Although Barrowman's singing had been included on many cast albums and compilation recordings, he launched his solo recording career in 1998 with a mini-CD, John Barrowman: Aspects of Andrew Lloyd Webber. His first full-length album, John Barrowman: Reflections from Broadway (2000), is a compilation of songs from the shows in which he has appeared.

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On his next album, John Barrowman Swings Cole Porter (2004), he gave an accomplished and nuanced interpretation of Porter's compositions. Barrowman was touched by the poignancy of Porter's writing about his love for other men in his songs, and his performances of the works are rendered with great sensitivity and imagination.

The release of the Porter album coincided with Barrowman's appearance in Irwin Winkler's film biography of Porter, De-Lovely. In it Barrowman had a role as one of the composer's lovers and sang "Night and Day" with Kevin Kline, who starred as Porter.

Barrowman's cinematic work also includes Susan Stroman's film of Mel Brooks's The Producers (2005), in which, wearing blue contact lenses and with his hair bleached blond, he fronts the "Springtime for Hitler" number.

Among Barrowman's recent theatrical roles is that of the Beast in Beauty and the Beast (book by Linda Wolverton, music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice). He commented that the part "was a thrill because the kids were enthralled by it"--an echo of his early enchantment with theater upon seeing Peter Pan.

An accomplished ice skater, Barrowman was one of ten celebrities who accepted a 2006 challenge to compete on Britain's ITV television program, Dancing on Ice. Partnered with a professional skater and coached by the legendary Olympic team of Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean, Barrowman and his partner Olga Sharutenko were expected to do very well. However, they were eliminated from the competition fairly early on.

Barrowman scored a hit on British television in 2006 in Torchwood, a spin-off of the science-fiction series Doctor Who, in which he appeared as Captain Jack Harkness, a time-traveller from the 51st century who was posing as an R.A.F. pilot during the London Blitz where he met the other characters (also time travellers) who were also visiting the same time period.

Of his character, Barrowman said, "Jack's a bit of a player. The writer, Russell T. Davies, joked that Jack would sleep with anybody. He doesn't differentiate between the Doctor or Rose--or aliens!"

Barrowman is a strong supporter of organizations that encourage young people to become involved in the arts. He is a member of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards Scheme in the United Kingdom and a driving force in the Dreamers Workshops in the United States. In the workshops, Barrowman stated, "We try to teach kids life skills though theater skills. It helps make children more motivated, as well as more accepting of other people's culture, race, creed, whatever."

Barrowman also vigorously supports glbtq rights. He has stated that he realized that he was gay when he was eight or nine years old but only came out to his parents at twenty-two. The entire family was extremely supportive, and Barrowman continues to enjoy a very close relationship with his parents, his siblings, and their children.

In his show business career, Barrowman has always been completely honest about his sexuality. As he told Gay Times interviewer Rupert Smith in 2004, "There's a received idea that being openly gay in the TV industry will limit your ability to get work, but I decided early on that I wouldn't hide anything. If you lie about yourself, then people are going to work very hard to expose that lie. If you're honest, it's not an issue and you can just get on with your life. . . . As far as the public goes, they see me playing different characters, some straight, some gay. They can make their own assumptions."

Ironically, he lost one coveted television role because he was perceived as "too straight." He was turned down for the role of Will in the NBC sitcom Will and Grace. Heterosexual actor Eric McCormack was cast in the role.

When Britain legalized same-sex unions in 2005, Barrowman announced his plans to enter into a civil partnership with architect Scott Gill, his companion for fourteen years. Barrowman avoids the use of the word marriage for gay unions because, he said, "It's something that has the connotation of religion, and religion is something that hates or dislikes gay people. . . .Why would I want to have a word like that connected with me and Scott?"

The two registered as civil partners in Cardiff on December 27, 2006. The brief ceremony was followed by a small gathering of family and friends.

Barrowman and Gill hope eventually to become parents, either through adoption or surrogacy.

The couple lives in London.

Until recently, British television embraced lesbians and gays as Them rather than Us, but a more diversified and nuanced approach to all kinds of sexuality is likely to be the case in the future.

Although few gay actors have been permitted the luxury of openness, many of them have challenged and helped reconfigure notions of masculinity and, to a lesser extent, of homosexuality.

The musical has been a significant aspect of American gay male culture, manifesting itself both in diva worship and, more recently, in the presentation of openly gay characters and shows written by gay writers primarily for gay audiences.

Gay, lesbian, and bisexual actors and actresses are among the elite of contemporary theater, but only recently have many come out publicly.

Award-winning lyricist and playwright Howard Ashman collaborated with Alan Menken on projects as diverse as the stage musical Little Shop of Horrors and the animated Disney film Beauty and the Beast.

Bisexual choreographer and director Michael Bennett, winner of eight Tony Awards, developed a fluid, cinematic style of choreography and staging.

Playwright and composer William Finn, best known for his Tony Award-winning musical The Falsettos, speaks with understanding about confronting life in all its complexity with sadness and joy, dilemmas and hope intermingled.

Composer John Kander and lyricist Fred Ebb are the musical poets of the poymorphous perverse; their works glorify the creativity inherent in sexual ambivalence and celebrate unorthodox forms of political activism.

A smash hit on British television, comedian and talk-show host Graham Norton has been out, proud, and outrageous from the beginning of his career.

Living the paradoxical life of an openly closeted gay man, songwriter Cole Porter introduced non-normative values and risqué double entendres into what was one of the most pedestrian and hackneyed of cultural forms.

As one of the key figures that western civilization has used to define itself, William Shakespeare stands in a complicated, fiercely contested relationship to homosexuality.

One of the most innovative talents of the musical theater in the second half of the twentieth century, Stephen Sondheim has only indirectly reflected his homosexuality in his work.