Pride Month: The LGBT+ Showstopper: ‘I Am What I Am’ - Dominic Broomfield-McHugh
As Pride Month 2025 draws to a close, Professor Dominic Broomfield-McHugh’s lecture “The LGBT+ Showstopper: ‘I Am What I Am’” offers a thoughtful and timely reflection on the role of musical theatre in representing queer lives and identities.
Focusing on iconic songs such as ‘I Am What I Am’, ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’, and the work of Cole Porter, the lecture explores how musical numbers can give voice to LGBTQ+ identities — and how questions of representation, visibility and authorship shape the stories we see and hear on stage.
From early 20th-century songwriting to landmark moments in queer theatre, the lecture considers how performance, identity, and cultural context come together — and what it means, both historically and today, to be seen and heard.