Madonna doesn’t stop. And now, as she sells tickets to her latest world tour, a new show at Clapham’s Omnibus Theatre uses her as inspiration to explore survival with HIV. We spoke to Brian Mullin, writer-performer of Live to Tell: (a proposal for) The Madonna Jukebox Musical, about the Queen of Pop, HIV stigma and the power of reinvention.
Where did you get the idea to link a pitch to Madonna with the complicated emotions of surviving with HIV?
Madonna’s career started at almost exactly the same time as the outbreak of the AIDS epidemic itself. And she’s been an outspoken advocate for people living with HIV from the very start, when no other celebrities would even mention it. But really the connection is a symbolic one: for 40 years, she’s stayed on top by constantly changing and adapting herself – just like a retrovirus! (Some Madonna fans may not like this comparison, but it makes sense to me!) People with HIV have probably all felt a desire to reinvent ourselves, and she is the Queen of Reinvention.
Read full interview HERE
