Page 12 HIGH GEAR AUGUST 1991

San Francisco gaymen's chorus

By George Brown

It is a dazzling group, and inspiring: the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus.

The music included Schubert, Brahms, Sibelius, and Aaron Copland; and there was Gershwin, Berlin, and Rodgers/Hammerstein.

Jefferson from "The Testament of Freedom." Hilarity was there in "Bye, Bye Blues" performed by the Lollipop Guild, and poignancy was there, with a special meaning for many gays, in "We Kiss in a Shadow" and "The Man I Love."

The latter was sheer beauty,

ENTERTAINMENT

The tour chorus of 135 particularly when the bass sec"P.S. Your Cat is Dead"

tion sang part of it alone.

members, directed with artistry and gusto by Dick Kramer, captiAn effective piece of provated the nearly all-male gramming was splitting the choaudience at Detroit's Ford Audit-rus into two sections for some of orium on June 11th, reaping the numbers, with half on the thunderous applause and swift stage and the other half stationed standing ovations. in the rear of the balcony, The result was auditory delight, with the audience flooded with song.

The nine-city tour, which began in San Francisco on June 4th and ended in Seattle on June 20th, was most surely a nine-city resounding success.

Although the large Ford Auditorium was possibly less than 80 percent full on this first tour of the group, it could easily be predicted that on another tour the auditorium would be filled to capacity.

There surely will be another tour, and Cleveland and many other cities are surely in line for the itinerary.

The serious intention of the chorus was evident by such pieces as "Wisdom Is Beautiful" by Riegger and "I Shall Not Die Without Hope" by Randall Thompson with text by Thomas

Vito, the bi-sexual burgler is back, once again lying over the kitchen sink, tied down, with his

pants off, and making wise

cracks in

P YOUR CAT IS DEAD!

At THE CABARET: DINNER THEATRE

in North Royalton

August 13 through September 6th

Said the review which appeared In the May 1979 issue of HIGH GEAR of CABARET'S previous production of this show, 'P.S. YOUR CAT IS DEAD, is that rarity of rarities, a stage comedy in which a!! of the lines and all of the business are actually as funny aso they are supposed to be."

All of the staging was adept, including the "Ritz/Rhythm" song-and-dance number by the Men About Town.

The audience was so enthusi-

astic that it even cheered the two stage hands when they set up the stage between numbers. This audience seemed to be a heterogeneous mixture of gay people. Two of the most appealing numbers, receiving the greatest audience reaction, were two of the three encores. "San Francisco" was highly lauded, and many in the audience got a big kick from the tenor who came forward and briefly imitated a prima donna (shades of Jeanette MacDonald), even to flouncing an imaginary train. This was the only bit of camping in the pro-

gram, although there were other bits of humor.

When the chorus encored with "Stout-Hearted Men," it added or substituted the word "gay" in one

line of the song. Then with the

words "shoulder to shoulder" the members put their arms around

each other's shoulders and

Gut buster returns

by R. Woodward What is probably the funniest American stage comedy written within the past 30 years will be returning to the Cabaret Dinner Theatre in North Royalton on August 13th for a four week engagement.

The play is P.S. Your Cat is Dead, written by James Kirkwood, one of the co-authors of the script for A Chorus Line. P.S. premiered in New York in 1975 and was reintroduced in New York in a revised, tightened version in 1978.

Cabaret Dinner Theatre (called You Are Cabaret until revised version in May of 1979. spring of last year) produced the This reviewer was at the opening performance of Cabaret's production and never heard a Cleveland area live stage play audience laugh so hard at

anything.

hilarious plays of this generation, P.S. Your Cat is Dead is also one of the most endearing. Few comedies have ever managed to be so raunchy while being so

Besides being one of the most

completely without any trace of

nastiness.

Many gay playgoers have found it to be a much needed breath of fresh air. No comedy within memory, stage or screen, has managed to get bigger

swayed from one side to the other as they sang. The audience clapped in appreciation and jumped up in ovation, clapping to the rhythm, its way of participat-laughs ing in the rousing song with lyrics about bold men shoulder to shoulder in unity.

I longed for the audience to intensify its participation, to embrace shoulders, even of the strangers beside them, and to

sway in unison. The three men directly in front of me. did, but they were attending together. I looked around to see if others were doing this, and although spot them from my seventh row center seat. Dick Kramer would do us a service if he would turn and encourage the audience to embrace in gay male fellowship

(Continued on page 14)

from the subject of gay sex without turning gay and "straight" playgoers against

each other.

In vividly depicting his characters' urges and foibles, author Kirkwood has avoided just about every offensive cliche and idle superstition about sexual roles that you can think of.

The play deals with the reaction of Jimmy Zoole, a professional actor in the midst of a

massive mid-life crisis, to finding

a bi-sexual burglar hiding under

his bed.

It is New Year's Eve and Zoole is not in the most cheerful of moods. He has just been fired from a leading role in a Broadway

show and he has just discovered

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that the scriptwriters for the television daytime serial he appears in have decided to have his character drown in the Amazon river.

His lover Kate has chosen this very evening to pack her bags and leave him, and has left him a ietter to say goodbye. Just as the play is opening and Kate is going out the door the phone rings. It is the pet hospital calling Zoole to tell him that his cat has just died.

Zoole knocks out the burglar and ties him up over the kitchen sink. The last time Zoole's apartment was robbed, it took the New York police five hours to answer his call.

is her idea of a "little square.” Matter of factness

One noteworthy beauty of P.S. Your Cat is Dead is author Kirkwood's non-idealized, matter of fact depiction of his characters, a matter of factness which most audiences have accepted, but which uptight New York reviewers have not been able to cope with.

New York reviewers have an approach to the arts which might be described as hemorrhoidal, and when non-stereotypical depictions of sexual roles are before them, there will result in the New York media what might Neither Zoole nor the burglar be termed an intellectual pile up.

are sure about just how fiendish a mood Zoole might be in.

When the burglar, whose name

is Vito, complains that he has to go to the bathroom, Zoole takes out a pair of scissors and cuts off

his pants.

disadvantage, Vito cannot resist Despite being at an obvious trying to act tough, making wise cracks, and making passes at Zoole.

A scroungy street character,

who has been through many scrapes, Vito admits to having been something of a loser. He tells Zoole, "My mother always told me -when I was born the doctor took one look at me and slapped her."

Vito tells of a daughter, of an unsuccessful marriage, and of a lover named Fred who died.

Meanwhile, Kate, who has started to worry about how Zoole is taking all of his bad news, stops by to see how he is doing, and cannot help being curious as to why a man is tied up across the

kitchen sink with no pants on. Vito tells her that things have been going on this way since August.

With Kate is Fred, her new boyfriend and date for the weekend. Fred has been told by Kate that Zoole is very nice -even if "a little square", Fred wonders what the coming weekend is going to be like if what he sees before him

RADIO FREE

In "Author's Notes" to be found at the front of the script of P.S. Your Cat is Dead published by

Samuel French, author Kirkwood defends his characters as follows:

"I was surprised at the reaction who found so much more in the of some of the New York critics play than was meant to be there.

"For instance, it is not a play proselytizing for bi-sexuality."

"Vito, the hustler-burglar, uses

his sexuality as a commodity with which to trade in return for a place to stay, clothes, food and, most importantly, companionship. Some of the language is frankly rough, but Vito is a street person and to have him speak any other way would be false; four letter words are not sprinkled in for shock value or local color.

The character of Kate is in no

way the result of an anti-feminist mind. She is not a villainess. She is bright, warm, and perky--if opinionated. It is only because

she believes that their affair has reached the point of diminishing returns that she leaves Jimmy.

knowing if their relationship continues, they will surely be inflicting small hurts and punishments upon each other with increasing regularity. It is only out of affection for him that she tells him what she believes is wrong with his life.

"The two leading characters, Jimmy and Vito, should both be played with utmost humor; it is this quality that enables them to get by as well as they do. They must be warm and vulnerable; if the audience does not have a love affair with both of them, the

LAMBDA play is damaged.

on

WRUW-FM 91.1 Thursday at 10:30pm

2B 21550

For reservations for Cabaret's production call (216) 237-3220. The current show there, Swing Street, might possibly be held over another week, until August 16th.