La Cage to La Crib

What could more perfectly capture the current state of gay culture than a MUSICAL about gay parenting?  ”The Kid,” based on Dan Savage’s book of the same name which chronicles his experiences adopting a child with his partner, just opened Off Broadway at the New Group.  Old gay culture (show tunes! Judy!) meets new (babies! formula! PTA!).  To anyone worried that the gayby boom will somehow erase the unique  characteristics of gay culture, I say worry not.

It is true, of course that the daily lives of gay parents are much like the lives of straight parents — picking up after the kid, staying up nights when he’s sick, going along on school field trips.  And indeed, the New York Times review notes that “the primary objective of ‘The Kid’ is to make the potentially confrontational seem all-embracing and prosaic.”  But does this erase gay culture?  No!  Because we (or at least the guys) can take it onto the stage and sing about it.