Saturday, March 3, 2012
If any story in literary history deserves a musical it’s this one: in a house in Middagh Street in Brooklyn lived, for a time, W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, Golo Mann — son of Thomas —, and the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Among others. Writeup here. On the sofa that’s Stephanie Hayes as Erika Mann — daughter of Thomas — and Erik Lochtefeld as W. H. Auden. It’s not mentioned in the article, but Erika Mann (a lesbian) and Auden (a gay man) were married: Auden had married her in England in the Thirties to keep her from being deported to Nazi Germany. They never divorced, so when one of the most famous gay men of his era died the obituaries read “He is survived by his widow, Erika.” This was shocking even to many of his friends, who were sure there had to be some mistake.

If any story in literary history deserves a musical it’s this one: in a house in Middagh Street in Brooklyn lived, for a time, W. H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, Golo Mann — son of Thomas —, and the stripper Gypsy Rose Lee. Among others. Writeup here. On the sofa that’s Stephanie Hayes as Erika Mann — daughter of Thomas — and Erik Lochtefeld as W. H. Auden. It’s not mentioned in the article, but Erika Mann (a lesbian) and Auden (a gay man) were married: Auden had married her in England in the Thirties to keep her from being deported to Nazi Germany. They never divorced, so when one of the most famous gay men of his era died the obituaries read “He is survived by his widow, Erika.” This was shocking even to many of his friends, who were sure there had to be some mistake.

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