Vernon, 28, said of the UpStairs patrons. “All those people were facing very real oppression, but they were still figuring out how to be colorful and connected as a community,” Mr. (It was the deadliest instance of anti-gay violence in the United States until the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., last year.) Directed by Scott Ebersold at Culture Project, the piece is semi-immersive: The actors mingle with the audience in a campy gay bar reminiscent of the UpStairs, with cabaret seating near a piano where actors belt the ’70s-inspired score. “ The View UpStairs,” another musical, was inspired by the unsolved 1973 arson attack that killed 32 people at the UpStairs Lounge, a bar on the edge of the French Quarter in New Orleans. Two men drafted into the Army before World War II explore their sexual desires in “Seeing You,” a new movement-based show by Randy Weiner, a “Sleep No More” producer, and the choreographer and director Ryan Heffington that begins performances on May 2. In addition to “Adonis Memories,” there’s Jeremy Lawrence’s “Lavender Songs,” a solo show set in a Nazi-era underground Berlin cabaret, where a drag queen addresses the audience during what might be his last performance.
