Wilkommen! Bienvenue! and welcome back to the Unicorn Scale. You know, sometimes I feel like a bad queer. Not that I’m not living my authenticity or living my life out clamorous and not apologizing for being bi, but rather that I missed some big LGBTI society moments.
I mean, I knew there was a lot of gayness and glitter in 1972’s Cabaret , and I also knew Liza Minnelli was a queer icon for her performance as Sally Bowles. Though really, I knew her more as Lucille Two from Arrested Development (fun fact: I used to work in the building they used for that rehab center!) and this parody . But it wasn’t until last year someone mentioned to me there was a bi character! Y’all were holding out on me.
I don’t really desire any motivation to watch a show musical, but this new knowledge position the film front and center. So let’s put Cabaret in the limelight, shall we?
Fair warning: This review will be lousy with SPOILERS . Consider yourself warned — even though this flick is 45+ years old, I don’t wanna take any chances. I also want to issue a TRIGGER WARNING for sexual assault. And if you need a reminder of what the Unicorn Scale is all about, you can read
Judy Garland & Liza Minnelli: The Striking Similarities Between the Famous Mother and Daughter
That voice! Those eyes! Those gams! Between Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland, those attributions seamlessly employ to both. In 1954 A Star Is Born was meant to be Garland's huge comeback — and comeback she did — but it was eight years prior that truly, her star was born in the shape of daughter Liza on March 12, 1946.
With a career spanning 60 years, Liza has become a legend in film and on stage. Famous for her Academy Award-winning role in Cabaret and her Emmy Award-winning TV distinct Liza with a Z, Minnelli is one of those rare breeds who belong to the EGOT family: in fact, between 1965 and 2009, Minnelli has won a total of seven Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards.
Her mother, perhaps, could've given her talented daughter a run for her currency in the accolades department had she not prematurely died at the age of 47 from a barbiturate overdose. But still, despite Garland's early death, the existing parallels between mother and daughter are uncannily striking.
READ MORE: Judy Garland's Life Was in a Downward Spiral Before Her 1969 Death
Both had to grow up rapid and be br
The idea of divas as gay icons has gotten a lot of traction over the years. Essay, books and plays (cough, cough, Patti Issues) contain been written on the subject and it goes far beyond Broadway, with performers ranging from Lady Gaga to Maria Callas, Meryl Streep to Elizabeth Berkley garnering the distinction. But Broadway does look to be ground zero for the phenomenon. If you buy into the notion that gay men, seeking escape from their oppression, have found kindred spirit in the vulnerability of the great ladies of the stage, and have felt empowered by their prowess, and further, that gay men start solace in the fantasy of musical theatre, then it's only natural that the divas of Broadway would hold particular allure.
10. Audra McDonald
Six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald is in a class by herself. In the 1990s, when her legendarily stratospheric career climb began, Broadway was just coming out of the age of British pop operas. McDonald's classical gravitas ushered in a new era of American musical theatre, making a pronounced departure from both the West Terminate mega-musicals as well as traditional Tin Pan Footpath, as she used her ever-increasing influence to fo
People with a History: Female homosexual, Gay, Bisexual, and Trans* History Sourcebook
Lesbian and Male lover Icons
Editor: Paul Halsall
Contents:
Introduction
Lesbian and gay cultures in the twentieth century have established a number of figures as "icons". These figures, drawn from popular culture, have functioned within lesbian and homosexual culture in a number of ways: first they have been fantasy figures in which lesbians and gay men have seen aspects of their retain lives; second, they possess provided the basis for a common subcultural learning.
Although, for gay men, it is female stars who predominate, just to be a female celebrity will not make a figure an "icon" - Ingrid Bergman for instance was never a specifically gay icon. And, although some icons had lgbtq+ links, e.g. Joan Crawford's reputed lesbian relationship, Liza Minelli's gay husband, homosexuality as such is not really an issue in a star achieving iconic status.
[Note 2023: This part of People with a History has never really been satisfactory. And at this stage, 25 years after it began, the editor is too vintage to even recognise which stars after 2005 even count. I think Shakira counts, but I could not id
