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Go Gay at FringeNYC

August 12, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | 1 comment

Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party

Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party

With over 200 plays and musicals coming to New York City, I have to admit that I am a a bit daunted by this year’s Fringe festival. Luckily they have this neat feature that groups plays together by theme called Staycations, letting you see only gay plays, ghost plays, or straight dude plays.

But, I figure, why not drink away the overwhelming nature of the theatrical orgy with some cute gay thespians?

In case you’re not on any email lists, allow me to inform you that there will be a big ole gay kickoff to Fringe this coming Sunday at 9PM at Vlada. Hosted by “Gay Pimp” and The Big Gay Sketch Show actor Johnny McGovern, the event promises cheap drinks, live scenes from a selection of a number of fey Fringe productions, and something actually fun to do on a Sunday night.

Matthew Shepard, Ten Years Later

August 5, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | No comments

Photos from Australian production of The Laramie Project

Photos from Australian production of The Laramie Project

Across the United States. Over 100 theaters. Honoring 10 years gone by.

Sometimes I take a breath and try to forget that I live a comfortably gay life with little to no discrimination. My bosses and colleagues are gay. Here I am penning a column on a gay blog. I can’t shake a stick or swing a cat or verb any other noun without hitting a gay bar. And instead I take a look at the general rights of gay people everywhere.

And today I’m thinking back ten years. It has just been announced that, to honor the 10 year anniversary of Matthew Shepard’s death, over 100 theaters across the US will perform Laramie Project: Ten Years Later on October 12th.

First, this is a beautiful idea. It couldn’t be more timely. As wedding wars take place across our country – with groups gathering on either side in the fight for equality, it’s good to take a second to realize how far we’ve come.

When it first hit the stage, Laramie Project received a lot of acclaim and attack. Directed by Moises Kaufman and co-created with his Tectonic Theater Project, the docudrama presented the story of the death of Shepard through interviews and first hand accounts from the citizens of Laramie, Wyoming.

Second – it is an interesting idea. The benefit of this being a docudrama, versus a play, means we can go back to the people originally interviewed, and see what’s happening now.

This new production will feature “re-interviews” with some of the same residents in the first production. I am intrigued to hear their opinions on how far we have or have not come.

And speaking of, how far HAVE we come in 10 years? Well, for one, it took that long to get the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime Act to pass. Of course that doesn’t stop people from saying it’s useless. And what will it achieve? There are still crimes affecting us, like the recent death of Norbert Leo Butzes’ lesbian sister. And countless others we may not hear of as gays and lesbians are attacked or killed in obscurity.

Ryan Raftery Brings Chaos to the Cabaret

July 22, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | No comments

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When I first saw Ryan Raftery at Musical Mondays two weeks ago, I mistook him for a quiet, demure fellow. This was until he began dancing to the Next to Normal Tony performance, complete with throwing down a metal stool and yelling at it.

Perhaps you have heard of Ryan. He is the star of “Ryan Raftery and Friends: A Solo Act,” which has already received quite a good deal of critical praise. Admittedly filthy, and not for children, this cabaret-play will be showing at The Laurie Beechman Theatre at 407 West 42nd St and 9th Avenue on Saturday August 2nd.

Apparently he was also in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle. Which is hilarious.

Anyway, I hoodwinked Ryan into an interview while he was waiting for a red eye flight back from California. Hopefully his exhaustion made for that much more exciting of a discussion.

Why is your solo act called Ryan Raftery and Friends? Don’t you think that sounds like a kid show? Or a me-too of Ben Folds Five?

The title of the show is a goof on all the boring cabaret shows that I have seen with titles like “John Smith and Friends” or “An Evening with Chesty McBoring”. Watching these shows made me realize exactly the type of show I DID NOT want to do.

These performers seemed to preface every song with “You know the funny thing about love?” and then they’d sing a love song. It was so boring. My cardinal rule is that you can do anything you want to an audience, but you may NOT bore them.

How do your friends feel about being mentioned, but not actually being in, your cabaret?

“There’s only ONE star of a Helen Lawson production and that’s Helen Lawson! And that’s ME, remember?” (I hope you get the reference)

I didn’t. And now I fear that my gay card is potentially at risk… that happens a lot. You were just in LA – any particular reason?

I am literally at the airport right now waiting to come back to New York. I came out here for some meetings and auditions. I also lived here for a few years, so I have some great friends that I love to see.

Get Off (Off) with Me, Baby

July 15, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | No comments

picture-1Many will say (and I will never disagree) that the Great White Way has sold itself to the highest bidder. Musicals are packed with reality stars. Disney is dominating (but for how long??) theaters like it’s Loews or United Artists. The most original musical you will see is no doubt an adaptation of a blockbuster movie from the 80s (or a jukebox musical of No Doubt’s songs from the 90s).

For many (including me) this is not a problem. It’s fun! It’s frivolous! It’s festive! But all that fudge and cotton candy caroling might leave you with a sugar rush and a churning emptiness in your gut for something with a bit more substance.

Well, this weekend you have an opportunity to see a slew of substantive shows, and on the Great White Way, no less. I’m talking about the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Play Festival, which is currently in full swing at Playwrights Horizons on 42nd Street (across from Mary Poppins and Madame Tussauds, right next to the space that once hosted the travesty known as Young Frankenstein, and future home to the travesty known as Spiderman Turn Off the Night Light on Your Way Back From the Bathroom (or whatever it’s called).

Since 1975, the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Play Festival (heretofore called SFOOBP, which is as silly to write as it is to read) is Manhattan’s oldest continuous short play festival. It is also a great place to see new work that asks tough questions, tackles sticky issues, and leaves you with a feeling of having been changed, even a bit, by curtain call.

If you’re really hungry for the good theater, you can start seeing the plays tonight. There are two sessions, each featuring three or more plays, every day this week, leading up to the finals on Sunday (a delicious marathon of FOUR SESSIONS of three plays each.)

While I can’t attend every night, rest assured that I will have my ass parked in a seat for every single one of the 12 finalists on Sunday. Who will win?

Will it be “Double Penetration,” by David West Read – a play where a male pornstar comes home and shares a bathroom with his mother?

Matt Mager: Rockin’ Wonderland in the Major Key

July 7, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | 2 comments

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Photo: Courtesy of Matt Mager

When we think of rock operas today, certain ones come to mind – The Who’s Tommy, Next to Normal, Spring Awakening, Rent… but Alice in Wonderland? Believe it, friends, because it’s here in New York City and you have only a few chances to catch it.

This week I was able to grab triple threat Matt Mager for a few minutes to talk about his newest project – A Wonderland with the Anonymous Ensemble. The show plays from Wednesday, July 8 to Saturday July 11 at 7PM at The Ohio theater. Don’t miss your chance to see it.

Read on to see my interview with Matt, where we talk about him playing a cross-dressing white rabbit, why he hates Spring Awakening, and how Pee Wee’s Big Adventure would make an awesome musical.

For ticket information, head over to SmartTix.

Hey Matt. Thanks for sitting down with me. Why not start by telling me about “A Wonderland”?

Well, it’s ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ essentially, but obviously you hear the words “rock musical” and you’re going to expect it to be very different. I think it’s edgy in a lot of the ways the original book may have been at the time it was written. The story itself is not really all that kid friendly to begin with, we just kind of dirtied it up a bit and added some dance numbers.

And what are you doing in the show?

I’m the white rabbit. A very, VERY different white rabbit than you’ve seen before. This one wears a dress and high-heels. That’s all I’m going to say about that–come see it to find out more.

Besides an excellent opportunity to cross-dress, what else do you love most about this show?

My first thought was to say “the people I’m working with,” because they’re all extremely talented and dedicated and awesome, but that really doesn’t say anything about the show. Inside the show itself, I really love the music. The music is great. William Antoniou has done a great job of taking the cool lyrics that Eamonn Farrell wrote and converting them into interesting, soulful rock songs. I feel blessed every time I get to sing one. I have 2 songs–the show has, oh, I don’t know, almost a dozen.

Rock of Ages’ Kelli Barrett Brings Her A-Game

June 30, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | No comments

If you saw Rock of Ages before it made its Broadway transfer, you may recognize my interview guest this week.

Photo: Ben Stothmann | l to r William Parry, Kelli Barrett, Cyrilla Baer & Walter Charles

Photo: Ben Stothmann | l to r William Parry, Kelli Barrett, Cyrilla Baer & Walter Charles

The mega-gorgeous and insanely talented Kelli Barrett took a few minutes to gab with me about the important things – namely muffins, juke box musicals, and performing in The York Theatre Company’s 2009 Musicals in Mufti concert series in Knickerbocker Holiday.

This past weekend, Kelli Barrett appeared in the production as the rebellious ingénue, Tina Stuyvesant, who falls in love with a man who “cannot take orders from anybody,” (like me! oooooh burn), Brom Broeck, despite her father’s orders to marry the city’s new peg-legged leader, Pieter Stuyvesant.

Barrett has also appeared in the film Confessions of a Shopaholic as the “Woman in Black” and as “Maddie Coleman” on the CBS soap “As the World Turns.”

Kelli, thanks for taking the time to chat. Let’s start with the basic, have you always want to be an actor?

Oh, yes.  From as far back as I can remember I was putting on one-woman shows in my living room and singing Mariah Carey hits into my Fisher Price microphone.

Me Against the Musicals

June 23, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | 1 comment

hypvent-main_fullMy friends, I have an announcement to make. This may be awkward, but if I have any hope of a cure, I must bring it out into the open. So here goes…

Hello, my name is Justin, and I have Theater Anxiety Disorder.

I doubt you’ve heard of it. It’s a paralyzing mental malady, one only further exacerbated by the fact that I love theater and see as much of it as I can.

Maybe you suffer from it as well. Imagine you’re seeing a play, you’re in the middle of an intensely dramatic moment when suddenly someone drops a prop. A sword falls off the stage and into the first aisle. Or a set piece doesn’t come out. Or someone trips. Or there’s a moment of pregnant silence that just doesn’t FEEL right. Does your stomach explode in vicious butterflies? Do you break out into a sweat? Do you want to scream and pull your hair out?

If not, I’m jealous. Because I do. And it’s terrible.

Take for example this past Friday. My best friend Ricky took me to see Wicked as a belated birthday present. I was so excited; I hadn’t seen the best-selling, critically panned, Tony forgotten musical in almost 4 years. As I sat in the theater just 10 rows away from the metallically menacing Time Dragon, I sang the songs to the show under my breath. The show began and promptly swept me into Oz.

At the end of the first act, Elphaba ran upstage to where she would be rigged to fly.

She screamed, “She’s not the one you’re looking for! It’s me! It’s MEEEEEEE…”

My eyes shot to the top of the stage, ready for that final bit of Defying Gravity, only to find empty space. I looked back down, and there was Elphaba, the only thing raised was her fist.

Ladies and gentlemen, Elphaba didn’t fly. Even worse, she was stuck in her harness, grounded and singing dramatic notes meant for 15 feet in the air. I almost died in my seat. The bald head of a crew member came into view as he undid the actress from her rigging. She ran downstage and belted as the cast dropped to their knees to make her look at least somewhat higher up than them.

Veanne Cox: From Stage to Screen and back

June 17, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | 2 comments

THEATRE // This week my gay heart went a-flutter. I scored an interview with Veanne Cox! And if you don’t know who Veanne Cox is, you probably aren’t really interested in this column to begin with.

Beth Glover (left) and Veanne Cox

Photo/Ben Strothmann | Beth Glover (left) and Veanne Cox

If you do know who Veanne Cox is, then you’ve probably already fainted. I’ll wait for the latter of you to regain consciousness.

Veanne Cox is a Tony-nominated and Obie Award-winning actress who has appeared in New York in Caroline, or Change; Company; The Dinner Party; Last Easter and last summer’s Encores! presentation of Damn Yankees! Her film and TV credits include Cinderella, Erin Brockovich, Marci X and Henry Fool. Veanne recently completed performances as Ruth Condomine in the York Theatre Company’s Musicals in Mufti concert presentation of High Spirits, based on Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit.

The Musicals in Mufti season (which revives musical theatre gems in staged concert performances) will continue on June 26-28 with Knickerbocker Holiday, a Broadway cult-classic from 1938 featuring music by Kurt Weill and book and lyrics by Maxwell Anderson.

I was lucky enough to grab Veanne for a few minutes to chat about Cinderella, Whitney Houston, working with Tony Kushner and to answer a few questions from her Facebook fans and BroadwayWorld.com.

You worked with Whitney Houston in Cinderella. What was a day on the set with Whitney like?

I was only on the set with her one day. She introduced herself humbly to me (as if I didn’t know who she was), said I was doing a wonderful job and I never saw her again.

14 Top Tony Moments

June 10, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | 3 comments

HN, I have failed thee. This past Sunday I did not see the Tony Awards. I know, I know.

But don’t worry. I have surrendered my gay card to the authorities and I am actually typing this entry from the back of a paddy wagon as two bulky men escort me to a theater queen re-programming camp. After a weeklong regimen of watching nothing but company numbers, and a harrowing 8 hours stuck in solitary with Liza Minnelli, perhaps I’ll be fitting of my title as “theater columnist” again.

But just because I didn’t watch the Tonys doesn’t mean the rest of you didn’t. In fact, a ton of you did. And from what I’m hearing, you loved it.  So last night — while I was drinking my 2-for-1s at Splash’s Musical Mondays and belting everything from Newsies and Hair to Wicked and Xanadu — I decided to do a “Boy-at-the-Bar” segment.

I asked 14 boys to tell me their favorite moments from the 2009 Tony Awards. Their answers are all fantastic, and I thank them for trusting me and not assuming I was some creep who was just trying to land their numbers in a dishonest way.  So I’m checking out here, folks. Until I catch up with the Tonys on my DVR, I’ll leave you to last night’s Splash boys favorite moments:

What was your favorite moment of the 2009 Tonys?

That’s What It Means to Be a Father

June 2, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | No comments

Carousel

Carousel

Dan from Next to Normal

Next To Normal

Mary Poppins

Mary Poppins

As Father’s Day grows near, I figured it might be fun to do a roll call of some of the many fathers that have graced the Great White Way over the years. Now this is by no means a Top 10 list, or even a best and brightest collection. No. It’s really only the fathers that came to mind when I set to thinking about it — in no particular order, at all. Feel free to submit your OWN musical father, should you want to — including your actual father, but only if he can carry a tune, please.
–JRZB

 

Mark Snyder | A Playwright Worth A Million Words

May 26, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | 3 comments

m-25If all the world’s a stage, then there must be a bunch of really lousy writers lurking behind the scenes. With the advent of texting and instant messages, language is being sliced, diced, maimed, and utterly annihilated.

Thankfully, we can go to theaters with actual stages and hear elevated language that touches us deep down inside, that teaches us, informs us, challenges us, and maybe even changes us just a little bit.

This week I was fortunate enough to catch up with playwright Mark Snyder. Mark lives a chaotic and creative existence here in New York City, somehow finding a balance between running around the metropolis while also grabbing enough time to hunker down with his computer, creating characters, lives, and drama that make the boring/confusing/chaotic world-stage we live in a little more tolerable.

Mark’s plays include: LILA CANTE, WIPE AWAY, THE BEANBAG GAME, LILITH ON TODAY, and THE SOUNDS OF ICE as well as many one-acts and shorter plays.  For three summers he hosted and performed in Red Light Nights at New York’s The Slipper Room (Firecracker Productions).

His plays have been produced and developed in Chicago, San Francisco, Portland and Minneapolis.  His essays have appeared in ThePeeq and at Maud Newton.com, and he has read new work at Pete’s Candy Store (courtesy of the2ndHand.com) and throughout downtown New York City. Mark was born in Warren, Ohio and can be contacted at: www.myspace.com/markbsnyder.

Mark, every writer has their own weird processes and habits… what sort of weird things do you do before, during, and after writing?

Well, I tend to be an early riser, so I’m at my desk by 5am every day – that’s a little weird, I suppose – but very necessary.  I tend to wrap rubber bands around my wrist a lot, for some reason.  I play with them while I’m working, thinking, walking, eating, etc.

Also, my day job is sitting in an office and my writing desk is in my apartment, so I tend to work out a lot to take the edge off.  And while I sweat, I talk to my characters.  The Equinox gym bunnies don’t know what to do with themselves – particularly when I laugh out loud at something or other.

Wow, I never see 5am unless I haven’t been to bed yet…What’s the hardest thing about being a playwright? And the easiest?

Hardest:  There are so many voices and only so many production opportunities (notice I didn’t say DEVELOPMENT opportunities) to go around.  Making one’s voice heard is a tough job.  If I’m going to be completely honest, finding time to write daily can sometimes be a huge challenge.  I never get enough sleep, it seems.

Easiest:  Supporting your friends by going out to see new plays in the theater.  My favorite place in the world is inside a theater space, so it doesn’t require much arm-twisting to get me to show up.

Michael Carbonaro: Renaissance Man Bares All

May 19, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | 6 comments

Photos: Brad Walsh

Photos: Brad Walsh

GREAT WHITE GAY: Broadway Boy Blogger Justin here with another theater interview. Last time we spoke with Jesse Vargas, musical director extraordinaire. This week I was lucky enough to have a chat with Michael Carbonaro.

A TV/Film actor, magician, comedian, and horse breeder (just kidding, I think…) you may remember Michael from Another Gay Movie… he was the super cute star! Now, I’m talking about the original, mediocre one, not the sequel which I saw last weekend, while drunk, and still found intolerable. He wasn’t in that one.

Anyway, Michael is currently performing in an Off-Bway revival of Sophistry, a return to the stage after his successful debut as the lead character in the smash comedy Jewtopia.
So you’re in this Off-Broadway revival, Sophistry, tell me a bit about it.

Sophistry went up originally in 1993 with Ethan Hawke and Calista Flockhart.  It’s the story of college life in 1991, interrupted by a scandal; a student accuses his teacher of sexually molesting him.  The ‘night in question’ is shown to the audience through two different perspectives, that of the teacher and that of the student.  The two contrasting tales serve as a framework for an exploration of truth and it’s inconsistencies within the sexual relationships of all of the play’s characters. Oh, and it’s a comedy.

Screw the Tony nominees, what about the show?

May 12, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | 5 comments

Will Hugh Return to Host the 2009 Tony Awards?

GREAT WHITE GAY: Last week gay men and theater freaks in New York got up at a normal time, while those gay and theatrical on the West coast had to get up three horrible hours early to hear the Tony nominations. Since that televised announcement, the community has been up in arms – predicting who will win this or that category, lamenting on behalf those who got bitch-slapped out of a shot at the statuette, or attacking and/or defending Rock of Ages (I’m an attacker, by the way).

This is not what we need to spend our time talking about. While who wins what is an interesting subject to debate, there is a far more important discussion that must be had – what does the Tonys have to do to win? Because, while it’s easy for us Manhattanites to think that we are at the center of the gay (and not gay) world, the television ratings for our cherished theater awards program speak a completely different truth.

It is no shocker to any theater fanatic that the Tonys is in trouble. It has always been a very low-rated program, often losing out to gardening tips shows on HGTV and Snuggie infomercials on Nickelodeon Noggin. Even the Tonys themselves acknowledged this last year when they dramatically retooled their format – breaking from tradition and –gasp- allowing shows that were NOT nominated to perform! They even got Whoopi Goldberg to host the show, randomly and chaotically running on and off screen in spoofs of every show that season, ranging from Spring Awakening to The Lion King. VIDEOS POST JUMP.

GREAT WHITE GAY | Jesse Vargas, The Man Behind the Musicals

May 5, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | 6 comments

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STATS: Height: 5'8" | Weight: 150lbs | Hair: Medium brown | Eyes: Dark brown | Hometown: Perth Amboy, NJ

Helloooo Homo-Neurotic! Here we are, back for another Theatrical Tuesday with Great White Gay. So put on your opera glasses and let’s get started.

But first, a note – YES today they announced the Tony award nominations. Any self-respecting theater gay already knows them by heart and (like me on Facebook) has sworn to launch themselves in a rocketship off to outer space if Rock of Ages takes a SINGLE statuette this year. If you HAVEN’T seen the Tony noms, they’re right here.

But I’m not gonna talk Tonys today. This week I’ve got something better than a catty queen’s bellyaching about Billy Elliot.

Last week I showed you the audience-facing sexiness of the Broadway Beauty Pageant and its contestants -– dancers and actors you see every time you hit up a show. But, the studs on stage are just a fraction of what Broadway has to offer in the way of talent and looks.

This week I interview Jesse Vargas, a hot-to-trot musical director currently bringing the roller skating rapture of Xanadu to the fine people of Tokyo. Jesse is a hottie you may have seen, but only from behind (no bottom jokes, please), as he conducts the orchestra at tons of shows both here, across the country, and around the globe. I hope you enjoy! xoJR

So you’re in Japan right now… what in God’s name are you doing all the way out there?
I am the music director of the first national tour of Xanadu . We began the tour out in San Diego last fall, then played Chicago for 3 months earlier this year. After a month off, we will travel to Tokyo and perform the show there (in English) for a month.

Xanadu? How did you land this gig?
I had worked with one of the producers and mentioned in passing that I was interested in the tour when I found out another musical I was working on was not opening on Broadway last fall. I also established a relationship with John Miller, who is one of Broadway’s biggest orchestra contractors, and he called me in June and asked if I’d be interested in touring.

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That’s awesome! Your travel schedule exhausts me… Where else have you been?
In addition to the traveling I just did with Xanadu, I also worked on Peep Show, a new burlesque show running in Las Vegas, directed by Jerry Mitchell. I was out there for two weeks in March.

My projects have taken me many places, as far as Athens, in the past few years. I also music direct for Headliners on gay cruises from time to time, and I’ve been lucky enough to travel (for free) on about 7 cruises, all gay- or gay family- oriented. While music directing for Clay Aiken, we traveled to a large number of cities in the US over the four years I worked with him.

GREAT WHITE GAY | Broadway Beauty Pageant, the Video!

April 28, 2009 in Performance by JustinRZB | 9 comments

img_9716_2Hello Homo-Neurotic! This is your new weekly Broadway Correspondent, Justin coming to you live from heatstroked Manhattan. Hopefully your offices are being generous with the AC because if the Swine Flu doesn’t get you, the hot certainly will.

Unfortunately, I’m not going to be much help in keeping you cool. Because, to kick off my inaugural post here on Homo-Neurotic, I have cobbled together a sexy highlights reel of last Monday’s Broadway Beauty Pageant (formerly known as Mr. Broadway).

Never heard of it? It’s a star-studded Broadway benefit for the Ali Forney Center, a safe haven for LGBT youth. And we posted a ton of photos just last week.

But what about the event? The swimsuits? The talent portion? The swimsuits? The boys? THE SWIMSUITS? Fear not, I’ve got it all here in super-concentrated form. We gays don’t have much time, so this is the perfect bite-sized Broadway Pageant rundown you’re going to find.

It’s four minutes of the boys (James Brown III (Mr. Little Mermaid), Adam Fleming (Mr. Wicked), Anthony Hollock (Mr. Hair), Tony James (Mr. Lion King), and David Larsen (Mr. Billy Elliot) vying for the crown in dance, song, trumpet playing… oh, and swimsuits. And what the hell, I threw in a bonus video for you. It features underwear, cowboy hats and boots… and not much else.

Enjoy, and I’ll see you next Tuesday in my next edition of Great White Gay.

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO POST JUMP.