12 LGBTQ+ artists to watch on Broadway right now

In honor of Pride Month in June, New York Theatre Guide's staff shouted out performers, directors, writers, and more theatremakers whose work you can't miss.

Happy Pride Month! Throughout June, the world honors the history, lives, struggles, and contributions of LGBTQ+ people — but of course, that shouldn't start and end with this month. On Broadway, for one, the work of queer theatre artists powers celebrated plays and musicals on and off stage year-round, and that's definitely something to be proud of.

In honor of Pride Month, New York Theatre Guide's staff rounded up some of our favorite LGBTQ+ performers, writers, directors, and more whose shows you can check out right now or are coming soon. They include Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winners, stars of both stage and screen, and names that may not be household ones, but ones you should know. Click the link to each show's page to learn more and get tickets to see and support these artists' work live.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

by Caroline Cao

“When was the last time I saw asexuality discussed in theatre or any media?” I asked myself. They exist on screen, but as someone on the ace spectrum, I found a pleasant surprise in theatre with Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Purpose, a drama where Naz (a great Jon Michael Hill) navigates acephobia as his fraying family tries to keep their personal scandals at bay. Jacobs-Jenkins captures how cumbersome it can be to demystify and explain the ace identity in a manner even I haven’t considered.

Get Purpose tickets now.

Brandon Uranowitz

by Amelia Merrill

Brandon Uranowitz is a gay Jewish theatre icon. Too niche? The actor is known for his performance as Mendel in the 2016 revival of Falsettos, which opens with the song "Four Jews in a Room Bitching." Uranowitz won a 2023 Tony Award for Leopoldstadt, played progressive rabbi Jonah in this season's Becoming Eve off Broadway, and will star as Tateh in Lincoln Center's Broadway revival of Ragtime this fall, reprising his role from New York City Center.

Check back for information on Ragtime tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Brooks Ashmanskas

by Joe Dziemianowicz

Count on comedy ace Brooks Ashmanskas for performances that are as hilarious as they are heartfelt. He’s in the zone in the musical Smash as Nigel, a tart-tongued director/choreographer who, like the actor, is out-and-proud and carving a career in the weird and wonderful world of Broadway. The featured role has earned Ashmanskas his third Tony Award nomination, following nods for The Prom and Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me. Funny business becomes Brooks.

Get Smash tickets now.

Cole Escola

by Austin Fimmano

Creator and star of Oh, Mary! Cole Escola has been the darling of the 2024-25 Broadway season for doing no less than being true to themself. When their show premiered off Broadway last year, audiences raved. When it transferred to Broadway, the the unexpected comedy hit became the hottest ticket in town and earned five Tony nominations. Escola, dressed as the titular Mary Todd Lincoln in an enormous hoop skirt and flouncy curls, took eccentricity and made it a Broadway staple.

Get Oh, Mary! tickets now.

Conrad Ricamora, James Scully, and Bianca Leigh

by Gillian Russo

The 2022 Hulu rom-com Fire Island is one of my favorite movies, so I can't shout out just one of its actors without the other when two of them are currently in the same play. Conrad Ricamora and James Scully are simultaneously swoon-worthy leads and comic delights, and the major scene they have together in Oh, Mary! — which I will not spoil — is pure revisionist-historical-comedy gold.

And I can't talk about the Oh, Mary! cast without veteran transgender actress Bianca Leigh, finally appearing in a main Broadway role. The Transamerica and Hurricane Bianca star's performance as Mary's chaperone, Louise, is as delectable as ice cream — if you know, you know. If you don't, get a ticket.

Get Oh, Mary! tickets now.

Jinkx Monsoon

by Austin Fimmano

Not only is Jinkx Monsoon the only drag queen to win RuPaul’s Drag Race twice, but she’s well on her way to becoming queen of the Broadway stage too. Since her Broadway debut in 2023, she’s stepped into iconic roles like Mama Morton in Chicago and Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. This year, she opened a new Broadway show as Ruth in the revamped Pirates! The Penzance Musical. She imbues the character with her signature, beloved flair, and she’s got her name on the marquee to show for it.

Get Pirates! The Penzance Musical tickets now.

Jonathan Groff

by Billy McEntee

Who's more Broadway than Jonathan Groff? Hot off his Tony-winning performance in Merrily We Roll Along, the Hamilton and Spring Awakening alum is back at it, this time as Bobby Darin in Just in Time, a bio-musical that feels more like a swanky event thanks to Tony Award winner Alex Timbers's inventive staging at the Circle in the Square Theatre — or, as Groff calls it in the show, "the basement of Wicked." Groff's charisma and vocal strength fire on all cylinders in this unforgettable production.

Check back for information on Just in Time tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Orville Peck

by Gillian Russo

The irony of Orville Peck's Broadway debut is that he, a gay country star, plays the Emcee in Cabaret as a man who finds it all too easy being an oppressor. It's a masterful performance and terrifying as such — and it proves Peck as a bonafide Broadway talent capable of putting a thoroughly unique take on a role that's been reinterpreted by icons time and time again.

Get Cabaret tickets now.

Taylor Trensch

by Billy McEntee

A Broadway mainstay, Taylor Trensch always promises a thoughtful, charming, and singular performance. After appearing in hits including To Kill a Mockingbird, Wicked, and Hello, Dolly!, Trensch is back at Lincoln Center Theater in the cult-favorite musical Floyd Collins. He's nabbed his first Tony Award nomination for his heartfelt performance as Skeets Miller, the journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1926 for covering the rescue mission of the titular cave explorer.

Get Floyd Collins tickets now.

Tina Landau

by Caroline Cao

When I think of visionaries whose stagecraft must be digested and appreciated, I think of writer/director Tina Landau. Her approach is go-for-broke, whether as exuberant and maximalist as the SpongeBob Squarepants musical or as minimalistic as Floyd Collins, a musical I have been reappraising the more it sits in my mind. Key to Landau's best musical productions are her big swings that swerve you into microscopic insights about the human condition before you know it.

Get Floyd Collins tickets now.