MAY 19, 1995 GAY PEOple's ChrONICLE

25

EVENINGS OUT

gay shows

New York theatre season ends with four new gay

by Barry Daniels

The New York theatre season is coming to a close. Over the past few weeks I've seen a group of productions that are typical of the lively gay arts scene in Manhattan.

Dan Butler is a cute middle-aged guy best known for his performance as Bob "Bulldog" Briscoe on the TV series Frazier (which I've

tired police officer, assorted would-be lovers, and a philosophical teenage male street hustler. For all its comic flair and sharp observations, Dog Opera never quite succeeds in engaging the audience in the lives of the two protagonists. There is finally something selfdefeating and co-dependant about their friendship. Gerald Gutierrez' direction is crisp and often witty. The cast is superb with Albert

Macklin as the woebegone Peter, Kristine Nielsen as Madeline and Kevin Dewey as the hustler.

Also at the Public Theatre is the world premiere of A Language of Their Own by Chay Yew, Singapore born, gay, Asian-American playwright. It is a chamber piece for actors that Ideals with the AsianAmerican experience and with gay relationships. It is a bravura piece of writing and has been elegantly staged by Keng-Sen Ong with an all-star cast featuring B,D. Wong (Tony award for M. Butterfly) and David Drake (The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me).

B.D. Wong, Francis Jue and Alec Mapa in A Language of Their Own.

never seen). He is one of only a few TV performers to come out publicly. He is currently performing a one-man show he has written, The Only Thing Worse You Could Have Told Me, off-Broadway at the Actors' Playhouse.

Butler is an engaging performer who deftly creates almost a dozen distinct characters in a group of sketches that affirm contemporary gay identities. The material is best when it seems most personal: thinking about his internalized homophobia as he prepares for a twentieth high school reunion, presenting a recorded conversation with his mother, and coming out to his father. Scenes of childhood memories tend to be coy and much of the rest of the material lacks depth, although it provides an opportunity for Butler to display his considerable skills.

I found the piece to be a bit too bland and middle-of-the-road for my taste, and I was outright offended by his mockery of ACT UP. But, as a light and genuinely affirming evening, The Only Worse Thing You Could Have Told Me provides a pleasant night out. It seems settled in for a long run, and Butler has committed to staying in the part through the

summer.

The Nellie Olesons is a troupe of six young performers (Nora Burns, Mike Jefferson, Tony Markham, Terrence Michael, Maggie Moore and Julie Wheeler) whose latest production, Nellie A-Go-Go, recently opened at the Charles Ludlam Theatre. It is a lively evening of blackout sketches that put a queer spin on pop culture.

The plot of Yew's drama reads like a conventional gay soap-opera flavored with issues concerning Asian-American identity. We follow the relationship of Oscar, an older, Asian born Chinese-American, with Ming, a younger, American born Chinese man. When Oscar is diagnosed HIV positive, the relationship falters and finally breaks up. Both men go on to new relationships: Oscar with a radical queer Filipino student, and Ming with a Caucasian head waiter, Robert. Ming can't forget Oscar. His relationship with the devoted and faithful

The Nellie Olesons:(l to r) Mike Jefferson, Nora Burns, Julie Wheeler, Tony Markham, Maggie Moore, and Terrence Michael.

Running gags include Julie and Maggie as Buddy and Evie, a pair of aged nightclub singers working at a Howard Johnson's in New Jersey; three Nellie Mothers who react to various gay issues; and Mike in drag as a beauty contest hopeful from Hawaii. Sketches that stand out are "Spirit," which features Terrence and Tony as high school cheerleaders discussing their guys; "Byrdland,” with Nora leading a porn-star version of Mister Rogers Neighborhood; "Ax Sha-Kwandra to Ax" with Mike as a phone-in talk show hostess; and "I Tina Too" featuring Mike as Tina Turner.

Although I would have liked there to be a few extended sketches for the sake of variety, the production is genuinely amusing and the company is energetic and talented.

Constance Congdon's new play at the Public Theatre, Dog Opera, is about the friendship between a heavyset, plain, straight woman, Madeline, and a nebbishy gay man, Peter, two "dogs" who live in New York. The play traces a year in their lives and introduces us to Madeline's dotty mother, Peter's father, a re-

Robert sours as he moves towards a life of onenight stands and bathhouse sex. Daniel loves and takes care of Oscar, but Oscar seems unable to return this love unconditionally because a part of him still belongs to Ming.

This is all perfectly banal, albeit convincingly real. But Yew takes us beyond the surface banality of his material through the poetic force of his language and the technical virtuosity of his structure. Act I is a duet for Oscar and Ming constructed as a series of arcs that depart and return to the moment of the breakup of the relationship. As they enact scenes, the characters comment on the action or reveal their inner thoughts in direct address to the audience. Language is both narrative and reflective. Act II follows the post-breakup relationships of Oscar with Daniel and Ming with Robert. Language continues to dominate as Yew plays the two relationships in counterpoint, using solos, duets, trios and quartets.

Frances Jue creates an Oscar who is proud of his Chinese heritage, but he is painfully reticent in expressing his feelings. B. D. Wong's Ming is cute and out-less "Chinese" than

Oscar-but seems incapable of giving his love unconditionally. He tortures himself with guilt for leaving Oscar and poisons his relationship with Robert. As Robert, David Drake is a loving idealist.

Hurt by Ming's withdrawal, he continues to believe a perfect love is possible.

Alec Mapa is engaging and funny as the sweet-faced, flamboyant Daniel. All four actors bravely portray the reality and complexity of the characters' emotions. The subtlety of their work is astonishing.

The Only Worse Thing You Could have Told Me is performed Tuesday-Friday at 8 pm; Saturday at 7 pm and 10 pm: Sunday at 3 pm and 7 pm. Tickets are $35 and can be charged

by calling 212-307-4100. Performances of Nellie A-Go-Go through the end of May are Wednesday-Friday at 8 pm; Saturday at 7 pm and 10 pm; Sunday at 7 pm. Tickets are $12 and can be reserved by telephoning 212315-1797.

The Nellie Olesons will be performing at the Crown and Anchor in Provincetown over the summer, and touring in the fall. A Language of Their Own and Dog Opera are scheduled to continue performances through the end of May at the Public Theatre, Tuesday-Sunday at 8 pm, Saturday and Sunday at 3 pm. It looks like Language will continue into the summer. Tickets are $25. Reservations can be made by telephoning 212-260-2400.

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