Cruisical: A Lesbian Musical is an anachronistic musical comedy bringing together six queer women whose lives we wish had intersected over the last 150 years. Luckily, these six women—Mercedes de Acosta, Moms Mabley, Vita Sackville-West, Violet Trefusis, Virginia Woolf, and Esther Eng—find themselves magically transported to the year 2018, where they have landed on an all-inclusive lesbian cruise. Hearts and lives become entangled over piña coladas by the pool, as these women deal with petty interpersonal disputes and larger misunderstandings of 21st-century queerness. With a libretto pulling from their real-life correspondences and diaries, and a campy musical theater soundtrack informed by their respective eras, these women fall in love—and overboard—in this farcical romp. Inspired by queer theater companies Split Britches and The Five Lesbian Brothers, our collaborative team of queer women pays earnest homage to our foremothers, who lived and loved out loud at great personal risk. In Cruisical, we give them the tropical lesbian vacation they deserved.

Written by Anna Lublina & Elena Rose Light

Music Composed by Lilly Kaplan

Directed by Anna Lublina

Choreographed by Elena Rose Light

Performed by:

Esther Eng: Becca Co

Mercedes De Acosta: Julia Cavagna

Moms Mabley: Maritza Bostic

Violet Trefusis: Anna Slate

Virginia Woolf: lim mui

Vita Sackville-West: Sarah White

PAST Performance:

July 24th, 9:30pm: Dixon Place (NYC) as a part of the Hot! Festival

Photo edited by Elena Rose Light

Photos by Effy Grey