12 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE JULY 24, 1998

EVENINGS OUT

Operatic original of Rent to be presented in English

by Richard Berrong

Cleveland-For its third and final production of the summer, Lyric Opera Cleveland will present one of the most romantic works of the lyric theater, Giacomo Puccini's La Boheme. Though they are retaining the original French title, which refers to the world of counter-culture bohemians, Lyric Opera will perform the work in English.

La Boheme is just over a century old, but its story still speaks very directly to modern audiences, including gay ones. John Muriello, an openly gay baritone who will appear in the role of Marcello, reflected on this when I spoke with him recently.

Rent, Broadway's current hit, shows how the work can be adapted with specifically gay characters. The original opera is also about chosen, extended family, however, and those who do not worry about social conventions. It deals with how such family bands together to provide support, especially upon the death of a loved one.

The work is not all tragedy, however. Muriello described the boisterous roughhousing of the four men who live together in a garret, playing at sword fights even when they do not know where their next meal is coming from. He noted that this production will focus on the individuals, playing down the public choral scenes and using a reduced orchestra so that the individual singers' words can be heard.

The modernity of the work will be made that much clearer by the colloquial English translation. It has been designed to convey the conversational nature of the original. In fact, Muriello expressed his hope that audiences would become so caught up in the real, visceral nature of the production that they would not even be aware that the words were not just being spoken, as in real life.

John Muriello

Though he is a member of the voice faculty at the University of lowa, Muriello has maintained a very active performing career, appearing around the country in opéra, operetta, and musicals in a wide range of roles.

He has appeared several times previously in northeast Ohio. With Lyric Opera he has performed in Rosina, La Belle Helene, Postcard from Morocco (he was the man in the towel, he recalled with a soft laugh), Most Happy Fella, and this summer's Into the Woods. With Ohio Light Opera he has assumed a dozen different, mostly comic roles.

Perhaps none of his performances has been more outlandish, however, than his several appearances with La Gran Scena Opera, a comedy troupe that does opera spoofs in drag. For them, Muriello assumed the role of Miss Sylvia Bills, a take-off on

soprano Beverly Sills, who serves as hostess and narrator for the evening.

Muriello enjoyed creating his version of the female diva on stage in places as far away as Australia. He also got a kick out of the reactions in his own, blue-collar neighborhood in Queens, New York, when, in the course of putting together his costume, he tried on pumps at a Payless and shopped for pantyhose at a drugstore.

Muriello has a serious side as well, however. He has appeared as a recital artist, and is currently developing a program for tour with composer friend Richard Pearson Thomas.

Northeast Ohio's gay community will have a chance to enjoy both the comic and the serious aspects of this versatile artist when Lyric Opera presents La Boheme July 29, August 1, 6, and 8 at 7:00 and August 2 at 2:00. The evening performances have a one-hour intermission and there are tables on the grounds of the Cleveland Institute of Music, where the performances will take place, so theater goers can bring a picnic dinner or order one from Lyric Opera. (Box dinners must be ordered at least three days in advance.) To order tickets and dinners call 216-2312910.

Imagine the Terminator and Rambo as a mob hit couple

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Having stolen the Ogoshi mob's money, Mitsuya (Masahiro Motoki, left) and Bandai (Koichi Sato) try to figure out how to escape two dreaded gay hit men.

Gonin

Directed by Takashi Ishii Cleveland Cinematheque

Reviewed by Doreen Cudnik

Cleveland-If the classic film noir genre, full of bloody shootouts and unexpected plot twists, is your bag, then make time this weekend to see the Japanese gangster movie Gonin at the Cleveland Cinematheque. Like Bound, where a part that would traditionally be played by a man was instead portrayed as a butch lesbian, Gonin writer-director Takashi Ishii turns convention on its ear by making two of the most ruthless bad guys gay.

The film revolves around Bandai, a young Tokyo disco owner deep in debt to the Ogoshi mob. When the mob starts stepping up their efforts to collect their money, Bandai teams up with a hustler, Mitsuya, and three others to devise a plan to rip off the Ogoshi gangsters. These men form a five-member gang which gives the film its title, which means the five in Japanese.

Bandai and his bunch succeed in their heist, and the rest of the film follows the Ogoshi mob as they seek to find the five and exact revenge.

The mob's effort is led by a pair of highly dreaded gay hit men, Kyoyo and Kazuma. Try imagining two of the hyper-masculine "Small Soldiers" that we're seeing all over the media these days, but as a couple. Or Stallone's Rambo and Schwarzenegger's Terminator characters... get the picture?

As with most film noir thrillers, this film contains graphic violence and several brutal and bloody scenes. If the fingerand-pruning-shears scene in Bound bothered you, maybe you'll want to consider another film. But if not, there's yet another queer twist in the film involving Bandai and Mitsuya. Check it out and see why one critic described Gonin as “a gay Reservoir Dogs."

Gonin plays Saturday, July 25 at 7:30 pm and on Sunday, July 26 at 9:20 pm. The Cinematheque is located in the Cleveland Institute of Art,11141 East Blvd.

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