Offered through the lens of a debauched 1930s Vienna, the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Measure for Measure is thinking well outside the box. Using a cabaret as prologue (arrive early to catch this pre-show), Shakespeare's tale of tortured principles and hypocrisies-revealed is put into vivid, original context. It's a context that – along with some carefully placed, if silent, references – imbues this 400-year-old play with robust relevance. Like these modern Viennese, we too live in a culture steeped in a confusing stew of sexual liberation and exploitation, alternately indulged and condemned by certain of the ruling class who imagine themselves as pious as the Pilgrims.
Thus the play delivers a potent message of hypocrisy and is arguably one of Shakespeare's most contemporary. Still, there is plenty typical of the bard here, including disguises (that challenge credulity), trickery (ditto) amid a masterful blend of clever comedy and gloomy despair.
Measure for Measure
(Photo by Scott Suchman)
Surprising his staff, the Duke Vincentio announces that he will be disguising himself as a monk so that he may observe his people undetected. Equally surprising is his deputizing of the strict and puritanical Angelo to enforce the law in his absence. Crisis immediately ensues when Angelo begins his reign by condemning to death the young Claudio for impregnating his fiancée, Juliet. When Claudio's sister, Isabella, a novice preparing to take her vows, pleads with Angelo for Claudio's life, Angelo discovers that he is prey to a far more unbridled desire than Claudio. The monk/Duke soon discovers Angelo's secret: that he has demanded Isabella sacrifice her virginity (and thus her Immortal Soul, as she sees it) to save her brother and he sets in motion a plan to hoist Angelo by his own petard.
With well-conceived vision, director Jonathan Munby keeps the themes clear and the pace flowing. And though there is some turbulence in the way the standalone cabaret segues without pretense into the play, its subtext offers Munby's original (if a tad pandering) take on the deeper reasons behind the Duke's disguise. Without giving away Munby's motive, suffice it to say that while the Duke sees how the other half lives, he will be forced to see how he lives.
Launching the plot, following it and then manipulating it, the monk/Duke is an important constant in the proceedings and Kurt Rhoads carries the role well. Offering a certain Yves Montand-like charm, he brings the gravitas and often the subtlety needed to keep the Duke from becoming wooden, even if he does not always loose himself in the language.
Another constant here is Lucio, the cabaret emcee and all-around hedonist who serves as moral and comic counterweight to the Duke. Played with a campy cleverness that is far harder to pull off than it looks, Cameron Folmar is a standout for his comic edge. But even more importantly, Folmar is so at home with the genre and the language. He delivers his character like he owns it; a rare treat.
Equally strong in a different way is the compelling Miriam Silverman as Isabella. Though the novice's rather chronically pious outrage could easily grow tiresome, Silverman brings an understated honesty to Isabella that keeps her fresh and affecting. Like Folmar, her facility with the language is transformative. For Folmar it results in Lucio's easy naturalism. For Silverman, it brings the poetry and potency of Isabella's personal trial.
Beyond these three, the cast remains strong, if somewhat uneven. As the dastardly Angelo, though Scott Parkinson is always comfortable with the language, he doesn't give much color to Angelo until he turns nasty – even if he is memorable once there. And though he brings all the right energy and emotion, Avery Clark cannot yet yell with nuance (and, yes, it can be done). Both Eric Martin Brown and Jack Wetherall acquit themselves well as the Provost and Escalus, even if neither quite meets the difficult challenge of giving dimension to these more thinly drawn characters. Delivering the best of these smaller roles, Chris Genebach gives his genial degenerate Pompey an enjoyable counter-culture vibe and, once in full swing, shows he can deliver his Shakespeare (as well as having the kind of charisma that belongs in the next AMC blockbuster; and that's a compliment).
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
To Oct. 27 Lansburgh Theatre 450 7th St. NW $40-$100 202-547-1122 www.shakespearetheatre.org In the even smaller roles, Dan Istrate is as clever as he is giggle-worthy as the repugnant Barnadine; Katie deBuys keeps her beleaguered fiancée Juliet just as large and real as she should be; and Naomi Jacobson's bawdy Mistress Overdone is as fun as she is convincing. Finally, Natascia Diaz is quietly compelling and mysterious as Mariana, the woman Angelo has left behind. Though these roles may offer only a handful of lines, done with such imagination and artistry, these players fill every corner of the production with something fun or wonderful to watch.
And Munby gives us one thing more. Dancing the cabaret, making up its waiters and audience and then playing the extras throughout, the ensemble here does more than just support the action. Whether as onlookers, paid performers, victims or witnesses to the hypocrisies of their world, each as easily as any Claudio or Isabella, is vulnerable to being singled out. Munby offers not just a faceless, nameless ensemble. Though they may be decades younger, fitter and prettier, they are us.
...moreSometimes it's the sheer audacity of an actor that draws you to a particular play. In Eric Coble's new work The Velocity of Autumn, now playing at Arena Stage in what's billed as a pre-Broadway run, you get a double dose of audacity in the work of Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella.
Parsons plays Alexandra, a 79-year-old, free-spirited widow. Spinella is her long-estranged youngest child, Chris, a similarly free-spirit in his late 40s. They are the only two characters in the play, and they're onstage for its entire duration, 95 minutes with no intermission. And most of the time they're in heated conversation, with much rapid-fire dialogue and the constant threat that at any second they might explode, literally. A combustible Alexandra has barricaded herself in her Brooklyn brownstone in a sort of solitary confinement. She's surrounded by homemade explosives that she's prepared to ignite – lighter always at the ready – if her two unseen oldest children don't stop threatening to ship her to a nursing home. Her one request is to spend her dying days at home, alone.
Velocity of Autumn: Estelle Parsons and Stephen Spinella
(Photo by Teresa Wood)
So much of Coble's dialogue is realistic and relatable, and no doubt Alexandra will remind you of your mother or grandmother, or another strong-willed member of your extended family struggling with senescence. And Chris just might be a stand-in for you: a middle-aged gay man who fled the family coop a long time ago and has decided to try to rekindle ties before it's too late.
At its best, The Velocity of Autumn will provoke many thoughts and questions about individual rights and family responsibilities, and the power struggles inherent in getting old and losing personal autonomy. But it's better to keep those thoughts on a general or philosophical plane, or at least aimed squarely on your own personal situation, and not on the particulars of the play itself. The relative lack of realistic dramatic action in Coble's play may leave you wanting. You may not know exactly how it's going to end, for starters, but you just know Alexandra will not blow herself and her world to bits, the notion being pretty implausible. Coble could have more effectively heightened dramatic tension – as well as painted a fuller, richer, more complex family portrait – by writing parts for Alexandra's other two children. After all, they may not "get" her the way Chris does, but unlike him they have stayed close to her through the years and have seen things that he hasn't. The play would be stronger if the entire family had it out, with the two older kids explaining why they're dead-set on putting mom in an old-folk's home against her will, and Chris being allowed to fully realize his potential as family mediator. Instead, Chris only takes some of his siblings' increasingly hostile phone calls while visiting mother, and the oldest kids don't see what we see: that their lack of respect and understanding for Mom is at the heart of the problem.
THE VELOCITY OF AUTUMN-1/2 To Oct. 20 Arena Stage $40 to $90 202-488-3300 arenastage.org Still, you'll have plenty to think and talk about from Arena Stage's production, from set designer Eugene Lee's finely detailed set, as cluttered and lived-in as you'd expect, to the personality-fitting clothes Linda Cho designed for the characters: fiery but fashionable for Alexandra, muted and tentative for Chris. The key selling point, however, is the sharp, superb acting on display, and the way director Molly Smith has helped the actors bring the characters and their relationship to life. Working together, the award-winning veteran stage and screen actors Parsons and Spinella have natural chemistry and a perfect sense of timing. It's easy to forget that they're not really mother and son, or that they're not really speaking off-the-cuff. They relive memories together and respond to each other as naturally and fearlessly as if they were the real deal.
Parsons and Spinella definitely "get" each other and their characters, which ultimately makes the getting good for the audience, too.
...more"I do see people, I guess, being more beard-positive," David Brown says with a laugh. "I think people kind of understand what the term 'otter' means now."
This Friday, Oct. 4, Brown will throw the second anniversary bash of his first-Fridays monthly party at the DC Eagle, called "Otter Crossing," which is geared toward hairy gay men, slimmer than bears, and their admirers. But the party was always intended to appeal to everyone, hirsute or hairless. "The whole purpose of the party in the first place was to bring people together," Brown says, "to break down some of those barriers that exist between different parts of the gay community."
Otter Crossing at The DC Eagle
(Photo by Ward Morrison)
In two years Brown feels the crowd has gotten both more diverse and more comfortable. "Every month we still have new people coming in," he says. "It's their first time at the event, their first time at the Eagle. When we first started I think some of the Eagle regulars were weary of the new folks. Now I think it's well-integrated and everyone really enjoys hanging out with each other."
Brown is especially proud of the charitable tie-in to the party. In two years Otter Crossing has raised about $10,000 for charity, donated to local nonprofits including the HIV hospice Joseph's House in Adams Morgan and Whitman-Walker Health. Brown also singles out the way the party subtly gives attention to local DJs. Since the Eagle doesn't have a license allowing live DJs, Brown requests pre-recorded "otter track" sets from DJs as diverse as Bil Todd, CTRL and Tommy Cornelis, who will supply the tunes for the second-anniversary party.
This Friday's festivities kick off with free drinks from 9 to 10 p.m., and all night long the gay Washington Scandals rugby team will offer alcohol shots in exchange for donations. The party also sees the return of the Best Beard competition, with the winner, picked chiefly by audience vote, earning $75.
You can't get more beard-positive than that.
Otter Crossing's Two-Year Anniversary is Friday, Oct. 4, starting at 9 p.m. The DC Eagle, 639 New York Ave. NW. Call 202-347-6025 or visit dceagle.com.
...moreJose Lagares said his tactic of making his son stand on a street corner with a sign proclaiming he's a bully was an effective way to curb the boy's behavior.
Meanwhile, a state official said that extending marriage benefits to same-sex couples was like 'giving money to people's pets.'
Members of Azusa Pacific University's gay-straight alliance, Haven, wore shirts and carried banners declaring 'We Stand With Adam' before and after the daily chapel service on campus.
BRIDEGROOM is the MUST SEE LGBT Movie of the year!
It started with a heart wrenching video that went viral overnight. On May 7, 2012, the anniversary of Tom’s death, after a year of documenting his own grief, Shane decided to make a video tribute to his partner entitled “It Could Happen To You.†This film, posted on YouTube, received over 3.4 million views and has been translated into over 20 different languages. The impact of Shane’s YouTube video and the raw nerve it touched, tells us this is an important story that needs to be told.
With the incredible support from influential people like Brad and George Takei and Neil Patrick Harris, Bridegroom was successfully funded on July 19, 2012 by over 6,500 people on Kickstarter.com becoming the most funded documentary in the history of crowd funding, and released in the fall of 2013.
BRIDEGROOM is a documentary directed by Linda Bloodworth-Thomason that tells the emotional journey of Shane and Tom, two young men in a loving and committed relationship â€" a relationship that was cut tragically short by a misstep off the side of a roof. The story of what happened after this accidental deathâ€" of how people without the legal protections of marriage can find themselves completely shut out and ostracizedâ€" is poignant, enraging and opens a window onto the issue of marriage equality like no speech or lecture ever will.
OWN Network will premiere the movie October 27th!
THE STIRRING DOCUMENTARY BRIDEGROOM TO BE AVAILABLE
FOR ALL NETFLIX MEMBERS IN LATE OCTOBER
NOW!“This is really, on one level, a wonderful, sad, heart-breaking yet exhilarating and life-affirming story, and on another level, it’s a story about our nation’s struggle to take one more step in forming a more perfect union, for which marriage is both the symbol and substance,†said former President Bill Clinton of the film.
Shane Crone also added “BRIDEGROOM is not about revenge or politics. It is a film about love, forgiveness, and about finding the courage to be who you are when the world says you shouldn’t. This is my fairy tale, and Tom is, and always will be, my happy ending.â€
BRIDEGROOM Official site
Bridegroom on Facebook
For those who don't know me, and that would be a lot of you, I'm a bibliophile. My vast array of bookshelves is stacked with dozens of audio books, causing the shelf to topple over like a lopsided tower. I love books, and I love the character developments, the plots, and thriving stories hat books can hold between the spines. I've read some amazing books, and then again I've read some books that I've never want to speak of again because it leaves a bad ringing in my ears.
I never usually get into erotica books, but with the eloquent urging of all my hip unliterary friends I decided that I'd read fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James. I want to see just why this book is so very popular. I get recommendations from people all the time on Goodreads, so why is this book so popular? Is it the dashing romance, the zesty sex scenes, or the riveting character depth? I don't know.
Usually when I look at a book, I look at the synopsis of the book to try and gage what I'll be in store for. I wonder what the back of this book says.
When literature student Anastasia Steele goes to interview young entrepreneur Christian Grey, she encounters a man who is beautiful, brilliant, and intimidating.
Is it just me but after twilight by Stephenie Meyer came out all the men seem to have the same abusive controlling elements as Edward? I don't know. This does sound interesting though. Nothing about gay black men or even straight black men for that matter. I'm sad now… I need Morgan freeman to hold me and give me God powers. I need to have Denzel Washington wrap me up in a nice bear hug and have his sexy new Yorkers voice put me to sleep with him reading my Miranda rights…
"You have a right to have sex wit me. Anyting you say will get me hard and then I'll have to arrest you with my passion… anyway… Let's keep reading!
Over the last few years, Clint Holmes has established himself as a cabaret artist of great sensitivity and intelligence in his annual residencies at the Cafe Carlyle. Holmes has been a Las Vegas performer for some time, but exhibits none of the negative qualities you associate with Vegas. He only has the good Vegas stuff: […]
The post Cabaret Review: Clint Holmes appeared first on GaySocialites.com.
Jonathan Warman will direct a reading of the Broadway-bound new musical The Happy Hooker, which will be presented October 7 at The Cutting Room in Manhattan. First published in 1971, Xaviera Hollander’s memoir The Happy Hooker: My Own Story (co-written with Robin Moore and Yvonne Dunleavy) has now sold over 20 million copies. Producer […]
The post Jonathan Warman directing reading of Broadway-bound musical “The Happy Hooker” appeared first on GaySocialites.com.
A judge ordered that state officials in New Jersey must begin allowing same-sex couples to get married beginning October 21st. Judge Mary Jacobson in Mercer County Superior Court issued her order in a lawsuit filed by a group of gay couples against the state of New Jersey. The judge said that although New Jersey recognizes […]
The post Judge rules in favor of gay marriage in New Jersey appeared first on GaySocialites.com.
The New York Times released the following documentary this week titled, “Hers to Lose: A Look at Christine Quinn’s Failed Campaign for Mayor.” The video takes a look at the openly gay Speaker of the New York City Council’s final month on the campaign trail. When the times first started following Quinn for this piece […]
The post Documentary on Quinn’s failed NYC Mayoral bid released [VIDEO] appeared first on GaySocialites.com.
Drag queens invaded Atlantic City over the weekend, and Victoria ‘Pork Chop’ Parker took home the title of 2013 Miss’d America. Parker is no stranger to drag fans. She was a contestant on the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. In the contestant Q&A segment, Victoria said she would attend next year’s Miss America Competition […]
The post 2013 Miss’d America crowned appeared first on GaySocialites.com.
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