Ensemble Arts Philly’s 2025-2026 Broadway Season features LGBTQ+ representation

Ensemble Arts Philly is once again partnering with the Shubert Organization to bring a lineup of staged classics and new theatrical works to Philadelphia. Among the 13 shows — which have a combined 27 Tony® Awards, 19 Drama Desk™ Awards, 6 Olivier Awards, and 2 Grammy Awards® — announced for Ensemble Arts Philly’s 2025-2026 Broadway Season are a few LGBTQ-inclusive productions. “Beetlejuice,” “Shucked,” “Suffs” and “Kimberly Akimbo” all represent the community both on and off stage.

“Beetlejuice,” based on Tim Burton’s film, portrays the titular main character as pansexual. In a 2019 interview with Variety, Broadway’s original Beetlejuice actor Alex Brightman confirmed the character’s sexuality.

“It was written that way; he kisses Barbara, he kisses Adam [a married couple who die early in the show],” Brightman said. “In the movie, he’s portrayed a little more predatorial. In this one, he’s just enamored with people. I’m loving it. People at the stage door especially have not been disappointed by that. They’ve been encouraged by the idea that this is a character who is very comfortable not only with who he is but with who everyone else is.”

“Kimberly Akimbo” explores ideas of self-discovery and self-acceptance while also featuring queer representation through the Greek chorus of teens. Furthermore, the musical also avoids trauma tropes for LGBTQ+ characters and instead focuses on positive portrayals.

“Honestly, those kids were my friends in high school,” said “Kimberly Akimbo” writer Lindsay-Abaire at the American Theatre Critic Association’s annual conference in 2022. “Like I just put my friends on stage, and their sexuality was just very matter of fact. There wasn’t an overt agenda.”

Meanwhile, “Suffs” features queer historical figures who fought during the women’s suffrage movement. Carrie Chapman Catt was a key political strategist during the movement and she had a significant same-sex relationship with Mary Garrett Hay, another suffragist. Catt requested to be buried next to Hay upon her death. While history textbooks tend to hide these two queer women, “Suffs” explicitly portrays their relationship.

“Carrie and Mollie are a big piece of queer history that was buried, that they had to bury because of a fear of what would happen to them if they were out,” said Jen Collella, who plays Catt in the Broadway production, in a 2024 interview with Playbill.

“Shucked” features LGBTQ+ representation in both its creative team and characters. The character Lulu has historically been portrayed by a nonbinary actor. Alex Newell, who played Lulu in the original Broadway production, won a Tony Award for their portrayal, making history in 2023 as one of the first nonbinary actors to win a Tony (nonbinary actor J. Harrison Ghee also won that same year for their work in “Some Like It Hot”). The current tour cast features nonbinary actor Miki Abraham in the role. The show’s writer, Robert Horn, and two co-composers — Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally — are also queer.

“It was always important to us,” Clark says of the LGBTQ+ characters and themes in “Shucked” during a 2023 interview with Variety. “But it just grew exponentially as we went through the process.”

Other announced shows include “Back to the Future: The Musical,” Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” “Cirque Dreams Holidaze,” “Chicago,” “Clue,” “The Notebook” “The Outsiders,” “SIX” and “The Sound of Music.”

In a statement, Frances Egler — Vice President of Theatrical Programming and Presentations, Ensemble Arts Philly’s resident Tony® Award voter and curator of the Broadway series — celebrated the lineup.

“Ensemble Arts Philly’s 2025-2026 Broadway series has incredible range and appeal with a dynamic mix of treasured classics and modern new productions – all curated specifically for Philadelphia audiences,” Egler said. “From the most recent winners of the Tony Award for Best Musical, Kimberly Akimbo and The Outsiders, to the slapstick and one-liners of Shucked and Clue, to the musical genius of female songwriters like Ingrid Michaelson in The Notebook and Shaina Taub in Suffs, the season promises to affect and inspire audiences show after show.”

Below is the full lineup and schedule for Ensemble Arts Philly’s 2025-2026 Broadway Season:

• “Beetlejuice” (July 29 – Aug. 3, 2025, Academy of Music)

• “SIX” (Sept. 30 – Oct. 5, 2025, Academy of Music)

• “Kimberly Akimbo” (Oct. 21 – Nov. 2, 2025, Academy of Music)

• “Back to the Future: The Musical” (Nov. 18 – 30, 2025, Academy of Music)

• “Cirque Dreams Holidaze”c. 23 – 28, 2025, Miller Theater)

• “Suffs” (Jan. 6 – 18, 2026, Academy of Music)  

• “Clue” (Jan. 20 – 25, 2026, The Shubert Organization’s Forrest Theatre)

• Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast” (Feb. 11 – 22, 2026, Academy of Music) 

• “The Sound of Music” (March 31 – April 5, 2026, Academy of Music)

• “Shucked” (April 21 – May 3, 2026, The Shubert Organization’s Forrest Theatre)

• “Chicago” (May 12 – 17, 2026, The Shubert Organization’s Forrest Theatre)

• “The Outsiders” (May 26 – June 7, 2026, Academy of Music) 

• “The Notebook” (July 21 – August 2, 2026, Academy of Music)

For more information on the Ensemble Arts Broadway Series, visit ensembleartsphilly.org.