Interview: Rob Madge Brings Queerness and Joy to New York in MY SON'S A QUEER (BUT WHAT CAN YOU DO?)

Rob Madge will be bringing their West End Hit Show, My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do), to New York City Center, June 12, 13, 14, and 15! 

My Son’s A Queer (But What Can You Do?) is the personal, touching, and hilarious tale of Madge's childhood, whose early years were filled with larger than life living room performances, boundless imagination, and unconditional love and support from their parents. My Son's A Queer is a funny, musical celebration of identity, creativity, and the bond between parents and their children. 

BroadwayWorld spoke with Madge about bringing My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do?) to New York during Pride season, how the show has taken on new urgency in today’s political climate, and the surprising emotional responses they’ve received from fathers in the audience.

 This show has already touched so many hearts in the UK—what does it mean to you to bring My Son’s A Queer to New York?

It means everything to me. It feels like a full circle moment. We’ve been working on it for a while, and to get the chance to do it in Pride season of all times feels really special. And the history New York has with the LGBTQ+ community and the theatre community is what the show all centered around; the theatre community, and queerness, and joy, and I feel like there’s no better place to do this than New York City.

Your story is so personal. Has your relationship to the material evolved since the show first premiered?

I feel like when we started it in 2021, it was more stand-up comedy, joyful, a nice laugh, and escapism at the theatre. But in the past few years we’ve seen the political climate change quite drastically, and it feels more like a rally cry than ever before. It has more urgency now, and it’s a plea to accept one another wholeheartedly. I think we need to be taking forward into 2025 that sense of shared community and that love and understanding.

You paint such a vivid picture of your younger self and your parents. What has the audience response been like? Have they reached out to you to share their own reflections of their family dynamics?

Yes! And it’s always really life-affirming, and it makes me really proud that people see their lives reflected in the show in some way. Because it’s very specifically about my family, but on a universal level it’s just about loving one another. And hearing, especially younger kids, say how they are seeing nonbinary representation, and they’re seeing queer representation, and they’re working out their own gender identity, and they’re working out their journey, and seeing somebody embrace that and how it can maybe inspire them to live their lives more authentically, is really beautiful.

My favorite conversations are with the fathers that have perhaps been dragged to the theatre by their kids who like the musical, or their wife who likes to go to the theatre every now and again, and they’re probably thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, I would never go and see a show with queer in the title, what am I in for?’ And then by the end of it we’ve sort of touched a nerve on what it means to be a father figure, a masculine figure, and hopefully how we can break down some of those barriers within masculinity. And it’s always really lovely to talk to the dads!

How did the collaboration with the creative team help bring your personal story to life in a way that’s theatrical, but still authentically you?

I’m really, really lucky. We say it’s a solo show, but it’s really not. I might be the only one on the stage, but there’s a whole crew behind the scenes who have really elevated it to a whole new level. I worked with Luke Sheppard, who’s our director, when I was a kid in Matilda, he was the kids’ director when I was in the original cast of Matilda The Musical, and then we reconnected and in 2020. And Luke introduced me to Pippa Cleary who is the composer, and without her the show would be nothing as far as I’m concerned! There was no intention of there being songs, and then Luke suggested that maybe we could do a number here and there. And Pippa and I just hit it off, she’s a genius composer, and she’s the only British female composer to have three West End shows, and I think she’s just really brilliant. So, the ingredients all worked.

What would you like to tell audience members who are planning to come see the show?