Let’s Hear It For the Boys: A Transmasc Cabaret – 05 July 2025

As sobering statistics from Let’s Hear It For the Boys: A Transmasc Cabaret co-producer Charlie Hano acknowledge mid-cabaret, there aren’t a whole lot of transmasculine creatives working on the theatre industry’s most prestigious stages, even behind the scenes. At a time of political turmoil for the trans community, this night that Hano and co-producer Max Raymond curated featuring 20 transmasculine theatre artists, was a truly magnificent endeavor. These artists each shown in their own right and were incredibly diverse in the genres of performance art. The cabaret showcased how many different ways there are to be a man and was a powerful reminder that not all trans men have the same gender presentation, transition goals, or desired milestones.

The cabaret itself was a mix of genres and feelings, some intense, some profound, some revelatory, some raw, and some purely celebratory. It’s tough to pick a favorite moment, as each individual brought something unique and passionate to the table. It was a sampler plate of the transmasc experience. We heard a conventional musical theatre voice from Val Quinonez, who was a huge team player in duets and group numbers when it came to holding down the lower vocal lines with confidence. Linnea Scott’s drag king performance as Feral Thing was one of the most fun tongue-in-cheek dance performances I’ve seen in a long while, and as an audio engineer I was personally impressed by the cleverness of the sampling. Jonice Bernard shattered the folksy feeling of The Outsiders’s “Great Expectations” and Sushma Saha’s growly, jazzy scatting was a vividly creative surprise. Not to be outdone, Thani Brant packed a conventionally masculine punk rock musical feel that injected energy into the show in all the right ways. Frank Barret gave us a powerful reminder of how words and concepts paired with music can make an audience think and feel as the end of a moment sparks new thoughts about how it began.

The entire band, spearheaded by musical director and pianist Julian Sterling, was absolutely phenomenal. It was a pleasure to watch drummer Steph LeHane and bassist Charlie MacCall play off of each other, and guitarist Will Shishmanian’s versatility really shone, as did his writing and the writing of contributors Joey Jubayr, Lyam B. Gabel, Oscar K, and Preston Max Allen. Add to that ASL interpreters Adrian Walker and El Flansburg, illustrator Sam Kaplan, and photographer Marie Finch-Koinuma, and I think I’ve mentioned the entire team of transmasculine artists whose diverse contributions made this unique night shine. One deeply moving moment for me was the scene read by co-producers Max Raymond and Charlie Hano, drawing attention to the fact that wanting to be seen as the men that they are may be the only thing that all of these folks have in common.

Adding myself (Pages on Stages founder and writer Mason Pilevsky) to the number as a transmasculine theatre critic just for a moment, I have to say that this cabaret really moved me. I have been out as queer for eighteen years and transmasculine for as long as I’ve had the words for it, and I don’t think I have ever seen that many transmasculine people in one place before. Looking at the work of twenty men who share some aspects of my story and are working in the same industry that I cherish so deeply made me think for the first time in a while about the diversity of what it means to be a man. If this is what theatre guys can look like, I have incredible hope for how much more there is out there in the world of transmasculine stories.

Bringing it back to Charlie Hano’s sobering speech about how there are zero out transmasculine men in all aspects of Broadway except acting (in which there are very few), I am reminded that this is just one world. Even without many opportunities, like the men of Let’s Hear It For the Boys, we survive, we thrive, we have a good time—and when we team up together and support each other, we do not become any less ourselves. We do not all blend together into one neat gender box that can be labeled “transmasc” and tossed aside. What we become is simply exceptional. I fervently hope that there will be a third iteration of the Let’s Hear It For the Boys cabaret next year. The world needs these voices, but it doesn’t know how much. This cabaret is truly an incredible first step towards being seen and heard as serious industry professionals with a lot to offer.

I attended this performance via live stream as a member of the press.