Queen of Disco
A Mighty Real Story
Winner of the Toneelschrijfprijs 2023. Due to its success, the show returns! QUEEN OF DISCO is a music theater production depicting the irresistible rise, tragic downfall, and inevitable rebirth of disco music, all personified through the life of disco icon and flamboyant LGBTQ activist SYLVESTER.
Disco emerged in the early seventies from the black and Latino gay club circuit in New York and quickly became a global music genre. It coincided with the emancipation of the LGBTQ community. The whole world was dancing to disco music, and it was one big party. In the early eighties, there was a harsh decline. Disco went underground again, only to resurface years later as house music and conquer the world once more.
Festival Lieve Stad, 750
Run time 90 minutes
Genre Music theatre
Language Dutch
Queen of Disco
Queen of Disco SYLVESTER gained prominence as a solo artist, propelled by the disco movement. SYLVESTER was the first androgynous and openly gay global star, with massive hits like You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) and Do Ya Wanna Funk. SYLVESTER was also the very first global star to openly acknowledge suffering from AIDS and stood as an activist at the forefront of the AIDS awareness and gay pride movement during The Stonewall riots.
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Marjorie Boston and Maarten van Hinte from RIGHTABOUTNOW INC., the creative team behind productions like KINGS, TORI (HNTjong), Nina Simone (A)live, and STATUS, narrate the extraordinary story of the 'mighty real' Sylvester, from choirboy to superstar, and a cultural revolution that has changed our world forever.
REVIEWS
NRC
"... a moving portrait of a man for whom the disco culture was both a platform for emancipation and a refuge from harsh reality."
Leeuwarder Courant
"It's a powerful performance: exhilarating, nuanced, musical, and the fact that it gets you dancing only adds to the party.”
Credits
direction, scenography Marjorie Boston
script, dramaturgy Maarten van Hinte – winner Toneelschrijfprijs 2023
direction assitant Kaja van Bruggen, Ritzah Statia
cast Juan Wells (acting and vocals, nominated for Musical Awards 2024), Susan Malaika Bailey, Serah Heijns, Candl Telesford (dj), Patrick Karijowidjojo (dance), Lorenzo Saro (alternate dance)
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costumes Stef Krull and Iris Elströdt
lightning design Vincent Romijn
set design John Lippens , Koen Jantzen: Staalwolf & Lightning
technical staff Vincent Romijn, Joost Evers
production Sterre Nacca
About Lieve Stad, 750
This performance is part of Lieve Stad, 750, a joint theater festival of Internationaal Theater Amsterdam and Meervaart. In honor of 750 years of Amsterdam, we are celebrating an extra-large edition in May with more than 50 performances in 13 theaters throughout the city. The festival brings everything together: the artists, the stages, the stories and the audience. We honor the city's rich traditions, but also give space to new voices and perspectives. Together we make Amsterdam - and we celebrate it.
Celebrate the art. Celebrate the city. Celebrate it together.
Lieve Stad, 750 is made possible by
