Reverend's Reviews: Theatre on the Fringe

 

Long Beach, California's International City Theatre (ICT) has presented a number of bold, challenging plays throughout its 33-year history.  With Cardboard Piano, however, the company goes farther than I have known them to go during the 12 years I have been associated with them.  ICT is staging the West Coast premiere of Hansol Jung's powerful, lesbian-themed drama now through May 20th at the Beverly O'Neill Theater.

caryn desai, ICT's Artistic Director/Producer, caught the world premiere of Cardboard Piano at 2016's Humana Festival in Louisville, Kentucky.  She was deeply moved and felt immediately inspired to seek the rights to present it locally.  Although Jung is Korean, the playwright drew from Uganda's tortured political history for her latest work.

During the 1980's-1990's, more than half a million Ugandans were either killed or expelled from the county between four different, harsh presidential regimes.  A civil war raged in the country for 21 years.  The play opens in 1999, on the eve of the new millennium, and concludes 15 years later.  This provides a glimpse into conditions both during and after the civil war.

It is difficult to relate the plot of Cardboard Piano without revealing what might be considered spoilers by those who haven't seen it. As the play begins, a young American missionary in Uganda, Chris, is solemnizing her same-sex relationship with a local girl, Adiel.  The couple has prepared to flee Chris's disapproving parents and the troubled country right after their marriage ceremony.  Fate intervenes tragically via the arrival of Pika, a teenaged soldier.

Chris returns alone to Uganda in 2014 and the small church her father established there.  An unexpected reunion as well as a chance meeting with Adiel's gay cousin provides Chris with both challenge and hope as she tries to reconcile with her past.  As the play's author has observed, "Religion can do two opposite things: it can destroy, hurt, and be an instigator of violence, but it can also be the only thing capable of controlling that violence."  This is well-illustrated during the course of Cardboard Piano.

desai directs this provocative work with her usual clarity and compassion.  Scenic designer Yuri Okahana, working with ICT for the first time, has provided an impressive set for the action to take place.  Most impressive though is the four-member cast, two of whom play double roles.  I felt Allison Blaize lacked a little focus or commitment on opening night with her performance as Chris but this could have been due to nerves.  Dashawn "Dash" Barnes, JoJo Nwoko and Demetrius Eugene Hodges were excellent.  All four actors are to be commended for their willingness to take on this emotionally wrenching play.

While exiting the theater, I overheard another attendee say "Well, not every play can have a happy ending."  This is true but I believe Cardboard Piano has an open, ultimately hopeful ending.  Kudos to ICT for having the courage to mount this noteworthy premiere.

For tickets, call 562-436-4610 or visit the ICT website.  Use coupon code CENTER18 at checkout for a $10.00 discount on each ticket that will also benefit the LGBTQ Center of Long Beach.

Plenty of us LGBTQ folk feel like we’ve long lived on the fringes of society. The irony is that over time we’ve become cultural tastemakers, deciding which TV shows, movies, plays and musicals are truly worthy of attention.

The Hollywood Fringe Festival is an annual, open access, community-derived event celebrating freedom of expression and collaboration in the performing arts community. Begun in 2010, this year’s dates are June 7th-24th. World-premiere plays, musicals, revivals and other theatrical events will infiltrate the Hollywood neighborhood. Fully-equipped theaters, parks, clubs, churches, restaurants and other unexpected places will host hundreds of productions by local, national, and international arts companies as well as independent performers.

Participation in the non-profit fest is completely open and uncensored. This free-for-all approach underlines the festival’s mission to be a platform for artists without the barrier of a curative body. By opening the gates to anyone with a vision, the festival is able to exhibit the most diverse and cutting-edge points of view the world has to offer. Additionally, by creating an environment where artists must self-produce their work, the Fringe motivates its participants to cultivate a spirit of entrepreneurialism in the arts.

The Fringe concept was incubated in Edinburgh, Scotland more than 70 years ago. In 1947, eight performance groups appeared uninvited on the “fringes” of the exclusive Edinburgh International Festival. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has since grown into the largest arts festival in the world with hundreds of artists, thousands of performances, and millions of patrons every summer. It annually grosses over $100 million for the local economy and remains the biggest tourist draw in the UK.

Fringe Festivals have since sprung up in dozens of cities around the world. Diversity in programming is strongly encouraged to provide a true festival atmosphere. This typically results in a number of projects with LGBTQ interests. 2018’s offerings will include:

• The Importance of Being Oscar, which follows Oscar Wilde at the end of his life. Released from prison, he discusses love, loss, morality and lack thereof. A whimsical and heartbreaking tribute, laced with Wilde’s own words and wit.
• The Actor’s Nightmare, by award-winning gay playwright Christopher Durang, is a one-act comedy exploring different styles of theatre (Shakespeare, Beckett, Coward) and how one man deals with being thrust onstage to perform without having seen his lines.
• Expectations High, written by teens for teens (and anyone who has ever been a teen). Overheard humor, rumor, drama, trauma, bromance, romance and karma play out during passing periods in high school.
• Snap Honey. Do you wanna get snapped? Grab a seat, get some tip money and enjoy female impersonator Vageena Honey as she tells the story of her rise to fame in a no-holds-barred diva style.
• The Book That I’m Going to Write, by Judy Garland. Tasked with dictating her memoirs alone to a tape recorder, the legend's life story quickly gives way to the searing inner-rage and personal revenge fantasies of a woman left robbed and broken by decades of abuse in Hollywood, now living the profound heartbreak of not being heard.
• A Pride of Queers. What does it mean to be queer? What is queer art? And how do we approach the truth, the vanity, and the stereotypes to find something new? Come and find out.
• My Calico Soul, a theatrical journey about taking all the labels that get thrust upon us or even give to ourselves and fully embracing them, including bisexuality.
• Cameron’s in Drag, an emotionally driven musical about adolescence and the difficulties of a young black teen being bullied as he struggles with gender identity, both at his private high school and at home with his widowed father.
• The Craftlesque, a musical-burlesque parody of the cult classic horror film The Craft!
• Salve Regina: A Coming of Gay Story. Born in Puerto Rico to an ultra-religious mother and a domineering father is not easy, especially when it’s likely you are a big Queen. Thank God for Madonna.
• Lorelei: I'm Coming Out. Glitter, Grace, and Grindr… who says the life of a drag queen is easy?
• Converted. Matt and Zeke get caught having sex at a gay conversion therapy camp in southern Ohio is just the beginning of this one-act comedy.
• Sex and the Musical. A new parody musical, this prequel to Sex and the City answers the question of how our favorite ladies became friends.
• Les Deux Remember This: The Musical. This juke box musical begins in 2006 where Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton go out to the famed club Les Deux and discover that their Bentley can time travel.
• Marilyn Monroe: The Last Interview. Subtitled "The Raw Truth of a Hollywood Legend", this solo show is based on Marilyn's final interview for Life Magazine in 1962.
• The Bitch is Back: An Elton John Cabaret. A musical journey through Elton John’s hits from the early 70’s to the late 80’s.
• The Oz Monologues goes beyond the story you already know, exploring each of the beloved characters from The Wizard of Oz... with a poetic and irreverent modern take.

Who knows, some of these shows could go on to off-Broadway or even Broadway as previous Fringe offerings have done.  For more information about these performances and the festival, visit the HFF website.

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

Reverend's Preview: Newport Beach Film Fest 2018 is Larger than Life

 

Despite having one major LGBT offering pulled at the eleventh hour by its distributor, this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) will still spotlight several feature-length and short films of interest to our community. The 19th annual event will run April 26th through May 3rd at multiple venues in and around its renowned host city.

NBFF strives each year to bring to Orange County the best of classic and contemporary filmmaking from around the world. It also provides an important forum for cultural understanding and enriching educational opportunities by showcasing a diverse collection of studio and independent films.

Among these are a number of productions with LGBTQ appeal, although this year’s final lineup had not been announced at press time. LGBTQ filmmakers participate as well as thousands of both LGBTQ and straight festival attendees.

One intended inclusion this year was The Game Is Up, a new documentary about LGBT professional athletes. It is inspiring and features several 2018 Olympians including out freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy. Unfortunately, distributor AT&T decided not to screen it at NBFF due to an altered release plan. The film is worth seeing though, whenever and wherever it does eventually show.

UPDATE: The Game Is Up has been retitled as Alone in the Game and will premiere on the AT&T Audience Network on June 28th. Watch the trailer here.

Another standout documentary that will be screened is Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story. Aucoin (pronounced Ah-kwan) revolutionized the art of makeup in the 1980's and 90's and would subsequently become an icon.

After his birth in 1962, Aucoin’s mother gave him up for adoption. He was taken in and raised by a loving family in Lafayette, Louisiana. As a kid, he continuously listened to Barbra Streisand and Cher albums, and was later spotlighted in his high school’s newspaper for his devotion to these divas. He is described in the film as “a tall and lanky club kid, dramatic and over-the-top.”

By the age of 11, Aucoin had committed himself to glamour and beauty, according to one of his friends at the time. Aucoin stated once he was an adult that he had been “a regular little boy who also liked some of the things girls did.” This paid off when he met a New York makeup artist by chance in the early 1980’s. “Months later, he was a pro beyond belief,” the artist who discovered Aucoin reports in the film.

Aucoin took a more naturalistic approach to makeup, and changed the style of the time as a result. “Meticulous,” “a painter” and “a natural with a twist” are a few of the descriptions applied to him in the film. He was also one of the first prominent, openly gay artists at the time and later prided himself on “working toward acceptance of diversity in this business.”

Following his initial work on models (including Paulina Porizkova and Christy Turlington, pictured above with Aucoin) and porn actresses, he began a highly successful career in New York City doing makeup for the covers of such big magazines as Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Aucoin worked on such beautiful and talented women as Tina Turner, Janet Jackson, Cindy Crawford, Brooke Shields, Andie McDowell, Liza Minnelli, the late Whitney Houston, and his childhood fave, Cher. As one of them comments, “He was addicted to making us beautiful.”Cher is interviewed in the documentary about her admiration for the late artist.

Sadly, Aucoin was diagnosed with a rare pituitary condition that caused some parts of his body, including his hands and skull, to grow larger than normal. This became more painful over time and he became addicted to Vicodin and other pain medications. Word of his addiction spread through the industry and ended his career. Aucoin died in 2002 at the age of 40 as a result of his drug abuse.

Directed by Tiffany Bartok, Larger Than Life is a comprehensive, intimate look at Aucoin’s short-lived but impressive time on Earth. His legend as both a makeup artist and a pioneer in the fight for LGBT rights lives on. Not even Aucoin’s untimely death could stop the revolution he helped to launch. As no less a luminary than Cher states in the documentary, “He inspired so many people.”

NBFF 2018 will also present an LGBTQ short films program entitled “Short, Sweet & Queer.” The lineup includes the following: 

• Alex and the Handyman, in which a 9-year old boy develops a crush on the moody 25-year old guy who works in his family’s mansion.
• Broad Strokes, about two gay, platonic friends who contemplate marrying each other and raising a family when they fail to find their significant others.
• Disforia finds a young, gender-queer person returning home after an absence to discover his family has moved away and their house has been sold.
• Jordy in Transitland, a modern fairy tale about a trans woman on the brink of her physical transition who finds it more challenging than anticipated.
• Manivald, an animated exploration of the title character’s harmonious life being disrupted by the arrival of a hot young plumber.
• Suitable, which features a young, ethnically diverse cast in a story of gender politics.
• Swim, the award-winning look at a young trans girl who finds freedom taking a secret midnight swim.

Individual tickets and festival passes are now on sale. They may be purchased by visiting the NBFF website or calling 949-253-2880.

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

Dearest Reviews: Three Toons and a Baby

 

No wonder Coco won.

Quick takes on some popular animated movies now streaming and/or on home video.

Ferdinand:
It's odd to see a family flick centered around the "sport" of bullfighting in this day and age, but here it is. Nevertheless, this modern adaptation of the kid lit classic (previously made by Disney as an Oscar-winning cartoon in 1938) is silly fun and sometimes clever (our hero visits the proverbial china shop), although one has to question the casting of wrestling stud John Cena in the title role... who casts John Cena for his voice? One can only imagine the queer lunacy a Nathan Lane could have brought to the part of a flower-loving pacifist. (6/10) Now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Um... is he pointing at his nipples?

The Breadwinner:
This Afghani version of Mulan from Irish animation house Cartoon Saloon begins with the young protagonist witnessing her mother being brutally beaten in the street. Yikes... I don't normally have issues with mature themes in animation, but I do when the characters resemble the cute little sprites from The Secret of Kells. Parents beware. (5/10) Now streaming on Netflix.

Don't trust this face.

Cars 3:
Hey Pixar, are you finally done with this worn-out, over-exposed franchise? Now that I've got that out of my system, this third Cars feature isn't too bad, especially since the focus has shifted back to Lightning McQueen (after the wall-to-wall Mater of Cars 2), even if he is saddled with a downer storyline about facing that final pit stop... uh, retirement? Yep, I think they're done. (6/10) Now available on DVD and Blu-ray.

Glengarry Glen Gerber

The Boss Baby:
In a field that has included the sad likes of Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Shark Tale, The Boss Baby can now easily claim the title of the worst movie to be nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar. Crammed to the breaking point with everything that makes today's average animated fare so bad — such sloppy, lazy tropes as stunt voice casting (Alec Baldwin! As a baby!), a soundtrack-ful of tired pop songs, plenty of poop/fart/burp/booger jokes — this Boss Baby deserves a permanent time out. (2/10) Now streaming on Netflix.

Reviews by Kirby Holt, Movie Dearest creator, editor and head writer.

Reverend's Reviews: Totally Awesome Visions, New & Old

 

I have emerged from my longer-than-anticipated, post-awards season recovery coma.  Somewhat similarly, Steven Spielberg has just premiered his first post-The Post movie, Ready Player One. It proves to be an awesome, just plain fun return to the über-director's 1980's heyday before he got all serious and stuffy with 1993's Oscar-winning Schindler's List.  Despite a couple of exceptions, Spielberg has been making serious films ever since including Saving Private Ryan, Lincoln, Munich, Bridge of Spies and last year's The Post.

Ready Player One barely has a serious bone in its body, and the movie is totally successful as a result.  It is also dripping with nostalgia for all things 1980's-early 90's.  The time travel-augmented Delorean from Back to the Future is prominently featured, as are Spock's burial capsule from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, incantations from John Boorman's Arthurian epic Excalibur, and a rampaging T-Rex from Spielberg's own Jurassic Park.  Twisted Sister's rowdy "We're Not Gonna Take It" plays over the film's climactic battle scene.  Had Ready Player One actually been made in the 80's, Corey Haim no doubt would have played hero Wade Watts (a.k.a. Parzival) instead of current headliner Tye Sheridan, while Peter Coyote would be cast as big baddie Nolan Sorrento instead of new villain du jour Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Animal Kingdom).

Set in the year 2045 and a predictably dystopian, post-Trump Ohio, Spielberg's terrific sci-fi adventure showcases Wade's efforts to solve three virtual reality riddles created by the late James Halliday (a great performance by the director's current muse, Mark Rylance, in a fright wig and age-defying CGI).  Whoever solves these puzzles by the Willy Wonka-ish video game designer will win a priceless "Easter egg" including ownership of Halliday's entire online universe, known as the OASIS.

Naturally, anything priceless is going to attract not only well-intentioned folks like Wade but money-grubbing, megalomaniacal people such as Sorrento, who turns out to have been Halliday's former personal assistant. Sorrento lords over a staff of hundreds whose only job is to play the OASIS's games and get the all-powerful Easter egg. A big part of the fun in watching the visually dazzling Ready Player One for anyone over 40 is looking for the many mini "Easter eggs" that play brief background roles.  Appropriately enough, my friends and I saw the movie on Easter Sunday.  It was definitely less messy than dying actual eggs.

The movie's best sequence is set in the Overlook Hotel, haunted setting of Stephen King's horror novel The Shining and Stanley Kubrick's 1980 film adaptation.  I haven't read the book Ready Player One but I've read that this Shining sequence replaced a lengthy literary homage to Blade Runner. It includes appearances by the scary twin girls and an expanded part for the bathtub-dwelling ghost in infamous room 237.

In the end, Ready Player One incorporates the best elements of Spielberg's 80's oeuvre: heroic young people, awe-inspiring special effects, abundant humor, and an emotionally uplifting finale. Older viewers may have difficulty with all the fast-moving video game CGI on display but will still likely enjoy this thrill ride of a film.

Classic cinema meets modern media in two stunning new Blu-ray releases from the lovingly curated Criterion Collection.  Turning back the clock 90 years, we find Carl Theodore Dreyer's famed religious pageant The Passion of Joan of Arc.  Inspirational in the best sense, it draws from actual court documents of the time to recount the trial, sentencing and execution of the female French soldier who would eventually become one of the Catholic Church's most renowned saints.

Renee Falconetti gives an unforgettable, screen-searing performance in the title role.  Dreyer required Falconetti and the rest of his cast to forego makeup in order to heighten the film's Middle Ages authenticity.  Rudolph Mate's innovative black and white photography, heavy on extreme closeups and odd angles, has inspired generations of cinematographers.

The Blu-ray of The Passion of Joan of Arc boasts numerous extras of historical interest as well as three different music scores by which to watch it.  One is Richard Einhorn's acclaimed oratorio "Voices of Light," which accompanied the film's 1995 release on VHS.  While this is the best regarded option, I enjoyed/appreciated the more recent, percussion-heavy score co-composed by rockers Will Gregory of Goldfrapp and Adrian Utley of Portishead.  The third musical option by Japanese pianist Mie Yanashita is lovely and reflective.  This universally-recognized classic is worth watching with all three scores as well as in its original silent mode.

Fast-forwarding to 1968 is Criterion's spotless, newly restored release of George A. Romero's revolutionary Night of the Living Dead.  The late director's famously low-budget horror hit set the template for all subsequent depictions of zombie uprisings, including today's Walking Dead franchise.  But the film may strike many as more significant or timely than ever due to its not-so-subtle commentary on race relations in the US.  Watching it now as we commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination makes this movie that much more relevant.

Largely set in a Pennsylvania farmhouse and its surrounding countryside, the movie depicts uneasy relations among a group of white strangers who have taken refuge from a siege by flesh-hungry undead.  The appearance of a black man (Ben, memorably played by Duane Jones) who is easily the smartest and strongest of them all only serves to heighten tensions.  In the end, the black hero survives only to be killed by a sheriff's posse that shoots without even determining if he is a zombie.

The original theatrical release of Night of the Living Dead at the height of the Civil Rights Movement was an unintended but providential occurrence that has helped to make the movie a cross-generational, multi-ethnic phenomenon for five decades now.  Sure, the actors' performances are amateurish at times and I noticed upon re-viewing it that some of the sound editing is off, especially during a fistfight scene.  These are minor criticisms though when held up against this movie's enduring cultural impact.  A new documentary about this, Light in the Darkness, is included as a bonus and features new Oscar winner Guillermo Del Toro among its commentators. Awesome indeed.

Reverend's Ratings:

Ready Player One: A-

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928): A

Night of the Living Dead (1968): A-

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