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WATCH: New Musical Invisible Thread Based on Gay New Yorker's Travels to Uganda
The project began as a fundraising effort but is now an off-Broadway show that has been reviewed in The New York Times.
There's pretty much nothing gayer than musicals, but Invisible Thread, now playing off-Broadway, takes the cake. It's semi-autobiographical and was written by life partners Matt Gould and Griffin Matthews about Matthews's volunteer trip to Uganda, a country known for laws which criminalize homosexuality.
Matthews took his unlikely journey to Uganda after he was kicked out of his church choir for being gay, according to NPR. He went to the country to volunteer, but after becoming disillusioned with the organization he was to work with, he began tutoring local children in a village library.
The musical takes place both in Uganda and in America, and stars Matthews as himself with his white boyfriend called "Ryan" in the musical, played by Corey Mach. The show's title number is extremely catchy and the production, which initially began as an effort to raise money for the students Matthew's tutored, has now been reviewed in both The New York Times and Variety Magazine.
The idea behind the musical is unusual enough that it has garnered attention, but Matthews told NPR that he was initially hesitant when Gould, who is a songwriter, suggested writing it.
"I thought that was the worst idea I'd ever heard," Matthews said, "Nobody wants to hear a musical about Uganda."
But Gould thought people did. He wrote five songs which morphed into a full-length musical directed by Diane Paulus. "The couple which is at the heart of this complicated piece - you know, an interracial gay, male couple that is trying to figure out how to marry -so to speak- their desire to make change with all the mistakes that they make, with all the challenges that are thrown their way - and that's what the musical really looks at," she told NPR.
Over the years, the musical in all its iterations has raised about $200,000 for the Ugandan students Matthews tutored, according to NPR. Most of them have graduated from college, so in that measure, the musical has already been successful.
All proceeds from the sale of Invisible Thread on iTunes benefits the education of Ugandan students. To find out how you can help with this worthwhile cause, click here.
Watch "Beautiful" from Invisible Thread, and scroll down to watch a music video for the catchy title song "Invisible Thread."
