The mix of cultural experiences, generational viewpoints, and age perspectives within a family can be fascinating, intriguing, and sometimes, yes, a little disconcerting.

A friend of mine told me she was a little concerned when her young daughter bounced around the house lip-syncing to Madonna’s “Like a Virgin.” ‘She isa virgin!’ my friend cried.

I felt a similar wave of disturbance in the parental force when my post-toddler sons did their version of Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” complete with dance routine. These are moments when the people, artistic material, and sensibilities seem to be delightfully disconnected.

We had a potential situation like that last week when I took my two rough-and-tumble, sporty 10-year old sons, and my two Fox-News-loving, Republican, 80-something parents to see my partner Jim act, sing, and dance in a local production of La Cage aux Folles.

The show is a musical comedy about the story of a flamboyant gay couple. Georges is the manager of a Saint-Tropez nightclub featuring drag entertainment and Albin is his romantic partner and star attraction. Farcical adventures ensue when Georges’ son brings home his fiancée’s ultra-conservative parents to meet them.

In the pamphlet, it said: ‘Winner of countless Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Musical Revival. Adult themes.’

‘Adult themes’ is code for gender and sexual orientation equality.

I did not have a single qualm about taking my family to see the show, although, on the way there, the thought occurred to me that some discussion of the show’s themes might be in order.

My parents were well familiar with the movie The Birdcage, and certainly we had gone through 30 years of LGBT personal awareness and evolution since my coming out to them. I figured for my sons, the tale of an LGBT family would be somewhat familiar, even though our family is dressed in much less glitter and glamor. So, we had no discussions before the show.

The cast was excellent. My family soaked it in, particularly my son Jesse. When one of the Cagelles was performing, Jesse gasped and said aloud in the middle of the song for all to hear, ‘He is really good! He looks like a she but it’s a he, and he is really good! And he is doing it all in heels!’

For me, the most moving part of the play was near the end when the straight son of the gay couple, Jean-Michel acknowledges his gay parents, and in particular, his non-biological mother (who is incidentally also a trans woman). Jean-Michel then sings the song Look Over There.

I was completely filled with emotion; every single word rang true for me, and the lyrics were the perfect description of how much I love my sons. I turned to look at them, both enraptured by the spectacle in front of them. Jesse caught me looking at them, and leaned over.

‘Dad . . . I have to go to the bathroom.’ Okay. Back down to Parent Planet Earth.

After the show, I had a great conversation with my family. My parents loved it and found themselves much more familiar with it than they had expected to be. The boys loved it, too, and took the family dynamics in stride, as I thought they would. ‘But why did they cast men to play women?’ Jesse wanted to know. ‘Why didn’t they just find women to play those parts?’

‘That was part of the show,’ I explained. ‘The characters are actually men who find fulfillment by dressing up as women.’

‘They do?’ both my boys shouted out in shock. I realized then that we had hit our ‘teachable moment’ of the experience. I also became aware that the preteen gender-role programming of our society had, unbeknownst to me, been affecting my sons.

I was not shocked; I had been hearing ‘anti-girl’ talk from some of their friends for a while, and had been working to stop it.

‘Yes, of course.’ I explained. ‘Just as you guys feel cool and happy when you dress up as super heroes and robots, other men like the glamor of posing as women.’ They both nodded in understanding.

‘Besides, Jess, when you were three, remember asking for a set of Princess Slippers for Christmas? I made sure you got them!’

Jesse laughed remembering the prized footwear. ‘Yeah. But they hurt!’

One of the perks of being the spouse of a cast member is that you get to meet the others in the cast. It was a pleasure for me to be introduced to Curtis, the young actor who had moved me to tears as Jean-Michel.

As I shook his hand, I said, ‘I have to tell you, as a gay dad of these two, I found your delivery of that song to be incredible. You sang to the hearts of so many gay parents who are ignored, maligned, and not valued. Your song and the emotion you gave it told the world what we are really about. You aced it. You are very good at what you do.’

The comment seemed to mean something to him, and as I moved away, Jesse reached up and put his arms around me, having overheard what I said. ‘I love you, Daddy. Thank you for bringing us.’ He planted a big kiss on my cheek, before scrambling away and chasing his brother down the sidewalk.

Maybe I am good at what I do, too.