Men on Film: Can Even Jesus Save GCB?

The trouble started for GCB, the funny and fabulous sitcom about dirty dealings amongst Dallas’ most holier-than-thou society women, when ABC made them change the name to GCB from the original Good Christian Bitches. To be fair, no network but HBO or Showtime would have risked offending the heartland with such a brash but hilarious title. But in what may have been a harbinger of doom, Reverend's own mother (who is no prude and would otherwise love the show) couldn't even get past the abbreviation and refused to watch. Sadly, it was recently announced that ABC was pulling the plug on the freshman comedy – the second time they have done so to poor Kristin Chenoweth (Wicked) after the sadly overlooked Pushing Daisies, which at least got two seasons.

The first and to date only season of GCB is out on DVDtomorrow. There is still a glimmer of hope for Cricket, Carlene, Gigi, Amanda and Pastor Tudor. Even author Kim Gatlin, upon whose book the show is based, was overwhelmed to learn that an online petition intended to save the series has already received over 57,000 signatures. If you want to see more GCB, go to SaveGCB.com and join the holy fight! You may also consider sending a Bible and/or bottle of BBQ sauce (wink) as soon as possible to ABC exec Paul Lee at 77 W. 66th Street, Suite 100, New York, NY 10023-6201.

Created by Steel Magnolias writer Robert Harling, the series stars not only the sublime Chenoweth but also Miriam Shor from Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Annie Potts from Designing Women, not to mention the extremely hunky Mark Deklin (soon to be sort of seen as Tarzan's father in the upcoming, updated motion-capture version), David James Elliot (JAG) and Tyler Jacob Moore. GCB may not have been a ratings star, but it is like a slice of heaven for the GLBT community. You will definitely want to own the whole series even if you haven't yet seen a single episode.

Former mean girl Amanda Vaughn (Popular's Lesley Bibb) is forced to move back to Dallas to live with her mother Gigi (Potts) after her husband defrauded millions from investors and then died in a scandalous sex-related car crash. Amanda spent her high school years tormenting less popular girls, so imagine her dismay to discover that all of her enemies are now the queen bees of her affluent Dallas suburb, and that they definitely know how to hold a grudge. Carlene Cockburn (Chenoweth) and her husband Ripp (Elliot) are rich benefactors to the church, while Cricket Caruth-Reilly (Shor) and her gorgeous husband Blake (Deklin) have a ranch and run numerous big businesses. Behind the scenes, their marriage is somewhat unusual. Blake spends his quality time with his “ranch foremen” while Cricket releases her tension with her personal trainers. Meanwhile, sweet Sharon Peachum (Jennifer Aspen) starts off an insecure former beauty with a weight problem, but blossoms into an entrepreneur pushing a Jesus-based weight loss diet plan.

Amanda isn’t the cruel girl from high school, and it takes all ten episodes before some sort of truce is reached. Along the way these Good Christian Bitches fight over who will sing the solo in the Easter Pageant, whether the women can cook Texas Barbecue as well as the Good Ol’ Boys and who will win the heart of the sexy blond Pastor (Moore).

GCB is non-stop fun from beginning to end with a cast that is heaven-sent. Chenoweth, a devout Christian herself, brings integrity to her scheming character, who usually lets her faith lead her back to doing the right thing no matter how much she may despise Amanda. Shor and Deklin have some remarkable scenes together where they discuss their unconventional love. Potts (channeling her late Designing co-star Dixie Carter) steals every scene as a big-haired, gun-toting Dallas doyenne who isn’t about to let a bunch of gossipy church ladies hurt her girl. While we all pray that ABC or some network finds divine inspiration in the girls and guys of GCB, this full season will make you laugh, cry and even think about going to church again. If your pastor looked like Moore, who wouldn’t?

Five Divinely Inspired Scenes From GCB:
1. The Pilot: Amanda goes out to dinner with Blake and his current ranch foreman Booth Becker (Denton Everett), and when she drops her napkin, she spots Blake and Booth getting friendly under the table, giving the show its first gay jolt.

2. Episode 4: A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: Carlene’s Uncle Burl (Bruce Boxleitner) shows up with his wife Bitsy, Gigi’s arch-nemesis, played by none other than Knot’s Landing bitch extraordinaire Donna Mills. A rogue hors d’oeuvre dispatches Bitsy in hilarious fashion, leaving Gigi and Burl to reunite.

3. Episode 7: Sex is Divine: Sharon tries to lose weight and spice up her marriage, and hits upon a sure-fire business idea: a Christian diet plan called “Losing It With Jesus!” that uses food from the Bible to help you shed pounds. Also, Pastor Tudor encourages his flock to have sex at least once a day for a week.

4. Episode 8: Pride Comes Before a Fall: To show up Pastor Tudor’s rival across town, Amanda directs an Easter pageant featuring a hot Jesus (Ripp) a flying Holy Spirit (Carlene or Cricket) an ultra-buffed Lazarus (Blake) and a lowly leper (Cricket or Carlene). The pageant is a hoot, but the guys running the flying inadvertently send someone sailing through the Church’s stained glass window.

5. Episode 10: Revelation: Carlene’s dream of opening Condos for Christian Living in unincorporated Juarez, Mexico hit a snag when the girls are kidnapped and brought before the sublime Sandra Bernhard. Barring a miracle, this is the way we leave our Good Christian Bitches, with more shocking scandals (An illegitimate child! A forbidden kiss!) that may never be resolved.

The DVD boasts a number of fun bonus features including "Living Large," wherein Potts and Aspen give a behind-the-scenes tour of the show's great sets by Denny Dugally, and "Preaching to the Choir," which reveals among other things that the first season's musical pageant was intended to be an annual event. Also to be found among the DVD's three discs is a mixed bag of ten deleted scenes and a hilarious collection of bloopers... interspersed with scriptural quotes!

Even if ABC doesn't continue GCB, perhaps another network will see the light (a la the transferred cult hit Cougar Town) and save these nasty but hilariously GCBs.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine and Neil Cohen, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Phoenix's Echo Magazine.

Reverend’s Interview: America’s Gaysian Sweetheart

One can never be sure what’s going to emerge from Alec Mapa’s mouth/iPhone. While negotiating an interview with the actor-comedian in conjunction with his headliner appearance at LA Pride on Sunday, June 10th, I assured him I would be gentle (with my questioning, that is). He replied, “I never asked you to be gentle.”

Mapa, for those of you who have been hiding under a rock the past 25 years, has carved quite a name for himself in GLBT entertainment history. Since appearing in an ABC Afterschool Special in 1987 and succeeding B.D. Wong in the original Broadway production of M. Butterfly the following year, Mapa continues to distinguish himself in the worlds of television, theatre and film. While perhaps best known for playing Vern, Gabrielle’s gay best friend, on the recently-ended Desperate Housewives and imperious fashionista Suzuki St. Pierre on the late, great Ugly Betty, the Filipino-American Mapa has also appeared in such classic TV series as The Cosby Show, Friends and NYPD Blue as well as the mainstream, hit movies You Don’t Mess with the Zohan and Marley & Me.

Here’s my own (slightly edited) rollicking, revealing conversation with the delightful Mapa.

CC: So, how did you dethrone B.D. Wong and George Takei as “America’s Gaysian Sweetheart”?
AM: (Laughing) I was the only one who showed up to accept the bouquet. I always kid George by telling him he should have come out 40 years ago if he wanted to be the queen. I love George, and he’s had an amazing career since coming out. I was actually doing a sitcom a few years back but was jetting off to a benefit somewhere. I’m always doing benefits for HRC and the Matthew Shephard Foundation and AIDS support. Anyway, I told that to someone on the set as I was leaving and they said, sarcastically, “Well, aren’t you America’s Gaysian Sweetheart?” I thought, “Oh, I like that."

CC: This will be your first appearance at LA Pride. Why only now?

AM: For an out performer, June is like December if you’re playing Santa Claus or an elf. You get invited to all the Pride events everywhere. I’d been asked to perform at LA Pride before but this is the first time our schedules finally aligned. I’m absolutely looking forward to it. This is a good time in terms of how the tide is turning regarding gay marriage.

CC: You know that Queen Latifah just performed at Long Beach Pride but didn’t actually come out.
AM: I know, what’s that about? Is there anyone who doesn’t think Queen Latifah is a lesbian?

CC: What can attendees look forward to during your LA Pride performance?
AM: Well, I’ll be keeping my language as clean as possible since it’s outdoors, but I’ll be taking on all the hot topics of our time, meaning gay marriage. It amazes me that my relationship and family are the subject of such debate and division, that some people are scared of us. If those people came over to our house, they would see me doing laundry and steaming broccoli and making macaroni and cheese. What’s so scary about that?

CC: How are married life and parenthood treating you? (Mapa and his husband became legally married during the brief time when it was legal in California, and they have since adopted a son.)
AM: Really great. I always liked the idea of being married, because I’m lazy (laughs). I’m too lazy to be with lots of people. My husband and I just celebrated our 10th anniversary of being together, which is a lot of apologies (laughs). I think a lot of relationships would last if couples apologized more. So many relationships end because one person or both people won’t say “I’m sorry.” My husband is a terrific father. I think I’m a good parent because I’m comfortable with people not liking me. When my husband yells at our son, who is 7, it’s because he’s done something wrong. When I yell, it’s because it’s morning (laughs).

CC: Any thoughts on the recent end of Desperate Housewives?
AM: I’m sad I wasn’t in the finale. I died in the tornado a couple of seasons ago. I’m sad it’s over but believe the show will become emblematic of our times. (Series creator) Marc Cherry is a genius and I loved how the show exposed all the secrets of suburban life.

CC: What current projects are you working on?
AM: I’m reviving my show Baby Daddy at the LA Center June 1st and 2nd. 100% of the proceeds will be going to the Center. That’s how I’ll be kicking off Pride Week. I just did a guest role on a new TV show, Bad Girls.

CC: Will you be playing one of the title characters?
AM: (Laughs) No, I’m the gay BFF of one of them. And I love that Ugly Betty is still running on the TV Guide Channel.

CC: Anything else you want readers to know?
AM: Happy Pride, everybody! Oh, and the President loves you! We’ve waited a long time to be able to say that.

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend's Interview: One of the Family

The macabre yet whimsical creations of cartoonist Charles Addams have been entertaining on the printed page and small and large screens since the 1930's. More recently, Gomez, Morticia and their "creepy kooky spooky ooky" brood made a leap to the Broadway stage with 2010's The Addams Family: A New Musical Comedy. After a tortured development process that saw the work of original directors Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch (Shockheaded Peter) ultimately supervised and tweaked by veteran Jerry Zaks (Mame, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), the production opened in New York with Tony-winning headliners Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth and enjoyed a huge advance in ticket sales. Fellow critics, however, gave it a less than rapturous response.

The musical has been substantially re-worked since its Broadway run and before going on tour. Now playing at Los Angeles' Pantages Theatre through June 17th with Douglas Sills (having a lot of infectious fun) as Gomez and New York favorite Sara Gettelfinger as Morticia, I found the end result highly enjoyable if hardly groundbreaking. While the book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and Andrew Lippa's score are largely routine (although two songs, "Happy/Sad" and the finale's "Move Toward the Darkness," are hauntingly beautiful), the show contains so much humor, impressive stagework and clever puppetry that I must recommend it to all but the most jaded theatregoers.

San Diego native Brian Justin Crum is featured as Lucas Beineke, arguably the most "normal" character in the show, whose engagement to Wednesday Addams (the impressive Cortney Wolfson) serves as the central point on which the musical's rather slight plot pivots. At only 25, Crum has already racked up an impressive set of credits that includes Next to Normal, Wicked and Grease on Broadway, as well as an acclaimed turn in the title role of Disney's Tarzan at North Shore Music Theatre. He is also an out & proud gay actor. Crum took time out of his busy schedule before arriving in LA to speak with Reverend.

"Our director always says the final product (i.e. The Addams Family) in New York was not meant to be the final product," Crum related. "They re-wrote the script, cut some songs and added others for the tour, which has gotten a great reception." The major revision in the book of the current version is Wednesday now confiding in her father the truth of her and Lucas' engagement, which creates tension between Morticia and the formerly always-honest Gomez.

"The whole plot of the show," continued Crum, "is this 'normal' family from Ohio that meets the Addams family. The show challenges what we think is normal or crazy and gets us to look at things from a new perspective." Indeed, at one point Morticia pointedly states "Define normal," which drew a cheer from the opening night crowd in LA.

I asked the talented and (it should be said) attractive Crum if the show has a highlight for him. "I love 'Crazier Than You,' the scene before and the song; Cortney, who is a great friend, and I have great chemistry." Crum also speaks highly of Tony nominee (for The Scarlet Pimpernel) Sills. "We're so lucky to have Douglas. He's become like my father; I've gotten so close to him. I can't say enough how wonderful he is both onstage and offstage to work with."

Crum had complimentary things to say about the entire Addams Family ensemble. "I've been with the tour for nine months now, and I've gotten to be great friends with so many of the cast and crew." I naturally had to ask whether Crum, as a young gay man touring the US of A, was single. "I'm single-ish," he laughingly replied without elaborating.

I also felt compelled to ask what was next for the up-and-comer, or if he had any dream roles he'd like to play. "I always draw a blank when I get asked that," he replied. "I like to think that my dream role hasn't yet been written." In the meantime, "I'm with the (Addams Family) tour until mid-August and then back to New York. I'm really excited and really blessed."

I encourage everyone to check out Crum and his temporary Family while they are visiting southern California, or wherever they may be found on tour this summer.

Interview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: PTown to Shakespeare

Everyone from the Pilgrims to Eugene O'Neill to John Waters has called Provincetown, Massachusetts home at one time or another. The small community at the tip of Cape Cod, affectionately dubbed "PTown" by locals and the thousands of tourists (many of them GLBT) that descend on it each summer, currently hosts Pulitzer Prize-winning writers Norman Mailer and Michael Cunningham.

As Mailer declares in the new documentary PTown Diaries, out on DVDthis week from Cinema Libre Studio, "Provincetown is the freest place in America." It also is described by the film's narrator, out actor Alan Cumming, as a historic "place of refuge" for those who have long sought tolerance. No wonder PTown boasts a significant year-round GLBT population and is considered by some to be the San Francisco of the east coast.

Director Joseph Mantegna (no relation to the actor, Joe Mantegna) became intrigued by PTown's extensive, colorful history while shooting a prior documentary focused on Mailer's life and work. Politicians, hippies and drag queens are spotlighted, as well as same-sex and straight parents with children who vacation there. Mantegna lets a few sequences set in gay and lesbian clubs go on too long, but the film otherwise serves as an intriguing travelogue for those of us who haven't yet had the pleasure of visiting PTown.

Also available this week on DVD are several gems from last year's GLBT film fest circuit. Alan Brown's extraordinary Private Romeo(Wolfe Video) is an all-male, modern version of Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet. The prose remains the same, but the love story has been given a same-sex makeover set against a military school backdrop. Brown also gives the climax a decidedly more positive spin than did The Bard. The movie's cast is excellent, so much so that its members were collectively honored with the 2011 Outfest Grand Jury Award for Outstanding Actor in a Feature Film.

Tomboy(Wolfe Video) also won a number of high-profile awards and received a brief theatrical release in major cities. This touching coming of age story by French writer-director Celine Sciamma stars impressive teen newcomer Zoe Heran as a girl who presents herself as a boy to her schoolmates following her parents' move to a new community. Unpredictable yet humane throughout, it is a must-see for women, men and teenagers alike.

Finally, the rockumentary Hit So Hard: The Life & Near Death Story of Drummer Patty Schemel(Well Go USA Entertainment) relates the challenging coming out process endured by the drummer of Courtney Love's band Hole. More than that, it provides a glimpse at the little-known gay and lesbian players in the contemporary rock music industry. The film is well worth checking out whether one is a Hole/rock-n-roll fan or not.

Reverend's Ratings:
PTown Diaries: B
Private Romeo: A-
Tomboy: A-
Hit So Hard: B+

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.