Musicians Micah Bucey and Nicholas C. Williams, also known as The Gay Agenda, tackle pressing political issues one song at a time. Their shows aim to pull the audience in various directions by mixing satire, genuine tragedy, monologues, instrumental solos, dance numbers and soaring melodies.
What is your particular agenda, and who are you trying to reach out to?
We’re musical theatre queens. We grew up watching, listening to, and loving musicals. Our agenda is to reestablish musical theatre as a popular form. We try to reach out to fellow musical theatre lovers by generating a somewhat recognizable “musical theatre sound,” but also to reach out to everyone by bringing up social issues through satire and lyrical wordplay. Musical theatre is pretty uncool right now; you can’t get much more punk than that!
How do you cram so many different ideas into each song?
We write mini-musicals. Our goal is to attack a theme and kill it dead in fifteen minutes or less. Usually, Nicholas riffs on some musical ideas at the piano, while Micah jots away crazily in his little notebook. Somewhere in the chaos emerges an opening number, a ballad, an up-tempo showstopper, and a closing montage all built around a concise narrative. We believe that every story can and should be told as quickly and with as many hooks as possible. Think of us as a more socially-conscious Britney Spears or a less long-winded Eugene O’Neill.
You both have backgrounds in theater, correct? Do you still perform in plays?
The Gay Agenda has become our main creative outlet. We love theater, but for two control freaks like us, creating our own work is essential. Let’s face it, we’re not Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel. No one’s going to write us a Broadway musical, so we have to write it ourselves!
What can we look forward to when we watch your Great Big Broadway Show?
Lots of homemade cookies and about 75 minutes of the greatest musical theater you will ever hear. Ever. (We also have a burlesque dancer for all those straight men who get dragged to our show.)
I noticed that you tape up your glasses right before your sets. Do you purposely like to make yourselves look nerdy when you’re on stage, or is that just what comes naturally?
We like musicals. Both of our cool cards were revoked somewhere in the mid-90s (if we ever had them at all). The tape is a way of outwardly embracing our inner geek.
What are each of your strengths that you bring to the group?
Nicholas is a classically-trained pianist and Micah is obsessed with language. We both tend to give each other free reign with his side of the collaboration. So far it has worked out beautifully. The humor of each piece usually springs from this juxtaposition of music and lyrics.
(Photos by taken by Jordan Bucey.)
Next show:
April 29, 2009
The Gay Agenda’s GREAT BIG BROADWAY SHOW!
(Volume VII: HE IS RISEN! EDITION)
The Players Loft
115 MacDougal Street, 3rd Floor (between West 3rd and Bleecker Streets)
Take the A, C, E, F, V, B, D trains to West 4th Street
$15 ($10 for real friends and Facebook “friends”)
8pm
(From The Gay Agenda: “This is the seventh(!) performance in our new string of monthly shows at The Players Loft. Come eat homemade cookies and prepare for the debut of a brand-spanking-new mini-musical! Jesus Christ!”)
Andrew Singer performs all over the NYC as comedic rapper “soce, the elemental wizard.” He has toured Europe and the U.S., and been featured on numerous media outlets, including MTV, VH1, Here TV, Logo, The Source, Out, Howard Stern and Sirius Shade 45.
Last 5 posts by Andrew Singer
- Vodka Shoes - March 4th, 2010
- Yisrael Campbell: Circumsize Him (Part One) - February 12th, 2010
- A Weekend of Arts and Leisure - January 4th, 2010
- Evan Morgenstern: A Really Nice Guy - August 27th, 2009
- Tonedeff: QN5's Mastermind - August 5th, 2009
[...] our other wonderful friend Andrew, has posted a delightfully snarky text interview with us at City Scoops, where you’ll learn even more than you’d every think you’d [...]