Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Pride Performances, Part 2: An escape from the intensity but not the spirit of Pride weekend

• By drediman
• July 2, 2019
• No Comments

Over World Pride, I continued to indulge in LGBT-themed performances that have sprung up from in various forms across New York City. For some – including myself – catching these shows presented a welcome escape from the intensity of the ongoing festivities without having to dissociate oneself from the spirit of the weekend. Here’s an overview of my ongoing adventures, in the theater.

David Cale in “We’re Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time” at the Public Theater.

WE’RE ONLY ALIVE FOR A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME
Off-Broadway, Musical
The Public Theater

Last week, David Cale’s We’re Only Alive for a Short Amount of Time opened at the Public Theater. In this solo musical memoir, Mr. Cale recounts the horrific, fact-is-stranger-than-fiction events of his childhood with a delicacy and objectivism that can only come with time and a removed perspective. The result is a memory play in which his younger self (a coming-of-age gay youth) is just as much of a character as his parents and grandparents – all resuscitated with exquisite color and detail by Mr. Cale. More than just occasionally, Mr. Cale bursts into song. Thankfully, when he does so, the intensity of his monologue and the conviction of his performance blossom further, even if some of the music (played gorgeously by a largely silhouetted chamber orchestra) seem like fragmented strands rather than your typical “well-made” songs. The production is directed with understated simplicity and sensitivity by Robert Falls, which works beautifully for the piece.

RECOMMENDED
Through July 14

John Cameron Mitchell in “The Origin of Love Tour” at The Town Hall.

THE ORIGIN OF LOVE TOUR
Concert
The Town Hall

Those who know me know that John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch – which centers on the relationship between a transgender punk rocker and her protégée – is one of the most influential musicals in all my theatergoing. Who knew musical theater could be this out-of-the-box and authentically punk? This weekend at the sold out Town Hall, I had the great privilege of revisiting the piece in the form of Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Trask’s The Origin of Love Tour, in my mind one of the centerpiece performances of this World Pride. The concert, which has been touring the U.S., is essentially an evening in which the show’s two masterminds share anecdotes regarding the creation of and perform fully rocked-out versions of songs from the landmark musical. Special guests the night I attended (Saturday) included the two original Yitzhaks, Miriam Shor and Lena Hall (both in thrilling voice). All-in-all, it was a sensational and sublimely moving evening commemorating one of the most important pieces of queer theater I know.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Closed

Major Scales and Jinkx Monsoon in “The Ginger Snapped” at Joe’s Pub.

JUSTIN VIVIAN BOND IS YOUR AUNTIE GLAM IN GAY FOR THE GODS / BENDELA CRÈME: READY TO BE FULLY COMMITTED / JINKX MONSOON: THE GINGER SNAPPED
Cabaret
Various

Pride festivities wouldn’t be complete without a good dose of larger-than-life drag performances. Not surprisingly, the drag queens were out in full force displaying their wares in the weeks leading up to and during World Pride – from scrappy up-and-comers working for tips in New York’s various gay bars to established queens working it fiercely. Three performers stood out from the pack – living legend Justin Vivian Bond and two much-loved RuPaul Drag Race alumns, BenDeLa Crème and Jinkx Monsoon. In Justin Vivian Bond Is Your Auntie Glam in Gay for the Gods at Joe’s Pub, the titular queen put on another persona (“Auntie Glam”), resulting in a lighter, more effervescent show than we’ve become accustomed to from the unmistakably droll Justin Vivian Bond. Also at Joe’s Pub, the trumpet-voiced Season 5 Drag Race winner Jinkx Monsoon revived her excellent The Ginger Snapped (performed with her frequent collaborator Major Scales), one of the best drag shows I’ve seen to date. I’m happy to report that the second visit was as good as I remembered it, with Jinkx brilliantly and  uncannily combining old school retro glam with spiky, contemporary banter. Lastly, at the Laurie Beechmen, Drag Race favorite BenDeLa Crème premiered his new show Ready to Be Fully Committed, an exceedingly smart and put-together show (a sort of campy meditation on the institution of marriage). I would have expected nothing less from DeLa.

RECOMMENDED
Drag shows come and go with dizzying frequency

The company of “The Golden Girls Musical Parody – Pride Edition” at HERE Arts Center.

THE GOLDEN GIRLS MIUSICAL PARODY – PRIDE EDITION
Off-Broadway, Musical
HERE Arts Center

Which brings us to the Pride Edition of The Golden Girls Musical Parody, written and directed by Nick Brennan. There’s much to like about this camped-up, pumped-up sendup of one of the gays’ favorite 1980s sitcoms, the sweet and salty “The Golden Girls”. The idea of having Dorothy, Rose, Blanche, and Sophia played by (mostly) drag queens is an inspired idea. But at 90-minutes, the show feels like an over-padded episode that overstays its welcome. Although Mr. Brennan has written some undeniably hilarious zingers, the show loses steam about halfway through. Also, some of the songs are stronger than others (as are some of the performances), and a few contemporary references seem out of place in the sitcom’s era-specific world. But as a distraction from the craziness of the weekend, you could have done much worse.

SOMEWHAT RECOMMENDED
Through July 6

William Moses Hoffman and Robert Patrick in the original production of Mr. Patrick’s “The Haunted Host”.

THE HAUNTED HOST
Reading
Pride Plays Series / Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre

Mart Crowley’s trailblazing The Boys in the Band (the play’s pristine recent Broadway revival deservedly won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play this past season) isn’t the only pre-Stonewall play to have been penned. Sometimes we forget that other playwrights from that era have also been documenting the queer experience, one of whom was Robert Patrick, whose rarely-performed The Haunted Host I caught courtesy of Pride Plays, a festival of readings of queer-themed plays produced by Doug Nevin and Michael Urie. The play is by no means a masterpiece – the two-hander is a tad under-baked and can be cloying – but it’s an invaluable glimpse into the psyche of our precursors vis-à-vis the contemporary gay lifestyle. Thankfully, the reading featured a pair of inspired, game performances from André Ward (who played a jaded, cynical older gay writer) and Rob Morean (who played a mysterious and attractive younger visitor).

RECOMMENDED
Closed