This weekend, the Transgender Chorus of Los Angeles will stage a rock opera close to our David Bowie-missing hearts, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Just a year old, L.A.’s Trans Chorus is the largest group of trans and gender non-confirming singers performing anywhere in the world, and these shows at the Los Angeles LGBT Center marks their first-ever stage production.
Bowie’s beloved concept record that tells the story of a bisexual alien rock star five years before the planet destructs due to environmental collapse comes to life in this stage musical version. David Bowie himself actually always imagined the material would be presented in theatrical form, even famously discussing the idea with writer William S. Burroughs, but the rock opera didn’t actually come to fruition until much more recently—the first reference to it we could find was a 2009 production at Dickinson College—and has yet to be mined for Broadway, though we can easily imagine it being a Mamma Mia! style hit.
That the Trans Chorus would make their stage debut with the work of a man who famously experimented with gender and sexual presentation on a public stage fits well with their mission of raising visibility and changing public perceptions of the transgender community, something they call “changing the ecology.” They use music because of its power as a universal and emotional medium to connect with a diverse audience.
The Transgender Chorus of Los Angeles production of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars will be performed Friday, April 7 and Saturday, April 8 at 8pm at the Renberg Theatre of the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Tickets are available online for $35.
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