'The Big Gay Jamboree' review — classic Broadway meets contemporary culture
Read our review of The Big Gay Jamboree off Broadway, a new musical comedy co-created by and starring Marla Mindelle, the award-winning co-creator of Titanique.
Many theatre lovers would jump at the chance to be transported into the world of their favorite show. But not Stacey (Marla Mindelle), the main character of the new Off-Broadway show The Big Gay Jamboree who inexplicably wakes up in a musical reminiscent of Broadway's mid-1900s Golden Age.
You'd think she's the ideal candidate: Stacey has a degree in musical theatre but has struggled to land roles besides that of a dancing cucumber in a show titled Mr. Zucchini's Riboflavin Factory. She ultimately gave up her dreams of acting to live an uninspiring but monied life in San Francisco with her smarmy tech-bro boyfriend, Keith (SNL's Alex Moffat). This opportunity to exist in a splashy, carefree musical sounds like a welcome reprieve — except for the fact that many classic shows and movie musicals contain racist, sexist, homophobic, and/or ableist tropes. Stacey, immediately clocking this, wants out.
But as Mindelle and her collaborators (she co-created The Big Gay Jamboree with Jonathan Parks-Ramage and Philip Drennen) subvert, satirize, and queer these tropes, they emerge with a show that's utterly hilarious and with all the vibrant charm of classic Broadway intact. This is one show you won't want to escape.
Truly, the 100-minute The Big Gay Jamboree could stand to be a little longer. Its cursory opening number abruptly plops audiences into the action, and we barely meet some characters before they're suddenly launching into a song. It is a fault quickly and easily forgiven, though, as Stacey's three main companions — characters in the musical-within-a-musical also looking to escape — absolutely nail their big numbers.
Sexually free Flora (Natalie Walker) gets a jazzy burlesque performance a la Marilyn Monroe, complete with multiple costume changes. Repressed Bert (Constantine Rousouli) throws his all into a dance routine referencing A Chorus Line's "The Music and the Mirror." And a particularly standout Paris Nix, as local hunk Clarence, sent my audience roaring throughout his soulful gospel song with velvety vocal runs.
Beyond those undeniably showstopping moments, your enjoyment of the show will likely hinge on how many of the nonstop pop culture jokes you understand. Straight and gay stereotypes alike get their moment in the sun (or should I say, in the shade), as do niche references to media with large queer fanbases, including theatre itself. Fans of old musicals will recognize some tongue-in-cheek references to them, the most obvious being a song explaining gay slang to the tune of "Do Re Mi" from The Sound of Music.
If none of that is your cup of tea, then this isn't your jamboree. But there are plenty of laughs to be had for its target audience, who will gladly overlook the bits that don't quite werk and find pure fun in the rest.
The Big Gay Jamboree summary
After getting blackout drunk, aspiring actress Stacey wakes up inside a musical with no idea how she got there. Everyone around her is singing, dancing, and being totally okay with offensive tropes that still flew in the 1940s — all of which makes her desperate to escape. Turns out, she's not the only one.
Three side characters — a Black man made to sing only gospel music, a promiscuous woman whose sexual endeavors are taboo, and a supposedly fearsome, grotesque lumberjack who's actually just gay — accompany Stacey, Wizard of Oz-style, on her quest to get back to the present day. There, they hope, they can be freely themselves and figure out how Stacey entered the musical in the first place.
The Big Gay Jamboree is Mindelle's follow-up to Titanique, a musical parody of the 1997 Titanic film that became (and remains) an Off-Broadway hit upon its 2022 premiere.
What to expect at The Big Gay Jamboree
Pre-show, we're greeted by a bucolic backdrop on the Orpheum Theatre stage that looks like something out of an old Technicolor picture: a lush green meadow over a moonlit sky. Across it gallops a horse. Then a rainbow-striped zebra. Then, the serene moon does a somersault in the sky. These are subtle but unmistakable indications: Things are about to get a little wacky.
More than a little – especially once the audience gets in on the action. Even if you're not the one lucky theatregoer who gets to go up on stage, you will have two opportunities to sing along from your seat (lyrics are provided). That, plus the fact that the actors repeatedly run past you through the aisles of the narrow venue, makes it feel like Stacey's not the only one dropped smack into the musical — you are, too. Indeed, Stacey says as much in shock: "There's a literal audience watching us!"
What audiences are saying about The Big Gay Jamboree
On the review aggregator Show-Score, the show received mixed-to-positive reviews from audience members. While some criticized the writing — or noted that the show's style and subject simply weren't for them — others praised the cast's performances, the jokes, and the infectious fun.
- "We were in an awful mood at the start of the show [...] but left with big smiles on our faces [...] I have a feeling that I will be going back to this one on a regular basis." - Show-Score user BittenByAZebra
- "The book is okay, and there seemed to be some sound mixing issues as I couldn't hear all the lines or lyrics at times. Nonetheless, I kept laughing and seriously, the cast's energy and talent was electric." - Show-Score user Benjamin 0789
- "Just when you think @BigGayJamboree can’t get more absurd or make another pop culture reference…it does. 100 minutes of laughter, gasping, and somehow becoming even gayer than I was before walking into the theater!!" - X user @CharlesAOKeefe
- "More like a stream of funny scenes rather than a coherent musical." - Show-Score user Member 70406445
- "If you sit in the balcony there are TV screens that will turn on and show you what is happening in the rear orchestra." - Show-Score user Rose 6307
Read more audience reviews of The Big Gay Jamboree on Show-Score.
Who should see The Big Gay Jamboree
- The Apple TV+ show Schmigadoon has a similar premise to The Big Gay Jamboree (people from the real world get stuck in a Golden Age musical) — fans of that series will feel at home at the jamboree.
- Fans of Titanique, this show is tailor-made for you. Mindelle's unserious, pop culture reference-heavy, no-holds-barred brand of comedy on display in that show is core to The Big Gay Jamboree, too.
- Fans of Barbie should check out this colorful spectacle produced by LuckyChap Entertainment, Margot Robbie's production company that also backed that hit 2023 film. (And keep an ear out for a whiff of the "Barbie Girl" melody woven into the pre-show music.)
- If you like The Book of Mormon or Forbidden Broadway — both irreverent, satirical shows that parody its fellow musicals — you're likely to find plenty of laughs here. Ditto for fans of the queer Off-Broadway-turned-Broadway surprise hit Oh, Mary!
- Without spoiling the show: Devout Real Housewives viewers, Jennifer Lopez fans, karaoke enthusiasts, and anyone who has ever lived in Hell's Kitchen or eaten at Chili's should go.
Learn more about The Big Gay Jamboree off Broadway
The Big Gay Jamboree combines the offbeat, queer sensibilities of the downtown theatre scene with the glitz and larger-than-life talent of the uptown one. And no matter what kind of theatre you love or hate, there's a joke or ten that speaks to it.
Photo credit: The Big Gay Jamboree off Broadway. (Photos by Matthew Murphy)
Originally published on