Boston with a voice from heaven, who shot through the stars from gospel choir to dance floor diva. But what the world didn’t know was how Donna Summer risked it all to break through barriers, becoming one of the signature voices of an era and the inspiration for many who followed in her path.
Tony Award winner LaChanze (The Color Purple), Ariana DeBose (Hamilton, A Bronx Tale) and newcomer Storm Lever play the many facets of Donna Summer, taking audiences through her tumultuous life, tempestuous loves and mega-watt musical hits. From “Love to Love You, Baby” to “Last Dance” and beyond, her story and her music pair for a night of memories — or discovery. It’s The Donna Summer Musical.
Head Over Heels
Ongoing
Variety‘s review of the show when it was in San Francisco says Head Over Heels could have been called “A Very LGBT Thing Happened on the Way to the Masque” (masque as in 17th century court performance, and Masque as in the Hollywood punk club where the Go-Go’s learned their chops — take your pick). That’s one juxtaposition that’s really anything but odd, since the Go-Go’s and Carlisle have ended up amassing a huge gay fan base over their decades of breaking up and reuniting. The plot of “Head Over Heels” really gets underway well into the first act, when the lowly shepherd Musidorus (Andrew Durand), banished by the king from pursuing the princess Philoclea (Alexandra Socha), cross-dresses as an Amazonian warrior to get quality time with his unsuspecting sweetheart. It’s a setup right out of “Some Like It Hot” or “Tootsie,” if not time immemorial, but imagine a “Some Like It Hot” that just gets less and less straight until it ends with a succession of same-sex marriages.”
Head Over Heels is directed by Tony Award winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) with musical arrangement by Pulitzer Prize and Tony winner Tom Kitt (Next To Normal, American Idiot) and choreography by Emmy Award nominee Spencer Liff (So You Think You Can Dance, Hedwig and the Angry Inch). With a wickedly funny original book by Tony winner Jeff Whitty (Bring It On: The Musical, Avenue Q) adapted by James Magruder (Triumph of Love), this new production also includes scenic and puppet design by Tony Award nominee Julian Crouch (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), costume design by Academy Award and Tony Award nominee Arianne Phillips (Hedwig and the Angry Inch), lighting design by four-time Tony Award winner Kevin Adams (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot, Spring Awakening), sound design by Tony Award nominee Kai Harada (Follies), and projection design by Andrew Lazarow.
The World Premiere of a New Play, Scissoring
Ongoing
In Christina Quintana’s Scissoring, New Orleans native and resident Abigail Bauer must confront the clash between the life she has created with her longterm girlfriend and her career as a devoted teacher in a repressive Catholic school. Through her struggle, Abigail receives pressure from the school’s shape-shifting, personified public address system and guidance from the figures of First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and Roosevelt’s devoted friend and lover, Lorena Hickok. Performances will begin May 31st for a limited Off-Broadway engagement through June 30th. Opening Night is set for June 11th.
OBSESSION: Nudes by Klimt, Schiele and Picasso
Ongoing
This exhibition at The Met Breuer will present a selection of some fifty works from The Met’s Scofield Thayer Collection—a collection that is best known for paintings by artists of the school of Paris, and a brilliant group of erotic and evocative watercolors, drawings, and prints by Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele, and Pablo Picasso, whose subjects, except for a handful, are nudes. The exhibition will be the first time these works have been shown together and will provide a focused look at this important collection; it also marks the centenary of the deaths of Klimt and Schiele.
The Met’s Scofield Thayer Collection specializes in paintings by legendary artists from the school of Paris. For the first time, a selection of key works from greats like Klimt, Schiele and Picasso will offer art enthusiasts a concentrated look at nude works from this important collection. The timing of this erotic and sensual exhibition is also poignant, as it marks 100 years since the passion of both Klimt and Schiele.
An aesthete and scion of a wealthy family, Scofield Thayer (1889–1982) was co-publisher and editor of the literary magazine the Dial from 1919 to 1926. In this avant-garde journal he introduced Americans to the writings of T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, D. H. Lawrence, Arthur Schnitzler, Thomas Mann, and Marcel Proust, among others. He frequently accompanied these writers’ contributions with reproductions of modern art. Thayer assembled his large collection of some six hundred works—mostly works on paper—with staggering speed in London, Paris, Berlin, and Vienna between 1921 and 1923. While he was a patient of Sigmund Freud in Vienna, he acquired a large group of watercolors and drawings by Schiele and Klimt, artists who at that time were unknown in America.
When a selection from his collection was shown at the Montross Gallery in New York in 1924—five years before the Museum of Modern Art opened—it won acclaim. It found no favor, however, in Thayer’s native city, Worcester, Massachusetts, that same year when it was shown at the Worcester Art Museum. Incensed, Thayer drew up his will in 1925, leaving his collection to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. He withdrew from public life in the late 1920s and lived as a recluse on Martha’s Vineyard and in Florida until his death in 1982.
Looking for more? Check out our complete listing of events.
Metrosource’s Big Pride Guide — US and Worldwide.
Last modified: August 13, 2018
