• Energetic
• Biographical
• Emotional
• Musically

The wacky story of ‘Queen of Disco’ Sylvester 
 
Queen of Disco is a musical theatre performance about the irresistible rise, tragic fall and inevitable comeback of disco music, epitomised by the life of disco icon and LGBTQIA+ activist Sylvester.  
  
Disco was born in New York's black and Latino gay club circuit in the early 1970s and grew into a global music movement. The rise of disco coincided with the emancipation of the LGBTQIA+ community: on the dance floor, everyone was equal. In the 1980s came a rocky decline. Disco disappeared underground again, only to make a comeback within house years later. 
 
‘Queen of Disco’ Sylvester broke through as a solo singer and was the first androgynous and openly gay global star, with huge hits like You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real) and Do Ya Wanna Funk.  
Sylvester was also the very first world star to openly share suffering from AIDS and was at the forefront of the AIDS-awareness gay pride movement and the Stonewall riots as an activist.  
  
Marjorie Boston and Maarten van Hinte of RIGHTABOUTNOW INC, the creative team behind shows like Kings, Tori (HNTjong), Nina Simone (A)live, and Status tell the crazy story of the ‘mighty real’ Sylvester, from choirboy to superstar and a cultural revolution that changed our world forever. Queen of Disco won the Playwriting Award in 2023 and therefore returns at CaDance Festival 2025.