OUT Magazine's Annual OUT100 Highlights Javier Munoz, Michael Arden and More!

Today OUT magazine unveiled their annual list celebrating the Top 100 most compelling people of the year with the special OUT100 double issue.

The 22nd OUT100 portfolio includes entertainers, politicians, sports figures, artists, activists and more. This year's list also pays tribute to the survivors and heroes of Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, FL and the numerous LGBT staffers from the Obama White House. The 2016 OUT100 issue covers feature Ellen Degeneres (Entertainer of the Year),Tom Ford (Artist of the Year), Javier Muñoz (Breakout of the Year) and Tracey Norman (Legend).

Javier Muñoz was given the Breakout of the Year title. The 41-year-old HIV-positive Broadway star, who performed for the Obamas in 2015, talks to OUT about how he's combating HIV stigma on stage in the hip-hop musical Hamilton. Muñoz tells OUT, "If I can be a new face that people see that is HIV-positive and healthy and performing seven shows a week and kicking ass, then let that stand as a positive example for the person who is still living with that stigma and fear. Or for the person living in a country or situation in which they are not supported, let that be a fire in their belly to keep fighting the good fight for themselves."

Alongside Muñoz, other stage honorees for OUT100 include playwright and performance artist Taylor Mac, director Michael Arden, dancer and choreographer Gina Gibney and dancer and choreographer Marcelo Gomes.

Taylor Mac is the celebrated New York maverick's greatest achievement this year may be the greatest theatrical feat ever: A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, Mac's interpretation of 240 pop songs, from Mozart to Dylan to Lauryn Hill, which the playwright performed over the course of 24 hours for a (very committed) audience at St. Ann's Warehouse in October.

"Helping to open up the conversation about inclusion and diversity in casting has been a dream come true," director Michael Arden says about his Tony-nominated 2015 revival of Spring Awakening, which ingeniously weaved American Sign Language into Duncan Sheik's original score.

In 2014, when Gina Gibney took a lease on a sprawling space at 280 Broadway, in New York, she became one of the city's most influential figures in the world of contemporary dance, overseeing 17 dance studios and three theaters.

Marcelo Gomes is a dynamo of dance, having just produced his first gala in Brazil with a handful of dancers from the American Ballet Theatre. He recently opened the fall season with the ABT at Lincoln Center, but Gomes still finds time to develop and improve choreography in the studio.

The OUT100 print issue will be available on newsstands November 29, 2016.

Check out the full OUT100 list by clicking here

Photo Credit: Gavin Bond for OUT Magazine

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