FEBRUARY 24, 1995 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 23
ON WITH THE SHOW
Milk's life becomes an opera
by Jerry Semas
Houston's Grand Opera has unveiled the world premiere of Harvey Milk, a new opera about the slain San Francisco supervisor and gay rights leader. Composer Stewart Wallace and liberist Michael Korle have created a work which looks at three phases of Milk's life. The first segment, "The Closet," covers his coming out as a gay man and is set in a production of Tosca. "The Castro" follows with Milk's early days of activism, and "City Hall" concludes the piece with his final years as a politician. The score features music inspired by Cole Porter and Mardi Gras music to James Brown and other contemporary sounds. The production will move on to New York on April 4-21.
News from the Big Apple: Edwin Sanchez' new play Trafficking in Broken Hearts has been catching well-deserved attention at the Atlantic Theater Company. The plot centers on a young lawyer named Brian, played by Nell Pepe, who is gay but too scared to come out. In the play, Brian follows a hustler named Papo, played by Giancarlo Esposito (Bakersfield P.D.), into the dark back rooms of an adult book store. The two become involved in a awkward relationship of desire and disdain while Papo continues a sadomasochistic relationship with an emotionally unstable teenager.
New York's Greenwich Street Theatre will host Christopher Marlowe's Edward II as adapted and directed by Tod Pieper. Performing February 23 through March 19, Pieper's version of Marlowe's gay love story will be updated to the 1930s. In other Village news, it appears the the Ridiculous Theatre Company will be forced to relocate. The owner of the Sheridan Square property which has been home to the company for a number of years has not renewed their lease. The company will finish out the current season and hopes to have a new location in time for the opening of its next season.
The spirit of the Ridiculous continues to reach beyond the boundries of New York. The Cleveland Play House will present Charles Ludlam's The Mystery of Irma Vep on February 28 through March 26. Those interested in catching this campy classic can call 216-795-7000 for details.
San Francisco filmmaker David Weissman is trying to secure the film rights to the play The Joy of Gay Sex, which ran at San Francisco's Theatre Rhinoceros through December. Though not focused on sex like the book of the same title, the play is a comedy about the "third sex": gays. Written and directed by John Fisher, the play looks at a group of friends and their adventures in the world of gay romance. If it makes it to the big screen, you can count on a name change.
The film version of Vito Russo's book The Celluloid Closet will feature interviews with some well-known Hollywood celebrities. Those appearing in the documentary include Tony Curtis, Tom Hanks, Harry Hamlin, and Mariel Hemingway, discussing their past performances of gay and lesbian characters. Oscar winners Rob Epstein and Jeffery Friedman (The Times of Harvey Milk) directed the long-awaited project and found lots of support from major studies such as MGM, Universal, Paramount, Columbia and
more.
B.D. Wong and Martin Short are back as
OBFAA
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those campy wedding planners in Father of the Bride 2 for gay producer Sandy Gallin. Also returning are Steve Martin, Diane Keaton and Kimberly Williams.
Denys Arcand's film Love and Human Remains, based on Brad Fraser's play Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love, received the award for best screenplay adapted from another medium at last's month's Genie Awards in Toronto. The comedy-thriller looks at friends in search of romance of varying kinds.
Vanessa Williams will wrap up her run as Aurora in The Kiss of the Spider Woman at New York's Broadhurst Theatre next month. She will be replaced by Maria Conchita Alonso. Gore Vidal is working on a movie script taken from The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton.
Sir Ian McKellen (And the Band Played On) will reprise his stage performance in a new film version of "Richard III," based on his own adaptation with Richard Eyre. Oscar winner Marisa Tomei has been offered the role of Lady Anne and would play opposite McKellen. Tomei recently appeared as a lesbian Soviet security guard in Tony Kushner's Slavs. Actress Amy Pietz plays a lesbian newscaster on the new Warner Brothers network comedy series Muscle. She can be best described as a cross between Alyssa Milano and Marisa Tomei.
In a recent article for Variety, United Artists announced a list of films in development for 1995. Some of the gay-themed projects include two features from producer Mike Nichols: Oscar Wilde, a biography scripted by David Hare, and Birds of a Feather, a remake of "La Cage Aux Folles" which Nichols will produce along with former comedy partner Elaine May. Other titles mentioned were The Next Best Thing, about a woman who asks a gay friend to father her child, then falls in love with another man; and It's My Party, which Randal Kleiser intends to direct from his own script about a gay man who attempts suicide at his own party. United Artists is also negotiating with Uma Thurman (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues) about starring in a film on the life of Marlene Dietrich. The picture would be directed by Louis Malle from a script based on the biography by Dietrich's daughter, Maria.
Roseanne has secured the rights to develop a U.S. version of the British hit comedy series Absolutely Fabulous. The first pilot version is expected to be completed by April in a deal with Warner Brothers. Though Roseanne has a four series development deal with ABC, there is a chance the show could end up airing on the new Warner Brothers network. Actress and comedian Jennifer Saunder, star of the original series, will serve as a consultant to the American version.
Almost a year after its completion, the Australian film version of David Stearns play The Sum of Us opens across the U.S. next month. The picture is a close-up look at the relationship between Harry (Jack Thompson) and his gay son Jeff (Russell Crowe). Jeff enjoys a healthy dating lifestyle yet his dad, Harry, seems more content on sticking his nose into his sons relationships than developing any of his own. One clip from the movie trailer features Jeff asking "Is that when grandma became a dyke?" Harry responds, aghast, "Your grandmother was never a dyke! A lesbian, maybe."
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