In case you missed it, this year’s GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Broadway Production went to both Company and Thoughts of A Colored Man! The Broadway category for the 33rd Annual GMAs recognizes productions that opened last calendar year 2021.
The GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Broadway Production was presented to Company by Rich Ferraro, GLAAD’s Chief Communications Officer and an Executive Producer of the GLAAD Media Awards, as well as actor and activist Wilson Cruz. Cruz received GLAAD’s Vito Russo Award for his LGBTQ advocacy at the GLAAD Media Awards ceremony in New York City earlier this month.
Cruz noted that this award was the first GLAAD Media Award win for a Sondheim show. He said during the award presentation: “This production of Company, along with GLAAD’s other Broadway winner, Thoughts of A Colored Man, are changing the game for LGBTQ representation and storytelling on Broadway. Matt Doyle, your unforgettable ‘Getting Married Today’ and Jamie’s love for Paul will leave a mark on theater history forever.
Company’s GLAAD win also marks the first for a Stephen Sondheim show. What is striking about Company and many Sondheim’s shows is not just genius music and lyrics, but the chosen family that the characters form. It’s why so many LGBTQ folks identify with and idolize Sondheim shows, especially Company. Thank you Mr. Sondheim, for showing all of us the power of community and theater. We love you and we miss you.”
Accepting the award with LGBTQ cast members, Tony nominee Matt Doyle spoke of Sondheim’s reaction to the gay storyline in this production, noting: “I’m also, and I know the cast is as well, incredibly grateful to Stephen Sondheim for allowing this work to evolve, and allowing this story of Amy and Paul to become the story of Jamie and Paul. I know that he, as a gay man himself, was incredibly moved by this production and by what we are doing on this stage. The last time Company was revived was 2006 and gay marriage was not legal yet. Chris Harper and Marianne Elliott recognized the importance of telling the story now as we regress in this country and as terrifying legislation is passed every single day and as we hear frightening language from our Supreme Court that threatens the rights that we earned. Thank you so much for coming out and please continue to support Broadway shows and colorful and diverse stories. Listen and learn from them. And please recognize that everyone is deserving of the right to love.”
Watch Cruz, Ferraro, and Doyle’s full remarks here:
Previous GLAAD Media Award theater recipients, including Off Broadway productions, included The Inheritance, Rent, Angels in America, Falsettos, I Am My Own Wife, The Normal Heart, Wig Out!, and The Little Dog Laughed.
