Interview: Douglas Lyons on the NYC Premiere of BEAU THE MUSICAL

Now playing through July 27 at Theatre 154, BEAU THE MUSICAL makes its long-awaited New York City premiere in a heartwarming and entertaining production from Out of the Box Theatrics. With concept, book, and lyrics by Douglas Lyons and music by Ethan D. Pakchar and Lyons, the actor-musician musical brings a deeply personal and resonant story to life just blocks from the historic Stonewall Inn.

“BEAU was the first script I ever wrote. It came before TABLE 17, before CHICKEN AND BISCUITS, before all my other works,” Lyons explains. “It came from a residency with The Directors Company.” Inspired by actor-musician musicals like ONCE and shaped by his own summer experiences in Oriental, North Carolina and time touring with RENT, Lyons envisioned a piece that fused music and storytelling into something “fresh and now.”

“I wanted to honor my upbringing because I would spend my summers in Oriental, North Carolina,” Lyons recalls. “It was a culture shock from New Haven, Connecticut, where I’m from. Beau teaches Ace to say, ‘Yes, sir.’ We didn’t say that in New Haven, but when I went to the South, I had to say, ‘Yes, sir.’”

That deep connection to place informed the show’s setting and sound. “Nashville is known as the country music capital of the world. I wanted to put the band there,” Lyons says. “I grew up doing a lot of gospel blues and pop, but I like ‘By Your Side,’ the song that Beau sings to his grandson. I like how bare and beautiful that is.”

This New York City production isn’t the first time that BEAU THE MUSICAL has been performed on stages. “The pandemic slowed us down after our wonderful production at the Adirondack Theater Festival,” Lyons shares. “The World Premiere Recording album has been streaming since 2019, and kids literally from Tokyo to Toronto have been buying sheet music because they found the album.”

The BEAU THE MUSICAL recording, released by Masterworks Broadway, has already built a passionate audience online. “There are YouTube videos of kids singing ‘Runnin’’ in their showcase,” says Lyons. And because the album is widely available, Lyons encourages audiences to dive into it ahead of the show: “I say, listen to the album in the shower, and get lit for the show! But know that there’s one new song that is not on the album.”

At its heart, BEAU is a story about connection across generations, centered around a fictional musical act that blurs the lines between memory, legacy, and performance. “I never got to be queer in front of any of my grandparents because they had passed,” Lyons says. “I think BEAU is my version of what that relationship might have been like.”

Lyons resists oversimplifying that narrative. “There is a generation of men that never did [come out], and we have to honor them,” he asserts. “We can’t wrap it up because in 2025, we’re in this gender-open, fluid society. That wasn’t the case for a lot of people, and they had to take their reality to their grave.”

Through its layered characters, BEAU THE MUSICAL also explores queer identity in adolescence. “Many times, especially in theater, I feel like there are stories about the glitter that’s outside of the closet,” Lyons says. “But we don’t always talk about the struggles of the closet. Sometimes, when we do, there’s someone that gets AIDS, and then you have to deal with that. But what about the curiosity that comes with being closeted?”

“I really wanted to capture that,” he continues. “So many kids [are] trying to figure themselves out, and they’re not able to talk to anyone about it because of the fear of shame and fear of being rejected. I think that’s a really pivotal part of how queer development happens.”

Aiding in that development are characters like Daphney, Ace’s childhood friend. “I think if queer folks look around, there’s always a Daphney somewhere nearby,” Lyons says. “There are those friends that love us for the rest of our lives and knew us before we knew ourselves.”

Generational wounds, and healing, also find their way into the story through Ace’s mother, Raven. “It’s not that Raven is inherently homophobic, but her mother blamed her father’s queerness for her marriage ending,” Lyons explains. “At 12 years old, when you learn that, you’re like, ‘Why would you do that? Why are you that way?’”

Structurally, the show is designed to invite audiences into its intimate world, aided by an intentional use of space where audiences can leave their own marks on the production. “I came in one day and I was like, ‘Oh my God. There’s, like, hand-drawn skeletons and physical dartboards,’” Lyons says of the set transformation. “I want theater kids to feel like the show belongs to them. If you’re able to come and literally leave a little piece of yourself on the wall, you have a better connection.”

That tactile invitation has a broader goal. “I write theater because I want to make an impact more than anything,” Lyons says. “Hopefully, BEAU serves as a hug for queer kids.”

For Lyons, staging BEAU just blocks from Stonewall during Pride Month is no small thing. “It feels like we’re honoring the ancestors of the movement with a show that still touches on a lot of the specificities of what it is to be queer, but also the endurance, what it is to survive,” he says. “It feels like the perfect time. It feels kismet.”