Entries from July 2009

July 29, 2009

News: I’m directing “Groupies” in FringeNYC

In the spirit of what my peeps over at GaySocialites.com call “shameless self-promotion,” I’m directing a play in the Fringe called GROUPIES, and I’d very much like all you “drama queens” to come see it!
Here’s the info:
GROUPIES
at The Studio @ Cherry Lane Theatre
At FringeNYC
Fri August 14 8:45 pm
Sat August 15 1:45 pm
Wed August 19 7:00 [...]

July 24, 2009

Review: Phantom of the Opera

I have to say right off the bat that I’ve never been a big fan of the music from Phantom. In my other life as a theater practitioner (hey, some critics know what they’re talking about), I’ve had more than a few green room goonies thrust the Original Cast Recording in my face saying “hey, [...]

July 19, 2009

Review: Old Queen

There couldn’t be a more perfect show for my first review at GaySocialites.com than Old Queen.  In this moving, often hilarious performance art piece, Penny Arcade laments that today’s young queers (and queens) have more information at their fingertips than ever, but what they lack, she speculates, is context. Providing that larger picture, when she [...]

July 17, 2009

(Big) News: I Join GaySocialites.com

I am now the exclusive theatre critic for GaySocialites.com, a popular, lively Google News-listed web site based in New York City. See the announcement here:
http://gaysocialites.com/2009/07/gaysocialitescom_goes_to_the_t.html
Their motto is “More than Gay News for Gay Men” and its content truly reflects that motto. It is smart and timely; I believe in it, and think it represents a [...]

July 17, 2009

Review: Vanities

It’s a bad sign for a musical when you’re listening to the songs waiting on the edge of your seat for the dialogue to return. The engaging story of Vanities centers on the lives and friendship of three women who first become friends as Texas high school cheerleaders in the early 60s. Over time, stretching [...]

July 15, 2009

Review: Mamma Mia

New York theatre critics are such bitches! I used to ignore theatre reviews for any given show until I’d written my own, but with a high-profile show like Mamma Mia I inevitably got wind of what my colleagues are saying—and their negativity about Mamma Mia genuinely surprised me. From the concept alone, it’s clear that [...]

July 14, 2009

News: Hair Joins National Equality March

In an unprecedented move, the producers of HAIR: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical have announced they are canceling the show’s Sunday, October 11th performance so that the entire cast can join the National Equality March in Washington, D.C.  The announcement was made this evening by the cast of HAIR at a spirited rally in Los [...]

July 11, 2009

Review: Jenna Esposito Sings Connie Francis

 
Connie Francis is perhaps best known for the song “Where The Boys Are,” a perennial favorite among gay men for obvious reasons—who doesn’t want to know where the boys are! But she was a truly multi-talented and versatile performer equally capable of growling blues and down-home country, and she’s still in the top echelon of [...]

July 11, 2009

Review: Thank You for Being a Friend

There’s a cute show somewhere in “Thank You for Being a Friend,” an unauthorized musical parody of “The Golden Girls.” That show would have the same cast and a trimmed version of the same script, but these crazy kids would have to bust their butts rehearsing to transform the uneven mess currently on the stage [...]

July 10, 2009

Review: The 39 Steps

Thank goodness the small and charming 39 Steps is now playing at the small and charming Helen Hayes Theatre. The first time I saw it at the American Airlines  Theatre, I felt like I was just seeing it in the wrong theater. That’s decidedly the case with this very physical British comic import. Based on [...]