Reel Thoughts Interview: The Marshall Plan

Arizona’s Joe Marshall is taking New York by snowstorm this Christmas. Marshall was a fixture on Valley stages, but now he’s finding success Off Broadway after moving to New York City earlier this year. In June, he staged his play Dirty Secrets, and now, he is opening his newest show, The Gayest Christmas Pageant Ever! It’s a title Kathy Griffin loves, and recently, Margaret Cho stopped by to show her support.

The show concerns a strapped West Hollywood gay theater that is thrown into a tizzy when their eccentric playwright storms off before their big holiday show. Can the group of drama queens don their gay apparel fast enough to open on time? Does Liza wear false lashes?

A Tucson native, Marshall founded the Alternative Theatre Company in 1991 in Phoenix to fill the void for LGBT theater after the closing of the landmark Janus Theatre. He focused on producing modern gay plays by John Glines, such as Chicken Delight and Men of Manhattan, and later, Marshall’s own gay-themed plays. Dirty Secrets, about a twisted trio of gay men, and the gay Neil Simon-esque antics of A Night in Vegas were hits about a decade ago.


For a few seasons, the Alternative Theatre Company had a home in the gayest strip mall in Phoenix near the queer boutique Unique on Central, and Marshall grew a loyal fan base that he treasured. But disputes with the landlord shuttered the theater and the company went into hibernation. Marshall moved to Tucson in 2006.

NC: What has been happening since you left Arizona?
JM: Ohmigod! I left Arizona? Oh wait, it’s becoming clear to me now. I did leave Arizona. Well, needless to say, I moved to New York. Shortly after arriving, I approached Lawrence Page, the new owner of The Actors Playhouse, about producing my play The Gayest Christmas Pageant Ever! We work shopped it last December in Tucson, resulting in a rewritten/reworked production. After holding a staged reading, with 37 actors, and a big enthusiastic audience, we got the green light to move forward.

The Actors Playhouse, steeped in gay history, was always secretly my first choice. Productions at the venue have included Howard Crabtree's Whoop-Dee-Doo, Harvey Fierstein’s Safe Sex and Torch Song Trilogy, Ten Percent Revue, An Evening with Quentin Crisp, Last Summer at Bluefish Cove, Boy Meets Boy, Fortune and Men's Eyes, among many others.


The theater is located in New York's Greenwich Village. The typical 'black box' decor is no longer. The walls were stripped down to its original brick and imported tri-colored slate stone. New flooring was installed, the stage was reinforced and mahogany wood trimming was installed with a new landmark-approved marquee. Needless to say, this is the perfect location for a gay Christmas play, conveniently located right near Christopher Street and the original Stonewall Inn.

Similar to Phoenix, the talent pool here is amazing, but a thousand times larger. I no longer have to ask strangers walking down the street "Hey, want to be in a play?" We just listed our auditions and received over 300 submissions within a couple of days.

NC: I hear that Dirty Secrets had a well-received production Off Broadway. Tell me all about it?
JM: Yeah! Can you believe it? It was the first of my works to open Off Broadway. I remember opening in Phoenix to scathing reviews. At last I’m feeling justified. Dirty Secrets is always fun to revisit – hard to believe I wrote it over 10 years ago. Some rewrites, but all in all, the play is pretty solid. However, the ending changed again, and two weeks prior to opening, the actor playing Tom had to drop out due to family issues in LA. The producer told me I would have to step into the role. This time around, I found it emotionally draining to perform five times a week.


NC: Do you miss Arizona?
JM: In many ways, yes. I miss the guerrilla theater process we had in Phoenix, throwing a full-scale production up with little or no financial support. The loyal audiences who respectfully attended many of my productions, good, bad or indifferent. Friendships I’ve held for over 20 years. Phoenix will always be the city that allowed me to achieve many of my goals, something I’ll never forget.

NC: What kind of star encounters have you had since hitting the Big Apple?
JM: Good Lord, unlimited encounters; unlike California, actors actually use mass transit here. I’ve seen many a celebrity on the subway, walking down a busy street, eating in crowded restaurants. And the strange thing is, for the most part, they’re left alone.

I have to say the most impressive encounter was John Glines, who attended a performance of Dirty Secrets and after the performance sharing dinner with my partner, his partner and our director. Shortly after the show, my partner Adrian Maynard, and I were invited for cocktails at John’s home where he shared many stories about famous people he either worked with or had the opportunity to meet.


John Glines has always been a mentor for me. The Alternative Theatre was founded by actually producing a season of John’s plays. One claim to fame of his was winning a Tony for producing Torch Song Trilogy on Broadway. And you can’t overlook his groundbreaking acceptance speech, where he was the first person to ever thank their same-sex partner on national TV. I got to actually hold his Tony Award at the end of the evening. Of course, it took six cocktails for me to actually get the nerve to ask. “Hey, John, can I hold your Tony?”

NC: Other than your play and celebrities, any amazing things happen to you in New York?
JM: I live in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn with Adrian. Every Thursday we take a 20-minute subway to Coney Island for the free summer concert series. We’ve seen Frankie Valli, Connie Francis, Hall and Oates, Blondie, Pat Benatar and Donna Summer. Talk about amazing. Each week the crowd gets more and more gay. We’re expecting next week to just be a big gay disco party with 25,000 of our closest friends.

The Gayest Christmas Pageant Ever! is now playing in previews and officially opens November 29 at The Actors’ Playhouse in New York. Performances continue through January 3. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit their official website.

Interview by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: Men Behaving Badly

I love every film by director Werner Herzog I've seen, starting with 1982's Fitzcarraldo and culminating most recently in his wonderful if sad Grizzly Man. I like Nicolas Cage a lot, especially when the actor is at his most histrionic in such offbeat movies as Peggy Sue Got Married, Raising Arizona and Face/Off.

I do not like the new Herzog-Cage collaboration, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (which is actually titled THE Bad Lieutenant ... on screen). While it shares some of its moniker and basic plot elements with Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant (1992), the remake/sequel/reboot opening today lacks most of what made its NYC-set forebear a very effective morality tale.

Cage plays Terence McDonagh, a New Orleans police officer suffering from debilitating back pain related to an injury he sustained while saving a man's life in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. When McDonagh's prescription medication becomes ineffective, he turns to illegal — and illegally-gained — drugs, sex with a beautiful prostitute (Eva Mendes, in an underwritten, thankless role), gambling and setting up criminals without authorization in a misguided effort to soothe his pain and find the culprits behind the massacre of an immigrant family.


Whereas Ferrara's film was an intelligent if graphic exploration of a wounded man's quest for redemption, BL: Port of Call New Orleans has a hard time settling on such simple things as characters' motivations, needs and accents (Cage's changes inexplicably midway through). Ferrara's version was steeped in Catholic imagery and symbolism. Here, the only sign of religion is a kinky excess of saintly statuary in sexy fellow cop Fairuza Balk's bedroom.

I lay most of the blame for this misfire at the feet of first-time screenwriter William Finkelstein and longtime producer Edward Pressman (who also produced the original), but Herzog can't be let completely off the hook. The director desperately tries to indulge his favorite theme — man vs. nature — here, but the most he can incorporate aside from the devastated post-Katrina environment are occasional shots of displaced alligators and drug-induced iguana hallucinations.

Some fine actors including Val Kilmer, Shawn Hatosy and GLBT fave Jennifer Coolidge are mostly wasted in supporting roles. However, the long-MIA Brad Dourif makes a great impression as McDonagh's impatient bookie.


Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is being touted as Oscar bait and is being warmly received by some critics. Don't believe the hype. Instead, go and see That Evening Sun, which is already playing in New York and opens today in LA. It is a far better exploration of the lengths to which some men will go to right perceived wrongs.

Winner of the Audience Choice award for best feature film and a Special Jury Award for best ensemble cast at this year's South by Southwest Film Festival, That Evening Sun stars old pro Hal Holbrook as Abner Meecham. A Tennessee farmer consigned by his son (Walton Goggins, who played the sexy gay drifter in Red Dirt a few years back) to a nursing home, Meecham makes a break from the facility one day and returns to the home he shared with his late wife (who is glimpsed in flashbacks and is played by Dixie Carter, Holbrook's real-life wife).


Meecham is startled to find a new family renting his property and living in his former home. The new head of the household is Lonzo Choat (Ray McKinnon, who also produced), an alcoholic prone to abusive rages. His wife (Movie Dearest fave Carrie Preston) and teenage daughter are the usual recipients of the unemployed Choat's anger, but Meecham becomes his new target when the elder man decides to take up residence in an adjoining cabin.

Hostilities mount between Choat and Meecham and culminate in mutual acts of destruction. Holbrook is great as usual, and could rack up some nominations and/or awards for his soulful performance. While grim at times, That Evening Sun (well-adapted from a William Gay short story by writer-director Scott Teems) ends on a hopeful note once Meecham and Choat have learned the hard way that violence is never a successful route to conflict resolution.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Toon Talk: No Country for Old Men … or Monsters

Up and Monsters, Inc., the two Pixar favorites that made their Disney Blu-ray debutslast week, share more than just a production company and a director (Peter Docter). Taking a look at their main characters, one can see several similarities:

The Unlikely Hero: Is there anything more unlikely for a film’s protagonist than a big blue monster by the name of Sulley who jumps out of closets to scare children for a living? Well, Up one-ups Monsters with its geriatric leading man, Carl Fredricksen, who through the course of his adventures becomes an octogenarian action hero to rival John McClane.


The Precocious Child: Both Boo (the little moppet who “invades” Monstropolis) and Russell (the chirpy Wilderness Explorer who stows away on Carl’s floating house) prove to be more than just obstacles in the main character’s lives … they help them discover new ones.

The Scene-Stealing Sidekick: What could be funnier than a walking eyeball? How about a talking dog? “Squirrel!”

Click here to continue reading my Toon Talk review of the new Up and Monsters, Inc. Blu-rays at LaughingPlace.com.

Reverend’s Reviews: The Grinch vs. Mary Poppins in LA

In one corner, at the Pantages Theatre, is a nasty-wasty, green-furred creature intent on stealing holiday joy. In the other corner, better known as the Ahmanson Theatre, is a practically perfect if wind-dependent British nanny with magical powers. Their battle for theatre-goers’ dollars erupted this past weekend as Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The Musical and Mary Poppins opened, both making their Los Angeles debuts.

Saturday’s premiere of The Grinch was a suitably festive affair, the Pantages’ exterior beautifully festooned with Christmas trees and white lights. The show, originally conceived and directed by Broadway’s Jack O’Brien for the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, is an utter delight. Its briskly-paced, intermission-less 90 minutes are a perfect start to any family’s holiday season.

John Larroquette kicks the musical off as Old Max, the senior version of the Grinch’s put-upon pet. While Larroquette — saddled with a bulky dog costume and Seussian rhyming exposition — didn’t always seem to have his heart in the role, he displayed good humor and a fine singing voice. Fortunately, James Royce Edwards balanced Larroquette nicely as Max’s rowdy younger incarnation. The entire supporting cast, consisting of both stage veterans and a gaggle of locally recruited kids as the various citizens of Whoville, was great.


Of course, the star of the show is the Grinch. Christopher Lloyd was initially cast but, rumor has it, wasn’t up to the part’s vocal demands, so in rode Stefan Karl to the rescue! Karl is a younger, attractive man but you wouldn’t know it, swaddled head to toe as he is in green hair and make-up. While his interpretation of the character owes more than a bit to Jim Carrey’s over-the-top performance as the Grinch in the garish 2000 movie adaptation, Karl succeeds by the final curtain in making the role hilariously and touchingly his own. His solo number “One of a Kind,” performed in front of a shimmering green curtain, is a showstopper in the best sense.

The score, by Timothy Mason and Mel Marvin, is entirely serviceable if not particularly memorable apart from the two songs — “Welcome, Christmas” and “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” — carried over from the original TV telling of Seuss’ story. John Lee Beatty’s snow-covered but colorful scenic design is excellent, and some wonderful special effects are utilized that make it appear Max and the Grinch’s sleigh are really flying. One would have to be a Grinch him- or herself to not enjoy How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It runs at the Pantages through January 3 and shouldn’t be missed.


When it comes to flying, though, Disney’s and Cameron Mackintosh’s Mary Poppins (playing at the Ahmanson through February 7) actually goes Grinch one better. Faithful in this regard to author P.L. Travers’ source material as well as to Julie Andrews’ immortal, Oscar-winning portrayal in the 1964 film, Mary flies. She flies across the stage not once but twice during the course of the stage version. However, the best effect is saved for last, as Mary flies not only across the stage but out from the proscenium and over the audience up to the balcony! I gasped. My partner gasped. Dick Van Dyke, who was sitting three rows ahead of us, gasped. And then the audience burst, appropriately, into raucous applause.

The show’s special effects are consistently dazzling and, combined with the marvelous Tony Award-winning sets by Bob Crowley and Howard Harrison’s lighting, create an aura of true and sustained magic. Ashley Brown’s lovely, funny performance as Mary, which she re-creates from the original New York cast, is also a vital contribution in this regard.

But the stage version isn’t as easy to love as the movie for several reasons. First, in re-structuring the script from the well-known film and adding new songs (by the Honk! team of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe) to the now-classics composed by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, Mary Poppins has become a more meandering, overly long (at nearly three hours) production. I left the opening night performance more appreciative than ever of the Sherman brothers’ simple lyrics and wordplay. None of the new songs are as instantly memorable or hummable as “A Spoonful of Sugar” or “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” although “Anything Can Happen” comes closest and Mary’s self-intro, “Practically Perfect,” is nice and enjoyably staged.


Second, Matthew Bourne’s choreography is often overly frenetic. I love Bourne’s adult-oriented dance pieces that include his all-male Swan Lake, the homoerotic The Car Man, and Edward Scissorhands. When Bourne stages isolated dances rather than dance-through pieces, as in Mary Poppins, his high-energy moves can seem odd and disjointed. This is especially evident in his letter-by-letter take on “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Obviously demanding on the cast, it is impressive the first time around but becomes excessive by the second, curtain-call reprise. Bourne’s choreography for “Step in Time” is, to the contrary, masterful.

Finally, this Mary Poppins is a darker work than the Disney film and some scenes (notably those involving Mary’s brimstone and treacle-bearing “holy terror” replacement) may be too intense for children ages 7 and under. The potential unemployment of George Banks (a well-modulated turn by Karl Kenzler) and subsequent pending homelessness of his family is a lengthier threat on the stage than it is in the movie as well.

It takes more than spectacle and impressive special effects to make a modern musical work. Still, I recommend Mary Poppins despite its artistic shortcomings for the one thing it has in spades: magic.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Reel Thoughts: The Incredibly Not True Adventure of Two Straight Guys in Bed

If Old Joy mated with I Love You, Man, the spawn would be Humpday, the Sundance Festival Special Jury prize-winning film written and directed by Lynn Shelton making its debut on DVDtomorrow. The salacious, but slightly misleading, set-up is that two straight male friends decide to make an amateur porno film featuring themselves as stars. Will they or won’t they? And what effect will it have on the men if they go through with it?

Shelton stages the film in an almost documentary-style intimacy, and she gives one of the best performances in the film. Does Humpday live up to the hype? Maybe not, but it is an intriguing character piece that delves into the straight male psyche in a way few films do.


Ben (Mark Duplass) and his wife Anna (Alycia Delmore) are a happily married Seattle couple ready to have a baby, when Ben’s old pal Andrew (The Blair Witch Project’s Joshua Leonard) shows up on their doorstep after wandering the globe. He wants to reconnect with his old friend, but the next night he hooks up with the free-spirited (and bisexual) Monica (Shelton), and he invites Ben over to her artist’s commune. The uptight Ben is at first taken aback by all the overt sexuality, but soon he and Andrew are drunk and high and discussing the Seattle Film contest called Humpfest (a real festival started by Dan Savage where people submit their amateur porn films).

Almost as a dare, the two guys decide that the ultimate taboo would be to have two straight men have sex together, and each man wants to see it through to prove that they are not as inhibited as they fear they are. As filming night approaches, Ben neglects to tell Anna his plan and Andrew can’t quite handle a sexual encounter with Monica and her lover Lily.


Shelton captures the dynamic between friends who are subconsciously envious of each other and the utter terror straight men feel when out of their sexual comfort zone. Duplass’ Ben is let off the hook too easily in his scenes with Anna, but Leonard manages to embody the kind of aimless guy who passes off lack of direction as “Kerouac” coolness. Duplass also has a nice moment when he describes an encounter he had with a video store clerk. The ending isn’t satisfying, but Shelton nails her Seattle milieu perfectly.

More an anatomy of a bromance than a sexual adventure, Humpday is still worth a tumble.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reel Thoughts: My Precious

Forget the hyped-up artificiality of the Saw films. The real horror show is the home life endured by the title character in Lee Daniels’ bleak but ultimately hopeful drama Precious, based on Sapphire’s 1996 novel Push.

Clareece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe, in a true breakout performance) is an illiterate and obese teenager in 1987 Harlem. Pregnant with her second child and hated by her vicious mother (Mo’Nique, who should receive an Oscar nomination), Precious is given one last chance to make her vivid dreams come true when she is sent to an alternative school housed in an old hotel.


Her teacher, Ms. Rain (the gorgeous and elegant Paula Patton), works hard to break through Precious’ defenses and inadvertently teaches her a lesson in gay tolerance when Precious realizes that her mentor is a lesbian. The other person reaching out to Precious is her social worker Mrs. Weiss (well played by an unrecognizable Mariah Carey), who goads her into revealing the father of her two children.

The grittiness that out director Daniels evokes is hard to watch at times, especially Mo’Nique’s explosive abuse, but it’s necessary to allow us the happiness of seeing Precious become her own person. Sidibe is an utterly natural talent, hard to warm up to at first until she reveals the life that’s inside her imposing frame.


Mo’Nique plumbs depths of rage and violence few name actresses would ever reveal. Patton, who looks like a young Debbie Allen and possesses the same kind authority, is utterly lovely as the idealistic teacher. Carey, Lenny Kravitz (as Nurse John) and Sherri Shepherd (as school secretary Cornrows) are all great and let go of any vanity in favor of total commitment to their roles.

If you can stand the heat in Precious’ pressure-cooker kitchen, you’ll be rewarded with one of the best cinematic experiences of the year with Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

Review by Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend's Interview: Poppins Fresh Men

Walt Disney’s cinematic masterpiece Mary Poppins has enthralled viewers since its original release in 1964. Based on a series of books by P.L. Travers about a “practically perfect” nanny with seemingly supernatural powers, the movie was a box-office hit and won a number of Oscars, including Best Actress for its first-time film star, Julie Andrews.

45 years later, Mary Poppins has become a smash on stage, thanks to wunderkind theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh (Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera). The current national tour makes its eagerly awaited southern California premiere November 15 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles.

Movie Dearest was able to speak recently with not one but two gay, out cast members of the Mary Poppins ensemble. Troy Edward Bowles (who goes by “Eddy”) and Tom Souhrada were eager to discuss their backgrounds from the tour’s stop in Dallas following a six-month run in Chicago.


“This is the perfect show for me,” said the 34-year old Bowles. He joined the touring company after roles in the Broadway productions Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and The Pirate Queen, as well as the national tour of the Billy Joel-Twyla Tharp mash-up Movin’ Out.

“I grew up on a dairy farm in Idaho and just danced around all the time,” Bowles recounted. “It seemed inevitable that I would one day dance professionally. There weren’t many outlets for dance, though, so I got into gymnastics, which had a little dance.”

Bowles, who is, by his own admission, an “out and proud” gay man performing in traditionally family-friendly Disney fare, went to New York City following his high-school graduation. However, the former farm boy found Manhattan “overwhelming.” After a few weeks there, “I ended up going to the University of Utah, which was closest to my parents’ home,” Bowles said.


Mary Poppins is, according to the former gymnast turned dancer, “a highly choreographed show, and there’s so much character to the choreography.” The dances were staged by the acclaimed Matthew Bourne (best known for his all-male Swan Lake and the ballet version of Edward Scissorhands) with an assist from co-choreographer Stephen Mear.

Bowles, who also serves as the tour’s dance captain, singled out two numbers in the show as being particularly challenging. During the famous song “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”, the ensemble “spells out all the letters!” Also, “Step in Time”, Bowles says, “is a huge tap number and exhausting.”

This holiday season promises to be a high-profile one for Bowles. In addition to the LA engagement of Mary Poppins, he can be seen on the big screen — sort of — in Disney’s new, motion-capture digital version of A Christmas Carol. “I’m one of 14 dancers who play 100 characters in the big dance scene,” Bowles reports. “I was also Bob Hoskins’ (who plays Fezziwig) dance and stunt double.” All in all, the dancer reports, “It was an incredible experience.”


Bowles’ fellow ensemble member, Tom Souhrada, fell in love with the Mary Poppins movie at an early age. “It was such a big part of my youth,” Souhrada recalled. “It was actually the first movie I ever saw.”

Souhrada, who grew up in south Florida and is in his early 40’s, went on to say, “My sisters and I used to do little shows in our backyard, and Mary Poppins was one of them. When I heard they were doing a stage production, I got very excited.”

However, Souhrada’s eventual casting in the show proved unexpected. “Last fall, I did a show with an actress who had been cast in the Mary Poppins tour,” he said. “She called me one day to let me know the actor playing the Park Keeper had pulled out and told me to call my agent. I did, got an audition and got cast!”


Souhrada, who is single and lives in New York City, shared another special connection he has with Mary Poppins. Earlier in his career, he starred in a production of the 1920’s-set musical spoof The Boy Friend directed by its original star … Julie Andrews!

“After the show’s initial read-through, I was walking down the hall when I heard a proper, British, female voice behind me calling my name,” Souhrada said excitedly. “I turned around and all I could think was ‘Julie Andrews knows my name!’ Then it was ‘Julie Andrews is talking to me!’ She gave me a hug and all I could think was ‘Julie Andrews is touching me!’ She gave me a kiss on the cheek and I thought ‘Julie Andrews is kissing me’!”

About the current tour of Mary Poppins, Souhrada revealed, “It’s been an amazing experience, phenomenal. The creative staff has been amazing.” Regarding his fellow ensemble members, he said, “Most of the dancers are half my age, so I’m just trying to keep up!”


Both Souhrada and Bowles are excited about their show’s impending LA run. Bowles said, “I loved Mary Poppins on Broadway; I cried.” He continued, “There’s something about the tour that is more intimate; the set has been re-imagined for the tour, since it was so huge on Broadway.”

Mary Poppins is currently scheduled to play LA through February 7. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the official website of the Center Theatre Group.

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.