Musical theatre is an important part of LGBTQ+ culture, but how effectively do our musicals represent lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and asexual creatives and audience members in all their fabulous glory? Dr James Lovelock, curator of www.queermusicals.com, is joined by special guests from across the musical theatre industry to think about how these productions are creating spaces that centre queerness and represent LGBTQ+ people of different genders, races and lived experiences. Join us to celebrate how our queer identites are challenging conventions and creating a bold new future for musical theatre! Series 1-3 of this podcast were funded by the University of Wolverhampton. Series 4 of this podcast is funded by the British Academy Early Career Researchers’ Network Seed Fund as part of a project on ’Queer gain in queer-infused musical theatre practices’, and is supported by Sheffield Hallam University
Episodes
Jul 29, 2025
Jul 29, 2025
52 min
Welcome to Represent, the queer musical theatre podcast. My name is Dr James Lovelock, and I’m an academic and a huge musical theatre fan exploring the representation of all things queer in the musical theatre industry.
My guest today is the extraordinary actor and writer Lauryn Redding. Lauryn appeared as Nikki in the gorgeous West End musical Standing At The Sky’s Edge, and was the first writer and performer to open a show at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester after the pandemic with the wonderfully titled Bloody Elle. We discuss Lauryn’s current project Jack, based on the diaries of Anne Lister, and recent television role as Mel in Smoggie Queens, as well as exploring our hopes for female queer representation in musical theatre in the future.
Links
Lauryn Redding - Instagram Tiktok
Dr James Lovelock - Instagram
Represent the queer musical theatre podcast - Instagram
Lauryn performs 'Open Up Your Door' from Standing at the Sky's Edge
Standing at the Sky's Edge album and script
Bloody Elle album, script and 2021 trailer
Smoggie Queens on BBC iPlayer
Signal Musicals YouTube channel
I Kissed A Girl on BBC iPlayer
The Ministry of Lesbian Affairs script and trailer
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