14 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE April 12, 2002

eveningsout

The attack of the high school marching band Three shows to lighten up spring nights

by Anthony Glassman

Cleveland-April is bursting out all over the place, especially at Playhouse Square. Between three theaters, the Square is giving three selections to northeast Ohio's LGBT audiences this month.

The first, Blast, has been described as a cross between Stomp and Riverdance, the

attack of the high school marching band, or, as openly gay cast member Jonathan Schwartz put it, "a real, live Fantasia,” referring to the Disney classic that puts striking visuals to music.

Like Stomp, and unlike more traditional musical extravaganzas, the musicians are onstage during the performance, doing choreography while playing their instruments.

Also like Stomp, there is no narrative; it's simply music and dancing and sights and sounds and enjoyment.

The music is all over the place in this one, from jazz and classical to techno and African traditional music.

"Because of the pageantry aspect, deeply sensitive people will enjoy it," Schwartz said. "Instead of using animation to create effects," he continued, "we use choreography."

The 27-year-old from Levittown, New York sings, dances and plays percussion in

Blast

the performance. It was playing drums that got him the part through a circuitous set of events.

"One of the choreographers used to teach me in a drum and bugle corps in New Jersey," he said. "He called me and asked if I wanted to perform again."

There were only four weeks between the time he auditioned for the role and the show's debut in London in 1999, but everyone scrambled to get the job done.

Blast opened April 9 and runs through April 21 at the Palace Theatre at Playhouse Square.

On April 13, the Ohio Theatre is hosting an evening with National Public Radio commentator, author and part-time elf David Sedaris.

Sedaris, whose tales of life as a gay GreekAmerican with a crazy sister have made his

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books bestsellers, wrote The Santaland Diaries, performed almost every holiday season by Cleveland local boy Curtis Proctor.

Sedaris also wrote the collections Naked, Barrel Fever and Me Talk Pretty One Day. They are all deeply personal, incredibly funny looks at life, his in particular. His crazy sister Amy, who achieved fame in her own right as the creator and star of Comedy Central's Strangers with Candy, is a frequent topic of conversation, as is Sedaris' love life or lack thereof.

Seeing him in person is an experience that seldom comes and is not to be missed. It is not, how-

ever, quite as rare an experience as seeing the Kids in the Hall live, which theatergoers will have a chance to do on April 17 at the State Theatre.

The Kids in the Hall are a troupe of Canadian actors who had a sketch comedy show on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

David Sedaris

for many years. Kids in the Hall ended its run in 1994, leaving two of the Kids to jump to Saturday Night Live; both shows were produced by Lorne Michaels. Dave Foley starred in the sitcom News Radio, while Kevin

Kids in the Hall

McDonald has jumped into a cavalcade of small supporting roles.

That leaves one member on which to focus. Quick quiz: who is the Queer in the Hall?

Yep, Scott Thompson, almost everyone's favorite Kid. He hosted a Comedy Central gay comedy special, appeared on HBO's The Larry Sanders Show and has embarrassed the heck out of Conan O'Brien. Most importantly, though, he is remembered as the gayest person in the universe, who introduced more homosexuality onto the airwaves than any person before him.

It might be argued that he was gayer than Will, Jack and the entire cast of Queer as Folk put together.

Among his many characters were hundreds of waiters (they celebrated his 100th waiter on the air), a gay man with a pesky paper boy, the Queen of England, and Buddy Cole, bar owner and raconteur, bon vivant and philosopher.

Despite having gone their separate ways in 1994 (with a brief reunion for the film Brain Candy), the Kids are back together on tour, visiting their friends all over the country, and we get them on April 17. If you've never seen them, check them out on Comedy Central, then watch them at Playhouse Square's State Theatre.

For more information on these and other Playhouse Square shows, see http:// www.playhousesquare.com or call them at

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Found films

The Cleveland Cinematheque winds down its March-April schedule with three LGBT films, History Lessons, Plata Quesada (Burnt Money) and Chop Suey History Lessons is director Barbara Hammer's journey through the 20th century using found film footage to illustrate the faces of lesbianism in that bygone age. It plays April 14 at 9:25 pm.

Plata Quesada is about a gay couple who run off to Uruguay after a heist, and the effect of their trip on the relationship. Showings are April 13 and 14 at 9:15 pm and 7 pm respectively.

The Cinematheque screens Columbus photographer Bruce Weber's Chop Suey on April 19 and 20 at 7:30 and 9:50 pm, respectively. The film is a look inside Weber's mind, things he has liked and people he has known. It will also show on April 26 at 7 pm at the Wexner Center in Columbus.

For more information Cleveland Cinematheque, 216-421-7450, www.cia.edu/ cinematheque. The Wexner Center, 614-292-0330, www.wexarts.org.

-Anthony Glassman