But my God, that music by Bernstein and that choreography by Robbins is unbeatable. The movie is worth viewing at any time: it won 10 Academy Awards in 1961, including Best Picture, for good reason. In November of this year, a special 50^th anniversary DVD of the film will be released.

But I’m here to tell you about the amazing Broadway revival of the musical that is currently on tour throughout the country. Laurents directed this revival that opened on Broadway in 2009 and closed earlier this year with reworking of some of the lyrics and dialogue to include Spanish in scenes between the Puerto Rican Sharks.

This revival is only the second time the show has been revived on Broadway since it burst onto the stage in 1957. It is hard to believe because since it has become so popular in society, it seems as if every high school, community and regional theater has put on a production. I’m sure many have been good, but I’m telling you this is a stellar production, the kind that you must see if you’re a fan of musical theater and especially if you’re a fan of the show. To hear a full orchestra perform the music, matched with the reproduction of Robbins’ choreography by professional dancers, is not to be missed.

This production moves like lightening, not a dull or dragging moment in it. Every performance is outstanding, every moment is exciting. I’m gushing – please go see it. To see when it is coming to your city, visit www.broadwaywestsidestory.com. Until then, check out this performance from the 2009 Tony Awards of the Dance at the Gym. Mambo!

I love Sondheim, the man is tops in my musical theater book. No one writes lyrics like Sondheim and Company is one of his best. It won six Tony awards in 1970, including Best New Musical (it also won Best Revival of a Musical in 2006).

More than telling a linear story, the musical focuses on the character of Bobby on and around his 35^th birthday and his various married friends and the women he dates. It is mostly told through vignettes with the various characters as Bobby slowly comes to the realization that being an avowed bachelor may not be the life for him. It contains two of Sondheim’s most beloved songs, the knockouts The Ladies Who Lunch and Being Alive, and the hilarious Getting Married Today.

Stage icon Elaine Stritch has owned The Ladies Who Lunch since she originated the role of Joann. If you want to watch a great video, look up Elaine Stritch in studio recording the song, it’s crazy amazing.

Company is a musical for adults about adults, it’s about relationships and their complications, what it means to be with someone, what it means to be in love and what it means to be alone. It doesn’t paint the happy-go-lucky portrait of love that most musicals do, instead it shows the areas of grey that are the reality of life and relationships.

The Company on screen now stays true to the original, set in the late 60s/early 70s, and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Jon Cryer, Stephen Colbert, Patti LuPone and Christina Hendricks. LuPone and Hendricks shine the most in this lively concert version of the show.

While this version is certainly worth your time, even more, I recommend getting your hands on the PBS Great Performances taping of the 2006 Broadway revival. This is the Company you should see. It sets the show on a bare stage with the actors dressed in all black, in a timeless setting, and the orchestra being the actors themselves. It brings forth all of the underlying tones of the show by keeping it simple, stripped-down and intimate, while firmly grounding it in a place that does not seem dated, which the show (and the version at the movie theater now) often can slightly feel like.

But no matter if you rent this version or go see it at the movies now, see Company, and if you can get to a live production of it, don’t miss it.

c. speakeasydc.com

Last night, I attended my first D.C. Pride event and I am completely sold.  Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company presented SpeakeasyDC’s production of “Don’t Ask, Do Tell: stories about coming out, coming clean, or just plain coming.” SpeakeasyDC puts on a great show: bluntly honest, hysterical, and heartfelt.   This production not only exceeded expectations, but it brought something else to the evening as well: non-judgmental Pride.

MC and Co-Director, John Kevin Boggs, made it clear from the start that this show was about Pride.  He stated the stories were all as unique, diverse, and complex as the storytellers sharing with the audience.  And the show certainly proved that: as each speaker took the stage, it was clear that each person was proud to take a stand to unabashedly share his or her personal experience.

As the audience applauded each person off stage, I though to myself, “man, I feel bad for the next one who has to follow that act”—but each individual took the stage with confidence and excelled.  I began to see a pattern in the stories: each storyteller willingly stood alone on stage to share an anecdote of there life, expressing who they truly were and have become, and each moment was welcomed in a safe environment.   Everyone had managed to get through whatever events, good or bad, life had handed them, coming out on the other end, not unscathed, but a different, individual, and unique person.

The stories shared were unique, ranging from explicit sex scenes, to hilarious anecdotes, to sharing real emotional trauma. Without giving too much away, stories ranged from: overcoming a language barrier for a sexual encounter; coming out as the first transgender college athlete on national television; a personal journey from an advocacy position as a “straight spokesperson for gay families” to embracing being a lesbian; and a story of dancing shamelessly at high school senior prom with the person you love, despite the family effort to “fight the gay.”

At intermission, when I had a chance to sit back and absorb the atmosphere, I realized not only the performers were welcome and accepting, but the audience was completely open and happy as well.  (And, yes, at the risk of being cliché, Lady Gaga was playing over the loudspeakers at this point.)  And as I attempted to decipher the sentiment behind this overwhelming vibe I was feeling, I realized that it was completely non-judgmental.  Despite the judgment that was occurring within each story, at that moment, I felt the entire theatre offering a safe space of understanding to each instance of discrimination described.  A judgment-free space is an uncommon experience, as I constantly sense judgment coming from all sides in a city like Washington, D.C.  For the two and half hours of the show, I felt none of that—only empowerment and inspiration transcending from the stories to the audience.

In her story, Natalie Illum put the evening into perspective, describing a realization she had: that being queer isn’t always about who you love but about being comfortable in your own skin and helping other people to be comfortable with who you are.  She recounted a slogan she had used campaigning for an event: “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re fabulous, so don’t fuck with us.”

Submission by Andrew Steinkuehler, TNG NY’s new contributor. Andrew Steinkuehler is an aspiring novelist, freelancer, and gay dude living off the 6 train in the perennially unfashionable Spanish Harlem. He needs to quit smoking.

The Public Theater is one of those New York institutions that makes a Midwestern emigre like me curse his birthright. Listening to the consummately eloquent Cynthia Nixon (who knew?) recount her experiences growing up in that theater, seeing star-studded productions of Hamlet, Two Gentleman of Verona, and Spring Awakening before she was old enough to drive filled me a wistful sense of envy. I was there to listen to Tony Kushner and Ms. Nixon, there to introduce the now canonical playwright as part of the long-running Public Forum series —”an exciting new series of lectures, debates and conversations that showcase leading voices in the arts, politics and the media,” according to the Public’s PR materials. Seated just a few rows from the stage, I scribbled in my notebook that if I had come late to the genteel world of the culture industry, late was, as they say, certainly better than never.

Kushner walked onto the stage, the set of his latest play The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, or iHo, a bit verklempt from Nixon’s introduction and joined by the Public’s artistic director Oskar Eustis, a square-jawed man emanating the  particular gravitas native to those who’ve devoted their lives to the capital ‘T’ Theater. Long-time colleagues of a sort, the two talked for an hour and a half of many things, but primarily about the aforementioned iHo.

iHo is about Gus, a former labor leader confronting, in his twilight years, the damage wrought by 30 years of neo-liberalism set into motion by the presidency of Hollywood wash-out turned right-wing shill Ronald Reagan. In the play’s inciting incident, Gus gathers his grown-up children (representing almost every color in the LGBT rainbow) to announce that he intends to commits suicide and that he’d like their blessing on the matter. Three and a half hours of rarefied dialogue later, the play concludes on the same note of uncertainty and disquiet with which it began. The reviews have been mixed.

But the playwright whose groundbreaking epic Angels in America I first watched in its incarnation as an HBO miniseries is undoubtedly brilliant. He responded to Eustis’ affable interrogation with brio and mile-a-minute chatter, full of hilarious asides and epic digressions including memorable remarks on Shakespeare (“Comparing another playwright to Shakespeare is just wrong.”), Abraham Lincoln (about whom Kushner is writing a screenplay), and one of his early mentors. (“He once told me, ‘Actors make both the good and bad mediocre and make the mediocre itself.’”)Kushner was, above all, refreshing.

With his open personality, his earnestness, I began to see him as an emissary from another New York, an alternative to the rootless (and oftentimes ruthless) cosmopolitan city that I know, the New York that brooks no continuity within its skyscraping, anonymous confines. Kushner represents the New York of the hack, of the neighborhood, of the people on the ground. The New York that is there, somewhere, behind the mystifying facades of thousands of stories of steel and glass and brick the vertical equivalent of a Los Angeles traffic jam. The anti-condo, the anti-lifestyle magazine, the anti-billboard. The New York of real live children.

When the lights went up and the audience began to file out, I was reminded of the first time I read about Harvey Milk. It was the first time I had ever thought of the words ‘gay American’ as anything other than an oxymoron. Tony Kushner, the playwright, the activist, the thinker, is living proof that America’s greatest sons and daughters often begin as its unwanted children. One thinks of Whitman, for instance, or in a different case, and without being too grand, of Martin Luther King. I looked at Kushner as he walked off the stage and realized that we, the queers, though we have only lately arrived in the popular consciousness, have been here all along. And hell, if nothing else, we, like the Public Theater, are a New York institution.

Watch Scenes from THE INTELLIGENT HOMOSEXUAL’S GUIDE

To Purchase Tickets: CLICK HERE.

Tip: 1 hour before each performance, all available tickets for that performance are $20

Location: The Public Theater at 420 Lafayette Street . For more, go to Visitor Information.

It is one of only eight musicals to have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama since the award’s inception in 1918, quite an impressive feat. As we know, musicals are seen as good-time, lighthearted, theatrical experiences that have the reputation of lacking the depth and sophistication of many plays. I would argue that they are too easily written off, and often are able to admirably gain depth in ways that are much more subversive than the average stage play. In the case of Next to Normal, there is no need for such an argument.

Telling the story of the seemingly average, suburban Goodman family, the musical is centered around the issues of mental illness and the impact it has on the lives of those who live with such illnesses and those around them. The wife and mother, Diana, lives with bi-polar disorder with not only the symptoms of the highs and lows of the illness, but also with severe depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, accompanied by delusional thinking and hallucinations.

It deals with Diana’s psychosis with a respectful and introspective look into what it means to live with a mental illness. In many ways, mental illness unfortunately remains a taboo in our society, something that too many are afraid of and unwilling to understand. Luckily, as medicine makes strides and acceptance rises, these issues are brought out from the dark. There is still a long way to go, particularly in many other parts of the world where people with treatable illnesses are still locked up without any help.

But Next to Normal doesn’t shy away from the medical profession’s difficulties in dealing with mental illness either. The doctors in the musical range from understanding to unknowing to caring only about curing the patient by turning them into a numb zombie. It is a story without easy answers and doesn’t force them or make them appear in a happy song.

Alice Ripley, who won the Tony for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance, is currently touring with the production throughout the United States. Unfortunately, the night I saw it in Chicago, she was out of the show, and has remained out for a number of days. It is an incredibly vocally demanding role, and if she was suffering a cold or simply the strain of singing the part, it would be an incredibly difficult performance. I can report that her standby Pearl Sun plays the role with the intensity and vocal power required for the role.

While I was disappointed to miss Ripley in her award-winning performance, the show stands as a riveting and important piece of Theatre that is not to be missed.

To learn more about Next to Normal and to see if the tour is coming to a city near you, please visit www.NextToNormal.com.

Tony Villa, Lisa Hodsoll as shock artist Lizzie B. and Sarah Strasser; Photo by Stan Barouh, Courtesy of Factory 44

“I feel like my mind has been blown,” I announced as I walked into the door of my apartment. I had just walked off the metro on Friday night feeling dazed and overwhelmed, after having spent the previous 75 minutes sitting front row and center of Magnificent Waste, it was hard to feel anything beyond a mixed-sense of confusion and awe. Magnificent Waste, a Factory 449 production by Caridad Svich and directed by John Moletress, is playing from April 9 until May 8 at the Mead Theatre Lab at Flashpoint in Washington D.C.

Upon entering the small theatre, the audience had a chance to walk through the set, before taking our seats, to examine the scene more closely, which further incited the feeling of being a part of the show.  The production had the ability to shift softly from quietly thoughtful acting to bold raging scenes, with the enhancement of film and video throughout the show. Each character embraced their passion, yet attempted to hide their truth to the rest, though allowing the audience to catch glimpses throughout until finally exposed.

Stephen F. Schmidt, Lisa Hodsoll as shock artist Lizzie B. and James T. Majewski (boy in boa as part of art installation) Photo by Stan Barouh, Courtesy of Factory 449

A five person show featured the talents of Lisa Hodsoll, Tony Villa, Sarah Strasser, Stephen Schmidt, and James Majewski, offered a glimpse into the lives of a materialistic and image focus group of people.   Lizzie B., an edgy alternative artist, begins to further progress her work when she features a young boy in a piece she calls, “Zone 1.” Events take a turn when the artist begins an affair

with the buyer of her piece, despite that she is already involved in an ménage with a talk-show host and a socialite/”actress.” The scenes offer a glimpse into their lives filled with alcohol, sex, and drugs, and not to mention, taking advantage and using each other when convenient or the mood strikes.

Beyond the intensity of the subject, each line evoked philosophical and even existential questions and opinions. From the basic yet complex question of what it art?  To the more focused ponderings of questioning the purpose of the constant consumption. If it is not fulfilling, does it fill us at all?  How do we make a move away from it before we ourselves are swallowed up with it, and become the object of that same consumption?  The title itself, Magnificent Waste, offers its own observation to the matters discussed throughout the show.

This show is not a light-hearted affair, however it manages to shine a hazy light on life that shows the humor, truth, beauty, and absurdity of it all. Magnificent Waste will offer you a thought-provoking night that will surely focus your attention on matters that are often not held under a microscope. You will definitely walk away with a few more questions than answers.

The Signature Theatre Company continues its celebration of Tony Kushner’s work. It began in the fall with Angels In America, which can still be seen through April 24th.

Tickets have just gone on sale for Kushner’s play The Illusion which is adapted from Pierre Corneille’s L’Illusion Comique. “It is Kushner’s most joyfully theatrical play, widely entertaining tale of passion and regret, of love, disillusionment and magic” writes the Signature Theatre. Plan ahead, and take advantage of all tickets being offered at $20.

A reminder that Tony Kushner’s newest play The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures has begun previews and opens March 23rd with a limited run through June 12th at The Public Theater. For more info, THE PUBLIC

Date: The Illusion, May 17 – July 10

Tickets: Purchase Tickets Here – $20

Venue: Signature Theatre Company, 555 West 42nd Street (between 10th & 11th Ave.)

Crossposted with permission from Julie Turkewitz of Housing Works.

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Here’s a scene from “The Book of Mormon,” the just-debuted musical comedy written by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the pair who’ve made millions taking sinful swipes at everything from gays to Jews to — yes —the AIDS crisis.

A group of raggedy-clothed Ugandans labor outside a gathering of shanties. One villager drags a bleeding donkey carcass across the stage. Elder Cunningham and Elder Price, two doe-eyed Mormons who will spend two years living in AIDS-riddled Uganda, stare. Their jaws drop.

The Ugandans, happy to welcome their guests, break into song.

“There’s war! Poverty! Famine!” They bellow. “We’ve had no rain in several days . . . and 80 percent of us have AIDS!”

Stone and Parker are the kings of crass, and it’s no surprise that the brains behind a band of foul-mouthed gradeschoolers also make a few off-color jokes about AIDS. Indeed, the musical — which tells the story of a pair of teenage missionaries as they convert Ugandans to Mormonism — delivers all the viciously titillating trappings of a show dreamed up by two notorious provocateurs.

Hitler prances across the stage in pleather pants. A troop of coifed cookie-cutter missionaries do high kicks in pink sequined vests. Villagers repeatedly suggest that a sexual encounter with a frog will cure them of AIDS. The New York Times blessed the piece in its Friday review, calling it both “scurrilous” and “sweet.”

Yes, it’s offensive. But the real question is this: Will someone—anyone—be able to harness this bubble of media attention to educate people about AIDS in Uganda?

Uganda, once praised by international health organizations for its rapid and forward-thinking response to a staggering AIDS crisis, now faces serious threats to this progress.

Much of this is due to waning financial commitment from the U.S. and other wealthy nations.

“We are just sitting on a time bomb,” said Dr. Peter Mugyenyi, a leading Ugandan doctor who is visiting the U.S. this week to urge members of Congress not to cut Uganda’s AIDS funding. “We are going to go back to where we have to play God again, where we have to decide who gets treatment and who doesn’t.”

Success in Jeopardy

In the 1980s, more than 30 percent of Ugandans were HIV-positive. By 2008, however, that number had fallen to 6.4 percent.

In recent years, the fate of Uganda’s HIV/AIDS crisis had begun to look even more hopeful. Cheap generic antiretrovirals became available. The UN initiated the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. George W. Bush launched the U.S.’ most ambitious effort to fight global AIDS, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or Pepfar.

But when the financial crisis hit, rich nations began to pull back on their contributions to fight AIDS.

Under President Obama, increases in U.S. funding for Pepfar slowed measurably. For fiscal year 2011, President Obama requested about $7 billion for the program, just $122 million more than the previous year. By comparison, U.S. funding for Pepfar rose more than $1.5 billion between 2007 and 2008.

While U.S. support has hit a near stand-still, Uganda’s HIV infections continue to grow. For every 100 people put on treatment, 250 are newly infected, according to UNAIDS.

Turning Ugandans Away

This means those who need drugs will be turned away. A year ago, Pepfar instructed Dr. Mugyenyi to stop accepting new patients at his clinic in Kampala. His heart broke. “This was clearly a retrogressive step at the time when Pepfar had been succeeding beyond all expectations,” he said.

The New York Times visited his clinic. In May, Uganda was the subject of an article that warned the nation “is the first and most obvious example of how the war on global AIDS is falling part.”

Thanks to a flurry of media attention, Pepfar earmarked $300 million in additional funds for Uganda. But money will run out soon. Dr. Mugyenyi estimated that in 18 months, funds for new patients at his clinic will dry up. He is in panic.

Uganda faces other challenges in its AIDS fight. Two potentially damaging laws sit in Parliament: One would make homosexual acts punishable by death. Another would criminalize HIV transmission and trample confidentiality rights. Both threaten to complicate efforts to encourage HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.

Who Should Give Back?

Major Broadway successes can rake in millions, with big rewards for investors. “Rent” brought in $274 million during its 12 years on the circuit. Other shows have made three times as much. Critics have lined up to salute “The Book of Mormon,” and by all measures, it’s on the road to success. “Mormon” brought in a healthy $624,456 between Thursday’s opener and Sunday.

But there’s no word from the South Park duo (or the show’s third writer, “Avenue Q” creator Robert Lopez) on whether they will donate any money to people in Uganda. The show’s publicist declined to answer whether they should.

But Asia Russell, an AIDS activist who splits her time between the U.S. and Uganda, did.

“These producers are hugely popular, and they have real power because they reach so many people,” said Russell, who coordinates international advocacy for Health GAP, an NGO that seeks to narrow health care access disparities. “The producers have an obligation to give back.”

The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) and director Diane Paulus bring strong musical and theatrical credentials to the Boston theater scene with this unique show.  The score was composed by Grammy winning musician Serj Tankian (System of a Down) and two-time Tony nominee Gavin Creel (Hair, Thoroughly Modern Millie) portrays the title character. The Broadway-bred crew includes lighting designer Kevin Adams (Spring Awakening and American Idiot) and costume designer Emily Rebholz. Both keep the onstage action compelling – a tough job when one considers that the title character remains bound in chains throughout the entire show.  The lighting colorfully illustrates the tragedy of Prometheus’s imprisonment and the costuming is impressive and timely, incorporating goth and punk styles (skinny jeans-wearing Hermes sports winged Adidas sneakers). These onstage and behind the scenes elements make Prometheus Bound every bit the rock musical for the iPhone generation.

One of the show’s standout characters is Zeus’s evil crony, Force, portrayed by renowned lesbian actress, singer, and comedian Lea DeLaria. In addition to her role in Prometheus, DeLaria will be performing her one woman show The Last Butch Standing this Sunday, March 13. She was nice enough to take a break from her duties torturing Prometheus to answer a few questions for us:

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The New Gay – Boston: Why should people come out to see Prometheus Bound?

Lea DeLaria: I am not sure how often Boston gets to see new theater with the sort of elite credits that [Prometheus Bound] has. If you are into musical theater  - this is a gay web site, so I am assuming there are one or two of you out there that are – for these reasons alone you should come see this.

TNG Boston: Can you describe your character a bit?  What are the most challenging and rewarding aspects of your role?

LD:  I am playing Force, a demi -god who is Zeus’s pure evil henchman.  It is a challenge to make pure evil three dimensional. However, evil is soooo much more fun than good.  That’s true in life as well.  I get to beat the shit out of [Prometheus] with a baseball bat and scat sing… all in the same show. AMAZING! I have done a bit of the classics before [DeLaria has previously appeared in As You Like It, Midsummer Night’s Dream and Samuel Beckett's Happy Days] but Greek has its own rhythm trying to make that palatable to the modern ear while dealing with the particulars [and] problems of an environmental theater piece with a hard core rock score.  I’ve never quite done anything like it… having said that, it’s what makes Diane [Paulus - director] so good at what she does.  My character works in the show. All of our characters do, making it a true ensemble piece.

TNG Boston: How does this production compare to other shows you’ve done?

LD: There is no comparison. There is nothing like it. It is without a doubt the best and most unique musical…hell, any kind of play, with which I have ever been involved.

Uzo Aduba (Io), Lea DeLaria (Force) and Gavin Creel (Prometheus) during show rehearsals

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Prometheus Bound runs through April 2nd. Tickets are still available on the Oberon website.

Show Details:

Prometheus Bound – OBERON

2 Arrow St., Cambridge (Harvard Square)

Tickets $25+ (student rush $15, group discounts available)

Show runs through April 2nd

Running time: 80 minutes (no intermission)

picture from speakeasydc.com

“That show was unlike anything I have ever seen,” my friend said with a smile as we walked out of Mixed, Blended, Shaken, & Stirred: Stories about Today’s American Family, a part of Washington DC’s INTERSECTIONS festival at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H St NE.   It was true—Storytelling is something unique.   It is not exactly a play because there is no acting, nor is it a SLAM poetry night, or even an open-mic night because it is rehearsed; I suppose it could be considered a monologue, however it is all truth.

The focus of Friday night’s show was family, but not as much family as a whole as I had expected walking in.  Rather, the stories danced around the edges of the concept of family and the impact a family has on one’s life.  The stories covered an individual’s personal experience and through that, brought light to their true meaning of family.  The show featured the talents of Christopher Love, Jennifer Luu, Mike Kane, David Ferris, Chuck Harmston, and Vijai Nathan.   Each took their turn on stage not to act, but to share, open up, and allow for the viewers to relate to their experience and themselves.

The stories touched on many and various aspects of the current American family, including the struggle of a gay man’s attempt to donate sperm to a lesbian couple; the affects of a religious conversion to Mormonism in a Buddhist Vietnamese family; the effort to ensure a normal family life for one’s children after growing up with a heroin addicted father; the challenges of a cross-cultural marriage into an Indian family as a metro-American man; the drama of growing up in a family of 11 children, 6 of of whom were adopted; and the pressures for a young women to find a husband and have children in today’s society.

One by one each storyteller came up to the microphone, stood on the empty stage, and shared a piece of their past. Even in the high-impact environment we are used to experiencing, where actions often speak louder than words, it was refreshing to leave that atmosphere and simply listen to the words, without distraction and without judgment.  The emotional reactions of the audience did not feel forced but rather were gently pushed along through the hour-long showcase.  The momentum of the stories flowed well as feelings moved with ease from sadness, shock, relief, joy, love, and laughter.

While the stories reached what seemed like every emotion, they came equipped with some hilarious anecdotes (for a sneak preview): such as Love’s description of his donated “illicit gay sperm-sicle,” to Ferris’s bold statement to is Indian father-in-law, “You can’t hide the metro-sexual inside!” and ending with Nathan’s comparison of prehistoric caveman to the modern day dating scene; “How drunk does a caveman have to be to bang a chimp?”

For an entertaining, unique, and special experience, there are two more opportunities to see this SpeakeasyDC production, this Friday and Saturday, March 4 and 5. I guarantee that you will relate in some way to each story with compassion, laughter, perhaps even tears, and you will definitely walk away with something to talk about.

Lately I have been thinking a lot about the importance of story telling and finding the time and place to be able to share our stories with others.  Last week, I reviewed the show, Logic, Luck, and Love: A Valentines Day Special, put on by SpeakeasyDC.  When I raved about it to a co-worker, he told me that he was a taking a class through the organization and his first showcase was coming up.  So, on February 22, at Axum Lounge, I attended the SpeakeasyDC Student Showcase.

As each student walked to the microphone, they brought the audience to a different place and turn of events in their lives.  While the stories ranged in subjects from, Chinese “massage therapists,” teenage pregnancy, growing up in the most segregated city in the nation, and immigration to the United States; they still all found commonalities in themes, of culture shock, parent-child relationships, childhood memories, and finding home.

As I listened to people’s stories, I had and most likely would never experience a similar situation to many, but taking the time to listen to them I was able to see the person behind the veil of society’s assumptions and with a good storytelling, empathize with them.  Beyond that, I realized that though the events of the stories themselves were completely unique, the emotions behind them were similar.  No, I had not grown up in the most segregated town in the United States, but I did know the feeling of receiving that love and pride from a mother.  And no, I have never traveled to Africa or China, but I certainly know the feeling of culture shock, feeling lost and confused in a strange place.

We all come from very different places and survive through experiences that are distinct.  Without a shared experience, a wall is put up between those of us who “get it” and those of us who don’t, and without the understanding, we can never gain any sort of comradery.  To break that wall down, we need to be able to tell, listen, and share those stories from our lives.  Once we begin to realize that beyond the surface, we have similar emotions and reactions to different events.  At the end of the day, we are more alike than we are lead to believe, we simply need to allow for the opportunity to discover.

Note:  SpeakeasyDC also offers open-mic nights where any one can tell their story every second Tuesday of the month at Town.  Also, check out their new performance – review to come soon – of Mixed, Blended, Shaken, & Stirred: Stories about Today’s American Family, a part of Washington DC’s INTERSECTIONS festival.

Image from speakeasydc.com

I am one of those people that does not like Valentine’s Day. One of those people who dread the holiday and the inevitable questions it brings.  However, this Valentine’s day I embraced the jaded and happily single girl that I am, sucked it up and went out to a show.

Logic, Luck, and Love: A Valentine’s Day Special was shown at Atlas Performing Arts Center by SpeakeasyDC on February 14.  This show featured a stage, four folding chairs, four storytellers, and an audience that provided an amazing laugh track.  The four storytellers seemingly came from the diverse background:  a straight, divorced, now single woman who had not given up on herself or hope, a lesbian finding love in unsuspecting places, a gay man with the constant thought that there has to be something better out there for him, and a straight man jaded from his past of limited love. Local DC residents, Jennifer Moore, Molly Kelly, John Kevin Boggs, and Dustin Fisher, each have their own story to share, pulling in local DC mention, pop-culture references, and each individual tale blends together with a navigable flare.  Moreover, the stories shared are not only told to the audience, but are felt by the audience.

The beauty and tragedy of listening to stories about love is that it is unexplainable and yet everyone understands it, and  has probably lived it as well. While the audience listened to each tale, I’m sure, knowing the odds of seeing a show on H St., there were most likely an equal divide between straight men and women, gay men and women and probably a bunch of people somewhere in between.

It didn’t matter which storyteller happened to be sharing because we understood where they were coming from. Everyone has that less-than-perfect kiss, but we convince ourselves otherwise. Everyone awkwardly hits on the prettiest person in the bar and settles for the second… or third. Everyone has been ditched for someone else and made the wrong choice without knowing it until it was over. I know we have all created our own logic to disprove fate and explain why we always seemed to pull the short stick.

image from speakeasydc.com

The very best thing about this Valentine’s Day show for me was the raw truth behind it. Each storyteller put him or herself up on that stage and shared their lives with an audience of strangers.  They shared their funniest moments of their love lives. They shared the little antidotes and details. They shared their disappointments. The stories were not extraordinarily different or extreme in any way, but they were unique. The storytellers took ownership and let them out in an eloquent and relatable approach.

So what began as my excuse of not NOT celebrating Valentine’s Day night, actually turned into a noteworthy and memorable experience.

If SpeakeasyDC’s next show is anything like this one, I highly recommend attending.

I’m naïve when it comes to Boston’s arts scene, which is a surprising boon for me as the new theater contributor to The New Gay – Boston.  Why is this ignorance a good thing?  Because I’m in the same boat as most people I encounter.  A lot of people I talk to are kinda’ familiar with the two big houses in town – The Huntington Theatre Company and the American Repertory Theater (where I’m a master’s degree student in theater studies) – but when I ask them about plays or performances, most just shrug and ask me if I get down to New York a lot.

This has got to change.

So I’m using my misadventures in Boston theater to help raise awareness of some of the young, old, crazy, and conservative theatrical goings on here in Red Sox Nation.  To my great surprise – and my great happiness – there’s at lot.  R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe recently opened at the American Repertory Theater, Arts Emerson plays host to the lithe performers of Canada’s The Seven Fingers in their acrobatic PSY, Lynn Nottage’s Ruined is up at The Huntington Theatre Co., Whistler in the Dark presents The Europeans, Afterlife: A Ghost Story haunts New Rep, Nora Theatre closes its Hysteria: or Fragments of an Analysis of an Obsessional Neurosis, and many other shows and companies are mounting productions that I can’t list them all here.

But I’m going to try and cover everything while I’m here in Boston, and try and give you a glimpse of the performance diversity this city has to offer.

Boston’s legacy as a theater center is rich, so there’s no reason why more people shouldn’t take advantage of it – especially queer men and women.  Whether you think it is a truth or a stereotype, theater is an area where we have thrived.  Not just as artists, but as human beings.  Plays like The Normal Heart, Torch Song Trilogy, and Angels in America have pushed our private issues into public debate, contributing to the advance of our personal freedoms.  But it’s not simply out of duty or debt that we should go to the theater; we should go because it’s fun.

I was sitting in U.S. Cellular Field watching a Chicago White Sox game (I grew up in “Chicagoland” and love the Sox) and I thought about how much more fun I was having there than at a theater; but, then I considered that thought.  I saw how short-sighted it was.  Yes, I can drink and yell at a baseball game – but I’ve done the same at The Donkey Show in Cambridge.  Yes, I can sing along to pop music blaring through a stadium’s speakers – but I’ve done the same sitting at a cabaret table while an incredibly hot actor sang his face off.  Yes, there is a thrilling pay-off to watching a runner slip past the catcher and score – but the pay-off of a smart joke, or a devastating truth, is just as engaging.

Finding that theatrical pay-off is the hard part.  When your baseball team loses, you feel cheated; when a play fails to excite, you (again) feel cheated – but for some reason it seems far worse at the theater.  For some reason a bad play is more annoying than a bad game (though when you figure the cost of tickets, and beers, and hot dogs you’re probably taking more of a bath on the ballgame).  A dull play can push us away from seeing theater, which is why I’m here.  I’m not going to tell you what to see or what not to see; I’m going to tell you what I see in various productions.  There are “different strokes for different folks,” so the rules of “good” and “bad” need not apply.  Instead I’m going to report what I see, and what I write, I hope, will push you to towards one of Boston’s many different theater doors.

from www.secondcity.com

The main theme of this show fits in quite nicely with what The New Gay is all about. We’re all our own person–and we’re tired of fitting into a cookie-cutter mold of what we’re supposed to be. Whether we’re queer, a person of color, trans, living with mental illness, living with HIV/AIDS, or a plethera of other minorities that make us unique we are more than a statistic. However, we understands statistics can be useful if used in moderation to gauge the climate of an audience.

One of my favorite skits helps challenge an all too common double-standard: if a man who was known for being a philanthropist was walking down the street late at night, wearing a name-brand suit and was robbed at gunpoint does he deserve to be robbed? The answer: no. He was walking down the street wearing the clothes he chooses to wear. Whether or not he has chosen to give money in the past is irrelevant as he was forced to give money or suffer physical harm.

Try applying this scenario to a woman who is wearing a cocktail dress, walking down the street late at night , who is sexually assaulted. She equally does not deserve to be assaulted. Unfortunately our culture has had less than kind reactions to women facing assault that blame her actions (dress, time of day, what she was wearing), as opposed to the automatic “no, it wasn’t your fault” hypothetical scenario where a man is being robbed.

As a queer female, this play did remind me of many of the politics I encounter every day. Though they aren’t the politics you find on the hill, they are politics of life, love, and family. Like who pays when I go on a date? How do I respond when a customer makes a sexist comment at work? How should I spend or save my money? How do I react when I hear a double-standard comment?

As an individual, my life seems to be a bit unique (yet not uncommon). I live in Northern Virginia and commute into Washington DC to see friends, or volunteer, it takes about an hour and a half. I have a degree from a small liberal arts college and work retail because I cannot find a job in my field. I live at home with my super-awesome parents who have been married 26 years. My life seems somewhat mundane to me, but I do get to do my fair share of fun things. My days at work are spent helping people buy candy and talking to my co-workers. At home I search for jobs, volunteer, and always somehow end up on Facebook. Yes, I’m an individual. But I’m also sure there are plenty of other people with similar lives to me. And “A Girl’s Guide” was a nice reminder of that.

Check out this clip from the Second City Theater on the show:

(courtesy Soho Rep.)

Jomama Jones, if you take it from her, was huge in the 80’s.  She knocked Michael Jackson from the top of the charts for four straight weeks back in ’84.  Faced with the uglier realities of the entertainment business, though, and sick of American attitudes, Jo left the country.  After years of travels a fan letter from a little girl lured Jo back to America, and like an avenging spirit she has swooped back on a nationwide tour bent on reminding us all of important lessons we have forgotten.

Radiate is this allegorical story, told through drag cabaret.  Playing now at the Soho Rep., Jomama Jones leads her audience through this simple, almost archetypal, tale of American fame, fueled by the focused and playful intensity of her afro-futurist music (co-written and composed with the show’s band leader Bobby Halvorson).  The term “afro-futurist” was new to me, but in this case seems to be a bubbling stew of Earth Wind And Fire, Josephine Baker, and Broadway rock.

(courtesy Soho Rep.)

The pared-down production and honest, joyful style of performance reminded me, in the best sense, of watching children put on a musical at home on a rainy day.  It felt as if a little girl (perhaps the very one who had sent Ms. Jomama that fateful letter?) had been to see Radiate so many times that one day she gathered together her friends, rehearsed them dutifully, asked her father to hang a shower curtain in the den, and then wowed her family with a performance of pure exuberance, innocence, and youthful charm.

That is not to say that Radiate in any way feels amateurish.  The songs are so well crafted and so ably performed that in the middle of each you find yourself unable to remember what song came before it, or even to imagine anything outside of the current tune’s broad universe.  Flanked by her Sweet Peaches (a more beamingly energetic pair of songbirds it is difficult to imagine) Jo effortlessly both belts and coos the house down.

During the darkest days of the year, I can think of nothing better to do with an evening than to warm your soul by the roaring fireside of Jomama Jones’ Radiate.

Radiate runs through January 15^th – tickets and more info available at sohorep.org.

Last night in New York the blizzard arrived in full force.

At 7pm I was arriving at the Signature Theater on 42^nd Street hoping the weather wouldn’t keep the show from going on. “The show” being Angels In America, Part Two: Perestroika.

The lobby was packed. Sure, gays were everywhere. All ages. But so too were straight people. Families. College kids. Michael Urie too.  I would love to have seen a flash of the lobby in 1993 when this play first opened on Broadway. A very different chill in the air, I’m sure.

Heavy snow on the roof had caused the ceiling to leak, and a delay in the show’s start time. So as the lobby filled, and the blizzard gained force – so too did the anticipation.

I intend to write a piece for New Year’s about Angels In America and its relationship to modern day life – but I wanted to report what I experienced last night.

After buckets had been scattered around the theater. After people had been shuffled to new, dry seats. After everyone had gotten a good laugh when the theater employee yelled out – “Please raise you hand if you’ve been leaked on.” And after a great round of applause broke out when the lights finally dimmed – the World’s oldest Living Bolshevik stood, hunched over the podium, with a scarlet red flower in his lapel, and with a startling force that surpassed the blizzard outside, he said:

“The Great Question before us is: Are we doomed? The Great Question before us is: Will the past release us? The Great Question before us is: Can we Change? In Time? And we all desire Change will come.”

From that moment on, I sat in my front row seat, riveted, until the end, nearly 4 hours later – when the final words are spoken by Prior the Prophet:

“You are fabulous creatures, each and every one.

And I bless you. More Life.

The Great Work Begins.”

I can’t think of better words to be sent out of the theater with.

And like brave, emboldened souls, all 160 plus of us, bravely pushed open the glass doors on to the 42^nd street tundra and trudged in to the new world, changed.

Thoroughly enjoyable, and yet kinda gross, Wife Swappers, by Cherry Red Productions, at the DCAC.

I was chatting with a friend about the purpose of theatre this afternoon.  We were discussing the reason, the importance of performance, and its relevance to our lives.  True, most good performances are enjoyable.  (For a counter example, watch Requiem for a Dream a few more times.)  But perhaps more importantly, theatrical performance should say something, should make a point, about the human condition.  Truly good performance does both: entertain and make us think about our lives and our interrelationships with one another.  Thankfully, Wife Swappers achieved this goal.

The premise of the play in itself is predestined for entertainment:  a random gathering of friends and strangers converge at a “swingers” party.  Some more experienced participants laugh and reminisce about past exploits, while the newbies are alternatively overly enthusiastic or completely unprepared for what the evening has in store.  As the guests filter in, we learn about their personalities and connections to one another.  Then most of the guests filter into a back room (off stage) where wild, crazy sex takes place.  After the event, the orgy attendees lounge around the stage and discuss their shared experience, and things fly off the hook.  Accusations are made, friendships are broken, and yet somehow life returns to normal, or at least a place where normal can be hoped for.  The human drama that unfolded on the stage at the DCAC Theatre was delicious, funny and thoroughly entertaining.

The introspection provided by this play comes from the relation of the activities witnessed to one’s own life.    This production was ripe with blossoming flesh.   During and after the off-stage sex acts take place, actors walk across the stage in various states of undress.  One might assume that theatre plus nudity would result in an erotic experience.  This, however, was not the necessarily the case.  Thought an attractive man drops his pants within the first five minutes, the majority of the party guests let their ripe-apple guts and pendulous breasts wobble freely in the air.  As I’m sure was intentional, hardly any of the cast would be considered paragons of traditional human physical beauty.  (And despite a few tender moments, few of the characters exhibited much non-physical beauty, either.)  And that, I think, was the point.

This play not only forces you to realize that sex is, well, how should I say, gross. It  shoves it down your throat.  Even the more traditionally attractive characters, lounging around the stage with their hairy scrota and gravity-flattened boobs all hanging about, reiterated this core message.

Despite this dosage of reality, I couldn’t help but be titillated as the majority of the characters joined in a chorus of moans and sex noises off stage, knowing full well that only one of them I’d found attractive.  I was surprised at how easily some simple sounds and suggested actions could arouse more base and primal instincts.

I struggled to reconcile the internal stirrings with the visual image of the sex that was being implied through the groans and slapping sounds.  I realized that, despite sex being a gross and animal act — the hostess, before the party, tells her husband, “Honey, pop a Cert.  Something’s going on in there!”  — it is also about as close as two (or more) humans can get to one another. In that lies the beauty.

Small, edgy theatre is perhaps the perfect venue for such a combination of entertainment and emotional take-home exams.  Cherry Red Productions did a great job of constructing a believable and likable cast of characters who let the script perform its role.  The small, intimate theatre space at DCAC was perhaps the perfect venue for the physical over-exposure of such a variety of body shapes.  The audience, all of whom easily suspended any disbelief, responded quite positively to the hilarity and gross reality of the human sexual experience.  Wife Swappers was a real treat.  Now I’m going to go take a shower.

Wife Swappers, a Cherry Red Production, runs through December 18 at the DCAC.  See the TNG Preview for more details.

Gloria Swanson, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford…Beyonce.  What do all of these alleged divas have in common?  Only the fact that they aren’t diva enough to fill the shoes of Garrett Longo.

In case you were unable to guess from the title, Norma Doesmen is a musical parody of the classic 1950 film Sunset Boulevard starring Gloria Swanson.  Written and directed by Stephen Stahl, Garrett Longo plays the titular role of Norma.

The story takes place in 1949 at a run-down chateau on Sunset Boulevard where opportunistic and hopelessly broke Joe Dillis (played by Benjamin McClung) hides out from the repo men.  Unwittingly, he ends up falling into the lap of Norma, a deranged silent film actress who plans to use the unemployed script-writer as a vehicle for her return to stardom.

Naturally, the highlight of the show is Longo’s performance, due in no small part to his 20-year dedication to the art of female impersonation.  Of course he plays it for laughs, but viewers shouldn’t overlook Longo’s tongue-in-cheek homage to the black and white screen ladies that he perfectly evokes throughout the show.

Viewers also get treated to a surprisingly lush set that perfectly recreates the film noir period.  Plus, the boys might be interested to know that the cute and cheeky Joe spends a good two-thirds of the second act in little more than his skivvies (your welcome).

Overall, the biggest scene-stealer of the entire production, is Norma’s schizo sidekick and manservant Max (played by Matt Collins), who consistently makes you laugh with his smart lines, psychotic charm, and seemingly endless costume changes.  Careful about sitting in the front row, though.  With his throaty German accent, Max is a bit of a spitter.

If there is any disappointment in the play, it is the fact that the musical numbers are brief and don’t allow Jamie McKittrick (in the role of Joe’s narcoleptic love interest Betty) to properly showcase her amazing voice.  But stay on the lookout for the big climax where Betty, Max, and Norma “bring it home” in their big musical number.

A saucy and highly entertaining evening, old school fans of Sunset Boulevard will enjoy the many in-jokes that pay tribute to the original, and younger viewers will laugh out loud at the irreverence of the entire night.

The show runs from October, 20, 2010 through November 7 as per the following performance schedule: Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 8pm, and Sundays at 7pm.  Tickets are $35 (which includes one drink).  For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Society Hill Playhouse’s box office at (215) 923-0210.

March of the Falsettos debuted Off-Broadway in 1981. Falsettoland, written 10 years later, followed in 1991. The two works were united into a two-act musical Falsettos, which premiered on Broadway in 1992. The production earned Tony Awards for Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. In other words, it has a fine pedigree. Ganymede artistic director Jeffrey Johnson directs the production that will run Sept. 10-Oct. 10 at “Noi’s Nook,” a theatre space located in the back of “Go Mama Go” on 14th Street.

I should mention that after reading the informational on this play I rolled my eyes and settled into my seat heavy with indifference over sitting through another AIDS related work of tragedy and human spirit. While I honor the experience and memory of those who lived through the gay holocaust, I’m ready for stories that reflect a gay experience I can relate to, thus my conviction that I never need sit through another work of modern gay cliché is a strong one. This being said, let’s talk about Falsettos.

First, go see it. AIDS tragedy be damned, it’s worth your time. I say this as someone who often receives comp tickets to see productions at theatres with larger budgets and production values, and while I often enjoy these shows I know full well that I’m too cheap to pay my own money to see them. If this sounds like you, then on my word I write that you won’t regret dropping the $30 you might rather spend on vodka and strippers. This production of Falsettos is funny in a way that actually makes you laugh, stays light in spite of often heavy themes, and puts a hum in your throat long after you leave the theatre.

Second, Musical Director Christopher Wingert is flawless throughout the 150 minute show. My boyfriend and I couldn’t help but smile at how tight his arrangements are, and the spirited melodies stayed with us over the weekend.
Third, the direction by Johnson is clever and reveals a simple but appealing use of color (blue) in the minimalist art direction. He captures the magic of the play without overwhelming the small performance space. While I was confused at times by the unfolding plot, the characters embody themes of desire/identity confusion that are universal and will resonate with most audiences.

Fourth, there’s big talent on this small stage. The ensemble barely hits a false note while in Johnson’s hands. The ever exceptional Tony Guddell shines in a touching performance as Wendel, Marvin’s psychiatrist and the man who marries Marvin’s ex-wife and then takes a role in raising the former couple’s son (the adorable Noah Chiet, who steals the show despite seeming no more than 12 years old). Also notable are Marvin’s suffering ex- wife (Lisa Carrier) and his horny (and cute), neurotic lover (Michael Sazanov, in a role relatable for young gay men). Their big, beautiful voices are a pleasure for the audience and do justice to the bouncy music and humorous lyrics.

Overall, Falsettos is one of the more enjoyable theatre experiences I’ve had in some time, and I was impressed by how the intimacy of the space enhanced the production, and I was appreciative of how the the straightforward performances inspired reflective thoughts about the good-hearted struggle to make our relationships work regardless of context and often in spite of ourselves.

Falsettos
Ganymede Arts
September 10th to October 10th, 2010
Thursdays, Friday and Saturdays at 8 p.m.
Sundays at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Noi’s Nook at go mama go!
1809 14th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C.
COST: Tickets are on sale for $30 at www.ganymedearts.org

Ben Franklin and John Adams

Well everyone, it is the Fourth of July weekend, that time to celebrate the nation’s independence, even if we all don’t have our rights guaranteed, as we should. There is still much to celebrate, and so I will. Want to know how I do it every year ⎯ are you ready for the gayest thing you might hear this weekend ⎯ I watch that great musical, 1776.

Do you know 1776? If you’re not a big musical theater queen (no one I know is, nope, nope…….), maybe you’ve never heard of it. It is my pick of the week for the Cinespastic Summer Series.

John Adams sings; Benjamin Franklin dances; Thomas Jefferson has writer’s block because of a lack of sex. In a nutshell, 1776, as you might imagine, is a musical about the tense days surrounding the decision of the Continental Congress to declare independence from Great Britain. As silly as this concept sounds, with a solid script, a hummable score, humor, and fully fleshed out, biographically informed characters, the musical totally works.

John Adams is our lead character and he is both “obnoxious and disliked,” as promised by some very funny lyrics. He’s a demanding jerk, but one with passion for what is right and a deep love in his heart for his beloved Abigail. The scenes where John and Abigail give song to the heartfelt letters written between the two are simply lovely.

A film based on the musical was released in 1972, and I find it to be quite entertaining. All being fair now, I have to tell you that you may hate it, unlike myself, who unabashedly loves it. In its time it was welcomed with a chilly reception from the critics and has been long forgotten by most. But not I! And today, I tell you to go celebrate the weekend with the wonderfully entertaining 1776.

Director Stéphane Braunschweig kept his viewers alert by offering visually stimulating picturesque scenes (reminding one of a Fra Angelico painting or perhaps a tableaux) and a unique interpretation of classic staging. Knowing his stodgy cast, the director tactfully stationed them at various marks around the stage and instead directed the audience’s attention to each central character’s doppelganger – young children who gave life to the action-packed story. This also offered depth to the protagonists who seemed constantly plagued by their allegiances – unsure whether to follow their hearts or be politically correct. In one scene, for example, Don Carlo raises his sword to challenge his father, the King. When the King demands his court disarm Carlo, only Rodrigo (Carlo’s best friend but also the King’s confidante) steps forward. It is not he, however, but his boyish-version who asks Don Carlo to relinquish his weapon. In this moment, the audience stands in Carlo’s shoes, watching as he has no choice but to surrender, not to Rodrigo the man, but to Rodrigo his childhood bosom-buddy. Visually and aurally, it is a powerful moment to behold.

TNG readers might also be particularly intrigued by this opera as it has numerous gay undertones, and some feminist motifs. There seem to be friend pairs that are just a little closer than you would expect from a story taking place in mid-16th century Spain. And, the staging supports this theory. Of course, this is entirely a biased speculation, but it surprised me how often the thought popped into my head.

As I mentioned in my review of Don Giovanni, the Atlas Theater, although somewhat off the beaten-path, is a beautiful space and definitely worth visiting even if not for this opera series.

In case you missed it, the opera will be screened again this Sunday (May 9) at 2PM. You can purchase tickets online at: www.atlasarts.org – make sure to get the special 20% off discount for TNG readers by entering the promo code opera20.

And yet the most interesting, and perhaps accurate, interpretations of this strange nation are those that take a more nuanced viewpoint and recognize the complexities of America’s story.

This weekend, I traveled somewhere very American to watch the birth of a new ballet entitled “Somewhere American, vol. 1.” As I approached the company’s office and studios in Broomfield, Colorado, I was struck by the quintessentially Western landscape that is often illusive a few miles away in Denver. Set in rolling plains and with a gorgeous view of the mountains, it was hard to imagine a more perfect setting for a ballet with this name and theme.

Inside the studio, I met Garrett Ammon, the artistic director of Ballet Nouveau Colorado, and Dawn Fay, his wife and the company’s associate artistic director. Garrett is also the choreographer of the piece I was there to see, entitled “Hemlocks and Primroses.” When the ballet opens on Friday, “Hemlocks” will be paired with a new piece by Lauri Stallings entitled “On The Porch,” which together will comprise the production.

“Hemlocks and Primroses” is set entirely to the classic music of Ralph Stanley – one of America’s bluegrass masters, I am told. Combined with the costuming (tan cowboy-esque suits for men; skirts and striped vests for women), the music tells me that the “somewhere American” the creative team has in mind is definitely somewhere Western.

Garrett informed me later that the entire production was put together in less than six weeks. Ballet companies in the U.S., he explained, have to work faster than many in Europe due to tighter budgets. That seemed fitting given the importance that innovation, ingenuity, and a little bit of luck have have had in the American narrative.

Those same themes remained in my mind as the performance started. The dancers began on the floor in a still, shapeless mass. From within the tangle of bodies a single arm rose up. Like so many times in American history, when a small spark was enough to start a revolution, the other dancers began to move. At first it was a laborious process as they twisted and turned, rolling over one another. But then they began to climb and rise up, pulling one another from the floor as they glided across the studio.

As I began to analyze the movements of the company, I noticed hints of dualistic themes relating to American life. I saw a male dancer sometimes getting support from the rest of his company (being picked up and guided, being carried and saved) and sometimes finding other people to be only a hindrance (while their bodies formed a human mountain range, an obstacle in his path, he had to carefully climb over and find his way out). There seems no better time than our current recession to reflect on the potential as Americans to either help or take advantage of one another.

I also thought that the changes in movement styles seemed to capture the varied ways “freedom” has materialized in our society. Some movement was free but in control, strong and powerful, clearly guided by the intent of the individual. Some movement was free but seemingly without human direction; bodies bent and drifted as if being blown about by the wind, as if their souls had lost control and nature had taken over. And some movement – heavily mechanized, like factory gears or the wheels of a train – showed that freedom sometimes means submitting ourselves to the grind of a worker’s life, or exchanging our personal desires and consciousness to be part of a larger machine. One could argue that freedom in America all too often means being free to be enslaved, be it to people, superstition, time or circumstance.

I was impressed that the performance could elicit so many emotions and ideas given the relatively abstract medium. This seemed to be especialyl notable given that I am not someone who often gives much thought to America as a concept.

Interestingly, much of the performance seemed at least on the surface to be about the paths romantic relationships can take. From the full company of dancers, pairs emerged like happenstance couples at a square dance. In one, I was surprised to get the sense that the female dancer (Julie King) seemed to be leading the male (Sean Watson), at least if you went by the look in her eyes. Later there was a woman (Megan Coatney) intent on pushing away a male suitor (Colby Foss), until he found someone new and she suddenly filled with regret. And there was another distinctly Western female “character” (Sarah Tallman) who took turns lifting up her male counterpart (James Joyner) and being lifted up by him.

I found myself wondering soon thereafter if the American story was not essentially a love story. It is at times heartwarming and at times cringe-worthy; at times reassuring and at times alarming; at times characterized by harmony and at times defined by war. And yet through it all, most of us choose to stay in this relationship – to continue to be a part of the story – because we hope that it will be worth it, that things will get better. It may be irrational, but we hold onto the hope that things will be made right.

The segments of the performance passed in short intervals, as befit a piece set to pithy bluegrass tunes. As the dancers came and went, only to reemerge with new configurations and ideas, I found one final theme crucial to our day and age: All things come and go. There are always collapses, always endings. And yet in time, people will rebuild and society will rise.

As the performance concluded to the familiar lyrics of “Amazing Grace,” the dancers began to shed their clothes until they appeared before us somewhere near naked. They looked more modern and more themselves – young American dancers living here and now – than they had in their now-discarded dress.

And beneath all those abandoned layers, as I listened to Ralph Stanley sing of leaving behind one’s transgressions, I couldn’t help but think that perhaps at its essence the American story is a noble one. Despite all the foolish facades and regrettable wrongs, there was something pure remaining beneath the surface – somewhere steady and hopeful, somewhere American.

Ballet Nouveau Colorado’s “Somewhere American, vol. 1” runs April 16 through 18 at the Lakewood Cultural Center in Lakewood, Colorado, and April 23 through 25 at the Performing Arts Complex at PCS in Federal Heights. Visit their website for tickets and more information.

Home of the Lyric Opera of Chicago

I began enjoying opera when I was an undergraduate at Indiana University.  IU has one of the best music programs in the country, and puts on operatic productions that are professional in stature.  One of my college roommates and his girlfriend (now wife) were both vocal performance majors, and both have been successfully making a career as opera singers for the better part of the past decade.  Through them, I began to appreciate opera, and I have to say it was pretty easy to appreciate.

Here in Chicago, opera is alive and well, and anyone with an interest has plenty of options from giant (Lyric Opera of Chicago) to big (Chicago Opera Theater) to small (Chicago Opera Vanguard, Chicago Folks Operetta).   Since 2007, I’ve tried to attend as much opera as I can, and while I am certainly not an expert, I can say that I have seen some truly amazing performances, mostly at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Opera Theater.

Yes, they can be boring, trust me, I know, but they also can be stunning to watch.  At the Lyric, the grandiosity of the staging is more often than not breathtaking.  The scale of the productions, the pure size of them is so impressive, that any boredom that you may feel is taken over by the images on set.  I suppose, though, we don’t want to forget, that ultimately, it’s about the music.

Founded in 1954, the Lyric Opera of Chicago is not only one of the leading opera companies in the United States, but in the world over.  Their productions are grand in scale, and easily attract the top opera stars.  It is a cultural treasure to the city of Chicago and sits inside the stunning Civic Opera House.

The Lyric and really all of Chicago, is full of great discounts for students.  I was able to go to the majority of all Lyric productions in the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons for $20 for select performances for seats that cost the rest of the public up to $200.  Good deal, right? But then I finished graduate school, lost my wallet with the student ID, and with it, lost all my discounts.  My student discount days are over, big sad face.

Carmen, from the Lyric Opera of Chicago's upcoming season

Oh well, I had a good run and still managed to go to some productions this season as well.  But since the Fall of 2007 I’ve had the luck of seeing La bohème, Giulio Cesare, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Doctor Atomic, Falstaff, The Barber of Seville, Manon, The Pearl Fishers, Lulu, Madama Butterfly, Tristan und Isolde, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, Tosca, Faust, and L’elisir d’amore. That’s a lot of opera.

My favorites? La bohème and Lulu. La bohème is of course one of the most performed and beloved operas in the world and is difficult not to enjoy.  And I love the movie Moonstruck with Cher, in which the opera prominently weaves into the story.  And, as I’m sure most of you know, the musical Rent is based on La bohème, except in the opera Mimi actually dies, and is not brought back to life by a bunch of her friends singing (please, am I the only one who’s that big of a bitch to be so annoyed that they sing Mimi back to life?).  No, in La bohème, Mimi, dying of tuberculosis, coughs her way through her final aria and then drops dead.  Awful, but really beautiful.

And Lulu? Wowsers.  As opposite as possible from La bohème.  The music is not sweeping, lovely melodies­– it is stark and difficult, and the story, well my goodness, Lulu is not really a character that garners much sympathy as she uses men, kills them, steals from them, and so forth.  Well, until she meets Jack the Ripper at least.  It has been criticized for its misogyny and nastiness, and its bleak, desperate view of humanity and the world.  But it’s a hell of an opera, and the Lyric’s production was out of this world.

The worst?  Well nothing I’ve seen is bad, but my God, Giulio Cesare and Tristan und Isolde about put me to sleep for a week.  I can only do so much and nearly 5 hours of opera in one sitting takes a lot of work friends, even with multiple intermissions.  I’m telling you Tristan laid on a rock dying and singing his aria for 45 minutes, I looked around like, “Is no one else wondering why he’s STILL SINGING!!!”

Lulu behaving badly in the Lyric's stunning production

I’m already anticipating next season at the Lyric, particularly because they are performing Carmen and The Mikado.  If you’ve not had the pleasure of ever seeing a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta, they are great and vastly entertaining, with The Mikado being their crowning achievement.

Another opera treasure is the Chicago Opera Theater (COT), who pride themselves on offering unique productions of both classic and contemporary operas, with a twist.  They’re the hip opera company so to speak.  While they offer special programming throughout the year, their season comprises only three operas in the spring, performed at the wonderful Harris Theater in Millennium Park.  As a side note, this is the first performing arts theater built in downtown Chicago in decades, and even cooler­– its underground.  The lobby is above ground, but the rest is deep under Millennium Park.  I’m always amused that those who pay the most for their tickets are the ones who have to climb down and up the most stairs, instead the budget buyers in the balcony.

COT offers half-price subscriptions to students, and I ate this up as well, attending both of the past two years’ operas.  Even when they don’t hit it with their interpretations, they’re pretty impressive, and when they do hit it, watch out because you’re in for a real treat.  There I’ve seen Don Giovanni, A Flowering Tree, Orlando, La clemenza di Tito, and La Tragédie de Carmen.

Their production in 2008 of Mozart’s Don Giovanni was one of the most innovative and exciting opera productions I’ve seen.  The action was moved up to present day and set in a restaurant/bar/strip club.  Yes, a strip club.  And not only was Don Giovanni dragged to hell like he usually is at the end, the production closed with the curtain lifting to reveal him covered in blood, hanging like a piece of beef from a hook in a meat locker.  You could literally hear the entire theater gasp.

This season they have three standouts, once again operas not often performed or done so in a unique manner: Moses in Egypt, Jason, and Three Decembers, and they will be interesting productions.  COT has also just announced their 2011 season: Death and the Powers, Medea, and “HE/SHE”, a performance featuring two song cycles about obsessive love.

Chicago Opera Theater's La Clemenza di Tito

Death and the Powers in particular sounds compelling, with music by Tod Machove and libretto by former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky.  According to COT, this production “will use specially designed technology including a chorus of robots, a Musical Chandelier, and a set that expressively “comes alive.”  Even more intriguing, the production will be designed by Alex McDowell, production designer of Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride, and Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report.

There are opera companies in cities all across the U.S. and throughout the world, if you’re at all interested, I urge you to go take in a production.  If you don’t have access or would like to see the best of the best, the Metropolitan Opera in New York offers a great screening program where they broadcast live, in HD, productions in theaters across the country.  For more information and a full schedule of screenings, click here.

For more information on the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Opera Theater, and for their current and upcoming seasons, please visit www.lyricopera.org and www.chicagooperatheater.org.

On a recent Friday evening in Washington, D.C. I had the privilege of attending a performance of Grease, “The Musical You Know and Love. Only Gayer,” as performed by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C. When I first heard the GMCW was performing Grease I was intrigued to see how this venture would unfold considering the GMCW is comprised completely of Gay Men. Suffice to say, the elephant in the room was handled very well.

Before diving into the deconstruction of what I saw, I want to begin by saying that performances by gay men’s choruses are typically not my thing. Then I want to say that what the Gay Men’s Chorus does for the community, whether you are into it or not, is an amazing thing. GMCW provides a non-discriminatory outlet for identifying gay men to share their talent and passion with each other and with the community. GMCW does not only allow the prettiest, the most fit, and the most talented singers to be a part of their operation, they work with everyone who shows an interest. In everything the GMCW does, they strive to “entertain through excellent musical performance, to affirm the place of gay people in society and to educate about the gay experience,” and I completely support that.

That said, my cynical side initially expected very little from GMCW’s performance of Grease and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself laughing and having a good time throughout the entire performance. From the moment the curtain lifted, the stage was billowing with excitement and passion for a beloved slice of Americana. A huge ensemble surrounded the central cast as the classics were delivered one after another. The motivation behind selecting Grease according to the Artistic Director (Jeff Buhrman) was to, “present a version of high school where gays have a voice and can be cool, confident, dynamic, and where a gay crush is the norm.” This ‘retelling’ foreshadows and fantasizes a realistic future where gay relationships and everyday interactions parallel those of our straight counterparts, and Grease was the perfect platform for this twist.

Watching gay Grease made me realize how much queer subtext the original script contained to begin with. To no surprise this musical was scripted during a time when queer subculture was already permeating the main stream. Though it still had to be slipped into the straight punch bowl through subtle innuendos and understated references in order to bypass the strict ‘family’ motivated moral codes advocated by censoring organizations of time. Twenty years ago, you’d be hard pressed to find a theater that would let gay Grease take stage. While today this seems silly, we are still fighting censor boards to obtain the same rights that straights enjoy. Television, due to its larger reach, has and will continue to be a bigger fight but thanks to plays like Rent (opened January 1996) and Taboo (opened November 2003) among others, placing queer issues and stories on stage really don’t seem to be much of an issue anymore.

Grease opened with a bit of a rough start as the cast charged through Alma Mater and its parody and into the revered Summer Nights. Heavy breathing into the numerous head microphones was slightly distracting but without overshadowing the overall fun being had. The Pink Ladies were dressed like gap commercials in khakis, white shirts, and only shiny pink jackets to differentiate them from their preppy fifties classmates and greaser counterparts. Lets just say I was happy to see this subtle choice rather then dressing the men in drag, which I feel would have defeated the progressiveness of this re-telling entirely. Basic sets shifted and transitioned, Those Magic Changes was delivered then led way to Pajama Party. Here the Ladies frolicked around the room as Rizzo (Richard Weinberg) challenged Sandy’s (Steven Sarno), ‘toughness,’ which re-contextualized left Rizzo challenging Sandy’s ‘masculinity!’ Their catty attitudes and playfulness in allusion to the female roles they were representing allowed them to fulfill the more flamboyant end of the gay spectrum while the greasers were left to represent the more butch, hyper-masculine, gay man. This of course gave the ensemble the responsibility of representing the rest of us.

Re-examining the original script through this gay lens opens a floodgate of analytical opportunity and I could probably spend days dissecting and discussing this. As an added bonus the original script contains numerous whimsical innuendos brought to light in this new context. One that stood out was when Rizzo is teaching Sandy to smoke and says, “hold up the light and suck on it!”

The First act finished up with a somewhat unimpressive version of Greased Lightning, followed by Mooning, Look at Me I’m Sandra Dee, and We Go Together. Ignoring the overall community theater aspects of this production in celebration of the GMCW’s mission, the few problems I will bring to light have more to do with casting decisions then anything else. It’s rare to attend a performance where the supporting cast upstages the stars, though I found that to be the case here. Midway through Grease, it was clear that Danny (Cory Claussen) and Sandy were casts more for their looks than their vocal talent as they were constantly being upstaged by stellar vocal performances by Rizzo, Doody (Richard Bennett), Jan (Chris Council), and Teen Angel (Peter Fox), among others. In pretty much every case I felt the secondary numbers were better than the favorites. On an analytical note I found it an interesting choice to cast a Sandra D. that was taller than Danny Zuko. This choice further pushed the boundaries of gender roles and stereotypes whether it was a conscious choice or not.

The Second Act started with a bang and had twice as much energy as the first. Maybe the cast was just warming up? Shakin’ at the High School Romp led to It’s Raining on Prom Night which was quickly followed by a reprise of Shakin’. Born to Hand-Jive accelerated the excitement in the auditorium. During these numbers the musical’s clown appeared in the form of Cha Cha (Emerito Amaro), the prostitute Kenickie (Clint Novotny) brings to the dance.  Cha Cha launched onto the stage as a flippy latin queen with her blouse hanging open and chest hair blazing! She was over the top and hilarious and easily one of the most entertaining characters of the night.

This was the high point of the production for me and was only upstaged by what followed. The stage filled with smoke and rows of beauty school victims in shower caps and silver hair rollers took the stage as ensemble. A cloud covered ladder rolled on stage carrying Teen Angel who ascended the latter and dreamily delivered Beauty School Drop Out to Frenchy (Peelee) finishing on a truly impressive vocal note.  Things continued with, Alone at a Drive-In Movie, Rock N’ Roll Party Queen, There Are Worse Things I could Do, and Look at Me (Reprise).

Finally for All Choked Up, Sandy grows some ‘balls’ to say the least and emerges a ‘man,’ leather clad, confident, and ready to let Danny into his pants, but only after her peacock dance. Seeing Sandy like this arouses Danny’s leather fetish and Frankenstein falls for his monster. Again I could spend hours examining this scene in its current context! Gay Grease finishes up with the ensemble number We Go Together and all is well at Rydell High.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by the GMCW’s production of Grease and I’d definitely recommend attending future performances by these gentlemen! Upcoming Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington D.C. events includes: Fever on May 8^th and Divas on June 5^th and 6^th.

More info can be found by visiting: www.gmcw.org

A scene from In the Red and Brown Water

If you are not already familiar with the name Tarell Alvin McCraney, you will be soon enough, and most certainly, you should be. The Brother/Sister Plays, a trilogy of plays currently being performed at the Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago, is an extraordinary theater-going experience. Really. I’m talking in superlatives again, and, seriously, for good reason.

The Brother/Sister Plays are beautiful- epic in scope, and profound in purpose. They are based on tales of the Yoruba religion, a centuries old religion from West Africa. The history of the religion traces to slaves who brought the religion with them to America, keeping it a secret, and morphing with the Christian religion of the new world.

McCraney lifts his characters and stories from the gods and deities of the religion and drops them into the “distant present” of the New Orleans projects. The link between the past and the present thematically carries forward the plays, as they span roughly thirty years, but further more seeks to link the stories of those generations past and the way they haunt and inform the stories- still- of the present.

The Brother/Sister Plays are comprised of three plays: In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size, and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet. They are split into two performances, In the Red and Brown Water is performed on its own, and The Brothers Size and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet performed together- so it is necessary to attend both performances to see The Brother/Sister Plays in total. They can be seen in any order, although I would suggest it best to see them in the chronological order of the span of the story, which makes In the Red and Brown Water the first installment. Steppenwolf is performing them on consecutive nights, or as an all day Sunday marathon, the first as a matinee and the others in the evening.

The first, chronologically, and longest, of The Brother/Sister Plays is In the Red and Brown Water. It is also the most powerful. It tells the story of Oya, a gifted young runner with a very real future as an athlete. Oya is met with difficult decisions within both her family life and love life that take her in directions unintended, with consequences to ripple for years. The full ensemble is present throughout the play, grounded by Steppenwolf ensemble member Alana Arenas as Oya. Simply put, she is magnificent.

Playwright Tarrell Alvin McCraney

The second play, The Brothers Size, is much more intimate, with only three characters throughout, carried over from In the Red and Brown Water. It tells the story of the tensions that exist between two brothers- Ogun Size (ensemble member K. Todd Freeman), a hard-working mechanic, and the other, Oshooshi Size (Phillip James Brannon), recently out of prison, trying to become a member of society again. Oshooshi’s friend from prison, Elegba (Glenn Davis) shows up and adds more conflict, as soon it becomes clear that the bond between the two men goes beyond a mere friendship. It is up to the three actors to infuse this play with the deep intensity it demands, and they excel beyond rising to the task.

The final play of the trilogy, Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet jumps ahead to find Elegba’s son, Marcus (also played by Glenn Davis,) as a teenager, grappling with coming to terms with his obvious homosexuality. He looks to the past to learn about himself and who he is, particularly in terms of his now dead father, Elegba, and whether the rumors about him are true. As the tension rises, reports of a major storm, a life-altering storm, barreling toward New Orleans add an immediacy to the action present. Glenn Davis invokes a sadness, longing, and hope to Marcus’ quest for acceptance and truth in a manner that seeps empathy from the stage.

As a whole, The Brother/Sister Plays are a profound theater-going experience, intellectually stimulating and deeply emotionally moving. The interplay of dreams within each play link together an immediate past, a lurking future, a painful present, and a distant time centuries before- its story is representative of the totality of a people- a bold goal, seemingly effortlessly accomplished by McCraney.

The cast carries the material to an even higher level. Beyond the leads, Steppenwolf ensemble member Ora Jones in multiple roles and Jaqueline Williams as Aunt Elegua are particularly strong.  The cast brings such great life to McCraney’s work, only multiplied by the beautiful direction of Steppenwolf ensemble member Tina Landau.

For those of you in Chicago, this is a theatrical event not to be missed. For the rest of you I hope you will also soon be given the chance to see this astounding work.

The Brother/Sister Plays are being performed in the Upstairs Theater at the Steppenwolf through May 23.