Dylan Mulvaney, the transgender social media influencer who became a lightning rod during the 2024 Bud Light backlash, is once again in the crosshairs of conservatives.
Mulvaney — whose acting career took off after starring as Elder White in the national tour of The Book of Mormon — has been cast as Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII, whose failure to bear the king a son ultimately led to her execution, in the Tony-winning Broadway hit Six the Musical.
“Show some royal love to Queen Dylan Mulvaney, who will be joining the #SIXBroadway 5.0 cast as Anne Boleyn,” the producers announced last week on social media.
Mulvaney, who debuts in the role on February 16 at the Lena Horne Theatre, celebrated the news.
“YAY BROADWAY!” she posted. “so happy my bway debut is playing a fellow polarizing woman in this perfect musical next month I hope you will all come watch me live my dream I am SO HAPPY I CANT STOP SMILING.”
But wherever Mulvaney ventures, online trolls tend to follow. The production’s X account was soon flooded with transphobic comments targeting her casting.
“Man Boleyn,” wrote one commenter, mocking Mulvaney’s assigned sex at birth.
“They’ve made Anne Boleyn trans. You know, Anne Boleyn. The British queen who was slandered by her abusive husband and then beheaded because she gave birth to a girl. Yeah, that Anne Boleyn,” posted another.
Some of the comments were so inflammatory that the producers of Six temporarily restricted the show’s X account.
“The producers of Six have chosen to temporarily limit access to the Broadway production’s X account following a number of comments made in response to recent Broadway casting news, which we felt crossed the line into bullying,” the producers said in a statement shared with the U.K. theater publication The Stage.
Some theatergoers have rallied to Mulvaney’s defense, pointing to the long history of cross-gender casting in theater and arguing that Mulvaney, as a trained singer and actress, is qualified for the role regardless of her gender identity.
“Let’s not pretend these people care about Six,” wrote Chris Peterson, founder of OnStage Blog, in an op-ed. “They didn’t care yesterday. They didn’t care last week. They didn’t care when the show opened, or toured, or cast understudies, or swapped queens. They were nowhere to be found when women of color led the cast. They weren’t losing sleep over historical accuracy when Anne Boleyn was singing like a Spice Girl.
“But the second Mulvaney, a trans woman, gets cast? Oh, now Broadway is sacred ground. Now casting ‘matters,'” Peterson continued. “This isn’t concern. This isn’t critique. This is the same group of cowardly bigots who only show up when they smell a chance to punch down.”
Taking to TikTok, Mulvaney said her first instinct was to convince her detractors that she was qualified to be a Broadway performer, but realized “I shouldn’t waste my breath on that.”
“Being a trans person in 2026, when this world is working against us in what feels like every way…for me to be able to step out onto a Broadway stage as Anne Boleyn and perform an iconic historical character’s role in a show that is so rooted in celebrating femininity, I think that’s a miracle,” Mulvaney said.
She also addressed queer and trans youth who might be watching, pointing to her own success as a source of inspiration.
“[D]o not let anyone take away what brings you joy, and you might have to fight really hard for it, or go around the long way, but it is so worth it,” she said. “And it might not feel like it, but there are so many people cheering you on, and I am one of them.”
Douglas Sills loves to laugh. It's a big laugh, hearty and life-affirming. And it -- along with a warm, impossibly broad smile -- blankets a conversation with him in warmth and comfort. The laugh bursts forth at unexpected moments, such as when the actor, known for stints on Broadway and as French chef (revealed to be a Kansas cook) Monsieur Baudin on HBO's The Gilded Age, is asked if he has ever been part of a play that's gone terribly wrong.
"I don't have a disaster in my head offhand," he grins. "Do I? I don't. Maybe it's because you go to work every day for months and you're pouring your heart and soul into it, you're there for hours and hours and hours and hours and hours, and you're giving up everything to do it, and it's not a high-paying thing. And so you drink the Kool-Aid -- you have to. And so maybe that's why it doesn't feel like a disaster to me." He pauses. "But I've seen some disasters."
Jacob Dickey doesn't have a to-do list of musical roles. But if he did have a to-do list, he says, "I feel like Sky Masterson would definitely be on that to-do list."
Good thing, then, that he's currently starring as Sky Masterson in the Shakespeare Theatre's vibrant new production of Guys and Dolls, directed by the Washington National Opera's Francesca Zambello.
Romping through Runyonland alongside Rob Coletti as fellow gambler Nathan Detroit, Julie Benko as missionary Sarah Brown, and Hayley Podschun as saucy showgirl Miss Adelaide, Dickey cuts a dashing figure in a role he's practically been preparing for since before his voice changed.
In 2015, it all seemed to be a novel concept. That's the year Jordan Harrison's Pulitzer Prize-nominated Marjorie Prime premiered Off-Broadway. Certainly, artificial intelligence had been developed, but in the ten years since, its sophistication and abilities have reached levels that are both beneficial and ethically questionable. Now, the piece has returned, this time on Broadway.
The use of AI rests at the center of Harrison's drama about Marjorie (June Squibb), an octogenarian who lives with her daughter, Tess (Cynthia Nixon), and her son-in-law Jon (Danny Burstein). Christopher Lowell rounds out the cast as Walter, a computerized version of Marjorie's deceased husband, known as a "Prime." With short-term memory loss and slight dementia plaguing Marjorie, the robotic form of her late spouse reappears in his thirties and relays information provided to him by Jon and Tess.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it’s crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won’t you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week’s magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!
You must be logged in to post a comment.