The Best Gay Play EVER

Whilst in Chicago a couple of weeks back, my friends surprised me with tickets to the About Face Theatre's production of "Take Me Out" at the Steppenwolf Upstairs Theatre. The play had been getting rave reviews in Chicago media and my friends Doug and Larry decided to make seeing it part of my weekend in the Windy City (along with ""Wicked" see previous blog).

Okay, before I go any further, I should say that I love live theatre. Love it. Make it a well-acted play with intelligent dialogue, acted by consummate professionals and I am happy as a pig in, well, you know .

Now, throw in hot men (who are consummate professional actors) exhibiting full frontal male nudity and, well, I just might collapse from "the vapors" before the evening has concluded.

"Take Me Out" had all of this. The story, about a gay baseball player who comes out of the closet and the repercussions of this decision to his teammates and friends, is craftfully written. The dialogue sparkles, even when it is the dialogue of a cromagnon Southern redneck relief pitcher phenom. The characters are believable and the story, although a tad rushed in places, keeps the audience engaged and committed.

And then there's the nudity. Don't get me wrong -- I would have loved the play without the nudity. With it, I gained an experience that will keep me warm and happy for months to come. The play is staged primarily in the team's locker/shower room. The first actor to walk onstage starkers was Danny McCarthy as Toddy, a slightly pudgy, unremarkable everyman. I fell in love with him immediately.

Almost every actor in the play (every player on the ball team) appeared nude at some point - virtually all of them at once during a shower scene. Two of the leads, Kyle Hall as Kippy and Derrick Nelson as gay ballplayer and central character Darren Lemming, were unbelievably talented actors and eye-poppingly hot men. Hall's chiseled, hairy, sinewy body and Nelson's dark, muscular body (and their nature-blessed genitalia) made me happy to be gay. Also notable in the acting/hot body department was Kyle Hatley as redneck Shane Mungitt. (Mothers, if you want your boy-childs to grow up to be talented actors and/or potential centerfolds, apparently the best name for them is Kyle.)

On the non-nude front, actor Tom Aulino's portrayal of neurotic CPA Mason Marzac was an energetic delight. He perfectly captured the character's nervous, obsessive behavior and the isolation that kind of personality often creates. Bravo.

Bravo to everyone involved in this production. It was a feast for the eyes... and the soul.

Wicked: A Proposal for a Better Ending to the Musical

After listening to Stephen Schwartz's fantastic "Wicked" soundtrack for over a year, I finally went to see the traveling production in Chicago last weekend. Although the Elphaba role was played by an understudy for our performance, and Nessa's wireless microphone failed for the entire Boq transformation scene, the staging was still marvelous, the music satisfied my soul, Carol Kane shone as Madame Morrible and the show was almost everything I hoped it would be.

Almost.

(Spoiler Alert: If you've never seen the musical and don't want to learn the details of the show's surprise ending, read no further.)

I have one problem with Wicked: The Musical. The creators of the show decided to depart from Gregory Maguire's original story (or L. Frank Baum's, depending on your point of view) and give it a stereotypical "happy ending." Now, this in and of itself, while a tad annoying, doesn't bother me overly. I understand that to pander to the unwashed masses, you can't create a sympathetic heroine (anti-heroine?) and then kill her off at the end, just like that. I don't necessarily agree, but I understand. I likewise don't necessarily agree with the revelation that Elphaba is the Wizard's daughter as this so such a HUGE departure from Baum's narrative.

While Maguire's OZ is a self-contained universe, it is at its base a dertivative of (and homage to) the long tradition of Baum and his successors. Ending the musical with Elphaba having survived her apparent liquification via a trap door and walking off into the sunset with Fiyero/The Scarecrow, never to be seen again, is a slap in the face to all the wonderful OZ stories that followed The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The Scarecrow remained a vital part of Oz lore -- indeed, in both the book and the movie musical starring Judy Garland et al, the Scarecrow was left in charge by the departing Wizard.

Here's a scenario that makes much more sense, retains the "happy ending" demanded by popular culture and keeps Baum's legacy intact:

Preparing to confront Dorothy and her companions for the final encounter, Elphaba begins intoning the same enchantment she used to save her lover, Fiyero's, life earlier in the show. When Dorothy throws water on her, the chant becomes mingled with cries of "I'm melting," etc.

When the Scarecrow releases Elphaba from the trap door, it is revealed that the spell transformed her into Scraps, The Patchwork Girl of Oz. In the Baum books, Scraps became very close to the Scarecrow because of their shared origins as tatterdemalions. Fiyero and Elphaba know they have to leave Oz for a time and will have to forever keep secret Elphaba's transformation. One thing will make that easier -- her transformation cost Elphaba her natural ability to wield magic! There can be no turning back!

So, what do you think?