Live To Tell: (A Proposal For) The Madonna Musical accompanies Brian’s quest, a Madonna superfan living with HIV, as he pitches Madonna his jukebox musical based on her songs whilst facing what it means to survive with HIV. Living in a disabled body, he wants to reinvent himself, just like Madonna, but he can’t live to tell the tale of jukebox triumph unless he confronts the stigma and the side effects of long-term survival.
Brian Mullin plays the self-inspired role of Brian, while Dan de la Motte plays all the other characters. Nadya Ginsburg, from 2 Broke Girls and RuPaul’s Drag Race, provides the voice of Madonna.
Brian said of his play, “Madonna is an icon of reinvention. For 40 years, with every album or a new look, she has kept changing herself and adapting in bold new ways. Even now, we’re told she will be on tour in 2023, reinventing her massive catalogue of hits. She has also been actively fighting to support people with HIV since the beginning of the epidemic.
“As someone living with HIV for ten years now, I’ve had my own fantasy of reinvention. When you’re feeling weighed down by daily medication and the experience of societal stigma, the dream of starting all over again is very powerful. Thanks to medication which is freely available on the NHS, I’m able to live a long and happy life. The medical breakthrough of U = U means that people with undetectable HIV levels cannot pass the virus on to others, which is incredible!
“Live to Tell is not really about Madonna, it’s about what she symbolises. Staying strong and surviving is her superpower, and that seems really appealing to a mere mortal like me! So in the show I pitch myself to Madonna to help her create a jukebox musical based on her songs. It doesn’t all go according to plan, and I have to face up to what it means in my own life to survive with HIV.”
Deirdre McLaughlin, the director of Live To Tell, told QX, “So many of the HIV stories that get told within mainstream entertainment have an overwhelming tone of sadness, melodrama and a lack of individual agency. We so rarely see anything shown that reflects the actual day-to-day experience of someone living today with HIV. That’s why including joyful pop music and camp humour into this story feels pretty revolutionary and absolutely necessary when it comes to representing people’s lived experience to the world – particularly members of the queer community whose experiences can be more nuanced and complicated.”
The production will also work with local grassroots charities to provide creative workshops for people living with HIV.
Buy tickets for Live To Tell at the Omnibus Theatre here www.omnibus-clapham.org/live-to-tell/.
Camden People’s Theater tickets go on sale on 24 January at www.cptheatre.co.uk.
Live To Tell: (A Proposal For) The Madonna Musical runs at the Omnibus Theatre from 7 -18 February, followed by Camden People’s Theatre from 4 -15 April.
