Gay New York weddings to be held on stage

Rory O'Malley, a star of The Book of Mormon and a co-founder of the gay-rights group Broadway Impact, said several gay couples from the Broadway community will be married on stage right after that evening's performance of Hair.

"It's not just a summer of love," he said at a media conference on Wednesday in front of the St. James Theater, where the touring revival of the hippie musical has landed. "It's a summer of equality."

Other theatre celebrities on hand for the announcement included Joel Grey from Anything Goes, the cast of Hair and Will Swenson from Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the Musical.

"Theatre people tend to shoot our mouths off about everybody," said Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public Theater.

"But there's absolutely one subject that the theatre actually has an expertise in: We know that gay and straight equality is not simply a political opinion. It's an existential fact. We prove it every day of our working lives."

Jordan Roth, president of Jujamcyn Theatres, which owns and operates the St. James, said he was proud to be able to host some of the first same-sex weddings in New York state. He said there was a natural connection between the theatre and weddings.