Texas Church Stages Unlicensed ‘Hamilton’ with Anti-Gay Message

metroweekly.com:

Hamilton might be well-known as a retelling of a famous figure’s life, but a Texas church has introduced another figure — Jesus Christ — to the mix, performing illegally incorporated Christian-centric rhetoric in an unauthorized production of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit 2015 musical.The Tony-winning musical, still playing on Broadway and in the midst of a North American national tour, is unavailable for licensing by other theater groups.But that didn’t stop The Door Christian Fellowship Ministries of McAllen from performing their own illegal adaptation, with altered text, on August 5 and 6.Located in southern Texas, The Door uses popular media, altered to spread a conservative Christian message, as part of its programming.

Hamilton is not their first target: past titles have included Beauty and the Beast and Toy Story, both of which can be found on an archived version of the church’s website.The Door’s production of Hamilton incorporated Christian messaging, and one performance was accompanied with a sermon by Senior Pastor Ramon Gutierrez that compared homosexuality to addiction.“Maybe you struggle with alcohol, with drugs, with homosexuality,” Gutierrez said. “Maybe you struggle with other things in life, your finances, whatever, God can help you tonight.

He wants to forgive you for your sins.”Miranda, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics for Hamilton, is a famous supporter of LGBTQ rights.

One of his Tony Award speeches went viral as he nearly broke down showing support for the LGBTQ community the day after the June 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting.