A “gay rap opera” ? 

Yes, you read correctly! 

Has rap ever moved ya to tears??


It begins like a hip-hop party, with two MCs present and rapping. The performers have their own lavender spin on the genre: They pour out a flowery flow of queer-positive rhymes, their gay pride inflated to profane braggadocio.

"It’s Eminem for the M4M set: skip-hop. Acted out with unflagging energy by its authors, Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow, the show moves from winking truculence to outlaw melodrama: a West Side Story twist on familiar urban tropes of discrimination, violence, revenge and police brutality. And the lyrics, laid over Aaron Macri’s throbbing music, prove anew that rap and theater are well-matched bedfellows."  says  TIME OUT.

Talkin in Broadway  said, "Craddock and Cuckow haven't just co-opted the form for purposes of gimmickry. They, along with their composer Aaron Macri, use the violent music of the streets to examine and condemn the hate that dare not speak its name - as well as the reciprocal evil such hatred can inspire in even the purest of souls. In BASH'd, those souls manifest themselves in two ways: as the young Canadian men Jack and Dillon, who meet, marry, and then have their happiness ripped apart by intolerance; and the rappers who are presenting and performing their mosh-pit morality tale, T-Bag (Craddock) and Feminem (Cuckow). The two may not agree on certain details or political considerations, but they're uncommonly invested in seeing Jack and Dillon make it, despite all the forces - family, government, strangers - who might prefer they didn't. "


 Craddock explained the show’s plea as, “Let’s unify, let’s get people together instead of separating people out into categories of gay and straight and so forth.” If the show begins as a celebratory nod toward gay culture, a call for the audience to “limp your wrists in the air,” it ends with a warning for all, regardless of sexual orientation: “Violence begets itself, that’s a fact you see./Even if you win, they’ll be a price to pay./Why don’t you save yourself some trouble, just walk away.”

Mondays 8pm ,  Thursdays 8pm ,  Fridays 7:30pm, 10pm ,  Saturdays 8pm 
 Buy $25 ticket at the box office 1 hr. prior to Friday 10PM show only in cash, and also get a FREE cocktail.


Zipper Factory

336 W 37th St   (between Eighth and Ninth Aves)
Midtown West       212-352-3101
Subway: A, C, E, 1, 2, 3 to 34th St–Penn Station


The Best of Gay New York  and the New Gay Travel Guide