What's On

The View UpStairs draws you inside the UpStairs Lounge, a vibrant '70s gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans. This forgotten community comes to life in all its gritty, glam rock glory when Wes, a young fashion designer from 2017, buys the abandoned space, setting off an exhilarating journey of seduction and self-exploration that spans two generations of queer history. While Wes gets to know the joys and struggles of this exuberant and flamboyant community, he too learns about his place in the world.

The View UpStairs is inspired by one of the U.S.A’s most significant yet all-but-ignored arson attacks that killed 32 people in the UpStairs Lounge, a sanctuary for the gay and lesbian community from a hostile outside world. It examines what has been gained and lost in the fight for equality, and how the past can help guide all of us through an uncertain future.

From the opening piano chords of this Off-Broadway sensation, the five-piece band and cast of ten blasts into the glam rock world of the 1970s. In our ever-changing world, The View UpStairs looks at the then and now to explore our ideas of love, regret, defiance and resilience. With a ‘badass’ goose bump-raising score, the story induces both laughter and tears. See why RuPaul said the show was “FABULOUS! It was fantastic.”