Ohio City Players Production
"Sister George' gets killing cast
By R. Woodward Unjustly neglected by local reviewers last month was Ohio City Players outstanding production of Frank Marcus's comedy The Killing of Sister George."
The only local newspaper review this production received was in the Sun Newspapers. The reviewer apparently based her judgments on a late rehearsal she saw when the cast was suffering from the flu.
(The Sun Papers reviewer liked the show, in fact, but she was hardly able to do.justice to individual performances.)
The playgoer who saw the production during the last two weeks of its three week run, when everybody's health and energies were fully restored, saw performances that were exhilarating combinations of vigor, intelligence, and skill.
The leading powerhouse in the powerhouse cast of four was
'Wet Streisand
By Bambi Fontaine
Record reviews are relative to the reviewer. However, I, the lovely and talented Bambi Fontaine, will try to be objective. Albums reviewed may not always be extremely new, but the music will be varied. This is not a disco column.
Speaking of disco though, I do have one thing to say. Rumor mills are grinding that disco is dying. Sales are down and if you've buying disco, honey. you're wasting your money on an out-dated fad. (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! The whole record industry is in a slump. No one is buying like they used to. Sure disco sales are down, but so is everything else! So hold onto those Donna Summer Ip's!
Speaking of Donna. Summer, the First Lady of Love is suing her old boss, Neil Bogart, former president of Casablanca Records and FilmWorks, for $10 million charging mismanagement and breach of contract. She claims that decisions made about her career by Casablanca were made in the company's Interest and not her own. This may be true, but, god, she's. hardly out on the street selling her ass! I mean now really. Please!!!
Any comments, suggestions or requests concerning this column are greatly appreciated. Send your cards, letters, and/or donations (records cost money, you know) to Bambi Fontaine, c/o HIGH GEAR.
Bambi's Vinyl Views
The album cover and inner record sleeve show her in various
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stages of undress lolling in a pool, bubble-bathing at home needless to say, she's "wet."To reinforce the idea of "wet"-ness. the cover texture is slick and glossy.
Barbra Streisand's latest longplay is most appropriately titled "Wet." By no means is her effort as displayed on the record "all wet," just partially.
Her selection of songs all include some idea of moisture: whether of nature (rain or a river), or of herself (tears).
Just what the fascination is with this wet"-ness is left unsaid. The listener is given no visible or audible clues. But this is not to say that the album concept itself is not valid, exciting. challenging.
Streisand starts the album with the convoluting "Wet". She begins the song by singing "Wet is rain," and ends it with "Wet is me.". Beautiful, yet imponderable, lyrics.
The old R and R standard by Bobby Darin, "Splish Splash" is updated next. Not a bad job at that, but the affected laughter at the conclusion should have been · cut.
Following, the listener is given two selections from Marilyn and Allan Bergman, two of contemporary music's most talented lyricists. When a producer combines the talents of the Bergmans with a voice the likes of Streisand's. what more could the listener ask for? Great mood here. with "On Rainy Afternoons" and "After the Rain."
Side Two opens with the now over-played "No More Tears (Enough is Enough)" duet with Donna Summer. I'm grateful that as much as I like the song. I never purchased the long-play "disco" album. When they get down to that final refrain on this, a shortened 8-minute version. enough is enough!
truly
"Niagara" follows. Such an onrush of emotion! This bluesyballad will sweep you away!
Barbara gives us her second rock performance with "I Ain't Gonna Cry Tonight." Good song! If she's looking for material to release on a single, this one is it.
Katharine Wasil, playing June, a lesbian actress trying to cope with the possibility that the .B.B.C. may be planning to kill off Sister George, a popular leading character in a radio serial whom June has been portraying for six years, because the ratings have been slipping.
in finding a credible, consistent portrayal in June's various foibles and inconsistencies. Wasil seemed to have left no recess of June's being unexplored. Every quirk and nuance of the June character was conveyed to the audience in a clear. forceful and frequently hilarious
manner.
Another particularly fine piece of creative acting was Wendy Manfredi's portrayal of Alice. June's roommate and lover.
Alice is the sort of person who drifts along through life. responding to the ideas and moods of others, expecting other people to make decisions for her. It's a great challenge for an actress to keep this character from seeming like a non-equity.
Manfredi played Alice, not as a pallid, bashful type. but rather as a fairly gaudy and somewhat pushy artistic dilettante, who insists upon dabbling in the arts and who can't resist engaging in self-dramalization.
younger. She was originally considered for the part of Alice)...
Playing her part with convic tion and finesse; Berger had the playgoer too engrossed in what Mrs. Mercy was doing to worry about Berger's youthful appearance
Playing Madame Xenia, a professional spiritualist who lives downstairs from June and Alice. Millie Stein made the character colorful and funny without overdoing it. She made her supporting role genuinely supportive. acting her part with grace and
ease and a good sense of proportion..
The fast-paced and amusing production made all of the doings depicted in the play seem. very plausible.
In an interview in the last issue, of HIGH GEAR, Randy Seligman. the play's director, boasted that he had assembled a cast more alert and expert than is usually seen in a community theater production.
Judging by the results he got from this cast, his boasting was entirely justified.
States of Desire
(Cont'd from page 14)
author's impressions are conIceived after only a brief visit to several of the cities, the different lifestyles portrayed for cities throughout the country are intriguing. The general overview it presents of the attitudes and opinions of gays gives the reader a chance to compare his own philosophy with those being espoused currently in various sections of the country. For anyone contemplating relocation to a different area, the book offers him a chance to arrive at his destination with an idea of what he will be encountering: and for the reader firmly ensconced in "Clevelandia" it is a
contrast."
Manfredi's portrayal of Alice did not overemphasize the childgood exercise in "compare and like aspects of her character and made the relationship between June and Alice seem more credible. This helped to keep the play in balance.
Linda Berger as Mrs. Mercy. the motherly. manipulative B.B.C. producer who eventually takes Alice away from June,
As a farely outspoken member of that minority (rapidly growing) which continually rises to the defense of Cleveland. I found the book provided me with many examples to use in the future lauding the quality of life offered to us in the Cleveland area.
played her role with enough George Condon in his book on
authority that one hardly noticed that she looked too young for the part.
(The greying material added to Berger's hair was so unconvincing that it actually made her seem
Her vocal performance, the lyr Agent for gays
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ics, the arrangement everything blends together for an unforgettable rock-er.
Finally, her current radio hit "Kiss Me in the Rain" concludes the album.
With "Wet" Streisand reminds us of the true superstar status she has attained and maintains. Not just through one musical genre but through all contemporary music she can outshine any of her competitors in blues. ballads, rock, or disco.
(Cont'd on page 18)
Lesbian lit.
New York City: The Lesbian
Stephen Hunt, Registered Literary Agent. announced this week that his Chicago office.will accept factual and literary materials from gay writers for feedback and review. Gay poets and other interested writers can write Mr. Hunt for specific details regarding fees and necessary
concerns
Mr Hunt was formerly with NAL (Signet. Mentor, and Plume Books). New York City. He was educated at University of Exeter. England and at Berkeley A pubished poet he is author of numerous articles and reviews. According to Mr. Hunt, interest in writing by the gay community
Cleveland speaks of the city as "the best kept secret in the nation." Mr. White is not about to break that secret. He doesn't mention us in his book. An oversight we might be thankful for.
Two general life styles seem to be available to the gay population in other areas of the country: either a fairly open life style heavily centered around drugs, cruis9, and one-night stands: or a very closeted existence left over from the fifties. As I read the book the strongest impression to emerge was that Northern OhioGreater Cleveland is one of the few areas in the country where men and women can exist as gays with a fair degree of sanity. equanimity, and openness. One of Cleveland's strongest advantages over the rest of the country is the great diversity in its gay culture. Anyone with even a minimum amount of selfmotivation can partake of a great variety of activities running the whole gamut from. bar/bath to
Herstory Archives is seeking has grown. Gay newspapers and community oriented and self-
material for a slide and tape presentation of pre-1970 lesbian images. For information call or write Joan Nestle, Box 1258, New York, NY 10001: (212) 874-7232. Courtesy of THE ADVOCATE
periodicals have grown here and abroad. Accordingly, his office is open as a channel supplying feedback and report. Writers are invited to write Stephen Hunt, 634 1/2 W. Arlington Place, Suite 36, Chicago, IL 60614.
help groups. From Edmund White's book it seems that in the rest of the country a person is eventually forced to partake of one life style currently in fashion among the majority of the community or be regarded as a
..
member of some bizarre splinter group to be stunned. In various aeas in the United States it seems that an individual is constantly at the whim of the changing ideas of the majority. In contrast, a person in Cleveland seems to be able to move from one group to another no matter what his personal outlook. Reading States of Desire re-affirmed my past decision to settle in the Cleveland. area because I would be able to. maintain my individuality and not have to offer it as an admission price to any particular group of people.
Breaking 'Windows'
By Beverly Stamp
In-mid January in New York City. 300 Lesbians, gays, and feminists united to protest against the anti-Lesbian film. "Windows." This United Artists film perpetuates and sensationalizes the most vicious lies about lesbianism and rape.
The demonstrators. mostly. Lesbians, protested against the plot which depecits a psychotic Lesbian killer who hires man to rape her "best friend" with whom she is secretly in love.
Under the guise of producing a "romantic thriller," as the film is being billed, Hollywood is trying to make some fast bucks by rehashing the hold and tired stereotype that equates lesbianism with psychotic violence. Organizers of the New York City demonstration, citing a Congressional sub-committee, have said that while rape and sexual molestation have reached epidemic proportions, affecting between a quarter and a third of the female population in this country, the movie's depiction of rape as a⚫ crime instigated by one woman. against another can only be seen as the most gross distortion.
Demonstrations against this movie have also been initiated in Los Angeles and Seattle. With "Windows" appearance in Cleveland theaters in the near future, it is hoped that our area Lesbians and Feminists will unite in mass protest against such blatant antiLesbian bigotry. Shut down "Windows"!