Reverend's Interview: Anything Goes with Marcus Shane

Cole Porter's raucous musical-comedy Anything Goes has been entertaining audiences around the world pretty much non-stop since its Broadway debut way back in 1934.  With a storyline involving evangelists, sailors, gangsters and mismatched lovers, plus a score that includes such standards as "I Get a Kick Out of You," "You're the Top," "It's De-Lovely," "Blow, Gabriel, Blow" and the title tune, the show has proven to be truly timeless.

If there was any doubt as to this popularity before 2011, that year's New York revival of Anything Goes proved naysayers wrong.  With current Broadway "It Girl" Sutton Foster as evangelist-turned-nightclub singer Reno Sweeney, a role previously played by Ethel Merman and Patti Lupone, and high-energy choreography and direction by Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall, the new production was a huge success.  The touring version pulls into port at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles for a six-week, holiday run beginning today.

Gay cast member Marcus Shane spoke with Reverend from the tour's first stop in Cleveland, Ohio.  Shane plays John, one of two Chinese gamblers who are posing as innocent missionaries.  Originally named Ching and Ling, the pair were given more politically correct, Gospel-inspired names (the other is Luke) in the musical's revised libretto.  The 27-year old Shane was born in South Korea but adopted by American parents when he was young.

REV:  Thanks for taking time out to talk with us.  How long have you been with the tour now?
MS: No problem!  Well, we just opened two weeks ago in Cleveland, which is our first stop following five weeks of rehearsal, so all in all it's been about two months.

REV: What have been some of the highlights of the show or tour for you?

MS: First and foremost, working with Kathleen Marshall, who came back and choreographed and directed. Then, working with Rachel York (veteran of the original casts of Broadway's City of Angels, Victor/Victoria and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, among many other shows) as Reno.  She is spectacular!  It's a great cast and show.

REV: What do you most enjoy about performing?

MS: The audiences, really getting to share our story with them and getting their feedback.  Every performance and audience is different.

REV:  When were you first bitten by "the bug"?

MS: Probably when I was in kindergarten.  I played the sun, with a yellow paper plate on my face, and sang "You Are My Sunshine" in a school production!  (Laughs.)  I've been singing and performing ever since.

REV: Anything Goes is such a well-known, classic show.  Does that pose any unique challenges for you as a performer?

MS: It does, but there have been countless revivals and so many interpretations.  It is always evolving. Kathleen Marshall has really made this one spectacular, and brought in a new writer to add and update some things.

REV: Would you say the show has any special appeal or relevance to the GLBT community, aside from Cole Porter's well-known bisexuality?

MS: You know what, it's a show for everyone but we have the hottest guys and gals of any show in very sexy outfits.  The chorus boys wear sailor suits that leave little to the imagination!

REV: I read that you were formerly a go-go dancer.  Where was that and what was the experience like?

MS: (Laughs.)  I had just graduated and moved to New York.  I got a tip from a friend of mine in Michigan (Shane's home state) to audition for this gay Asian club.  I went there and it was like Miss Saigon! (Laughing.)  The guys were so in-shape and hot, and I was so intimidated and shy that I worked there only one day.  My go-go dancing career lasted exactly eight hours!  It just was not for me. (Laughs.)

REV: What are your long-term goals?

MS: Being employed is #1.  As an actor, I want to play as many parts as I can.  I want to move to Los Angeles at some point.  I just did a short film called Half-Share, which is set on Fire Island and stars (gay actors) Alec Mapa and Jack Plotnick.  It was my first experience on a film set but I loved it and would like to do more movies in the future.

REV: Last question, but one I'm sure one many will ask you: are you single?

MS: I am.  I'm Grindr single. (Laughs.)

For more information about the L.A. engagement of Anything Goes and to purchase tickets, visit the Center Theatre Group website.

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

Reel Thoughts: Without a Hitch

The battle of the Hitchcock biographies has played out with The Girl on HBO and Hitchcock on the big screen, and the winner is no contest. Hitchcock murders The Girl like Norman Bates slaughtered poor Marion Crane The dull, one-note The Girl never stood a chance against Anthony Hopkins as Hitch, Helen Mirren as Mrs. Hitch, Alma Reville, and Scarlett Johansson in a spot-on performance as Janet Leigh. Hitchcock delights in showing all the dishy behind-the-scenes dramas that went into the making of Psycho.

The Girl, on the other hand, fails miserably to capture the complex and allegedly abusive relationship between Hitchcock and his “exciting new discovery,” Tippi Hedren. Toby Jones does well, but seems small in stature and presence as Hitchcock, while Sienna Miller never even captures Tippi’s signature sexy monotone, much less her odd charisma. The film misses many opportunities to celebrate the films Hitch and Hedren made together, especially The Birds, never even showing Hedren with a single co-star. Was the budget that low? All we see is unpleasant to watch sexual harassment from Hitch toward Hedren, his obsession.

On the other hand, Hitchcock pumps up the suspense, naturally, considering that it is a film about making one of the scariest movies of all time. Director Sasha Gervasi and Black Swan screenwriter John J. McLaughlin introduce infamous serial killer Ed Gein (Michael Wincott), the inspiration for Norman Bates, as a devil on Hitchcock’s shoulder as he films Psycho. With Gein's unexpected appearances, you are never sure if he will start some bloodletting of his own via Hitch, although he's essentially a red herring.

Hopkins disappears into his role as Hitchcock, capturing the brilliant director’s ego and vulnerability, while Mirren also gives a moving performance as a woman used to being invisible beside her famous husband. Toni Collette is wonderful as Hitch’s faithful secretary, and Jessica Biel is fun as the unfortunate Vera Miles, who suffered Hitch’s wrath on Psycho for having previously dared to get pregnant when he wanted to make her a star. Johansson is the real stand-out, managing to capture Janet Leigh down to the most subtle detail. Likewise, James D’Arcy makes the most of closeted star Anthony Perkins, who found parallels between his struggles and his twisted character.

Hitchcock is a fun behind-the-scenes look at 1960’s Hollywood that is one of the best movies of the year

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

Reel Thoughts: Tiger By the Tale

If you were captivated by the film and novel The Black Stallion, you will fall in love with the gorgeously-shot Life of Pi. Ang Lee’s adaptation of the 2001 best-seller makes the best use of 3-D you will see this year as he tells the story of a teenager who survives an unbelievable 227 day ordeal at sea.

Living happily in India, Pi (which is short for piscine, the French word for pool) is upset to learn that his parents plan to sell the zoo that they own and move the family to Canada to escape political unrest. Along with most of the animals, Pi and his family board a Japanese freighter for their trip across the Pacific. Unfortunately, a terrible storm capsizes the ship and only Pi escapes onto a lifeboat with an injured zebra who jumped in as the boat launched. Pi then discovers a spotted hyena hiding under the boat’s cover, followed by a beloved orangutan who floats up on a raft of bananas. His last unexpected guest is the ferocious tiger humorously named Richard Parker, who leaps onto the already crowded lifeboat. As the sea’s fury continues, nature’s fury unfolds on the boat, leaving Pi with life-or-death decisions to make in order to survive.

Pi and the tiger form an uneasy truce as the need for food and fresh water becomes more and more serious. Amazing sights and events happen, like a phosphorescent sea of jellyfish that light up the water one evening, or the mysterious island Pi discovers that holds a deadly secret. Lee’s storytelling and visual genius makes Life of Pi the most beautiful film of the year with a haunting story that will appeal to most ages. The animal violence may be too harsh for younger kids and the long time at sea may tire them, but otherwise the film is perfect for everyone.

It is no spoiler to say that Pi survives his adventure at sea, since the story is told in flashback by Irrfan Khan from The Namesake to an interested writer. Khan’s epilogue on the story creates questions about what really happened, but the film concludes with a moving scene that caps the tale beautifully.

Life of Pi is a movie you have to see on the big screen, and you will be blown away.

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

Reverend’s Reviews: Ice, Rust & Bone

The holiday season has begun, and its requisite songs celebrating snowy landscapes dominate radio stations. "Sleigh Bells", "Winter Wonderland", "Let It Snow" and other tunes are as much a part of Christmas as trees and tinsel.  We should enjoy the frigid phenomenon they celebrate while we can since, as the makers of the new documentary Chasing Ice illustrate, it probably won’t last much longer.

Chasing Ice (now playing in Los Angeles and New York before a national rollout) reveals the staggering damage done to Earth’s ice caps as a result of human-caused global warming via stunning time-lapse photography shot between 2007 to 2010.  National Geographic photographer James Balog and his crew perched cameras on the edge of millennia-old glaciers in Greenland, Iceland, Canada, Alaska and other historically snow-covered spots. When they retrieved the footage a few years later, they were stunned — as viewers will be — by the shockingly rapid pace of melt they captured. The results are not only now-barren wilderness but also rising sea levels with decreased salinity that is impacting life both in the ocean and on land.  The reduction in ice is also contributing to a global rise in temperature and increasing ferocity of hurricanes and other “superstorms.”

So long as filmmaker Jeff Orlowski keeps his focus on the findings from Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) and the researcher’s subsequent efforts to educate the world about global warming, Chasing Ice is gripping.  Occasional diversions into knee surgery that Balog had to undergo and logistical hardships his team endured seem calculated and excessive.  This award-winning testament to disaster need provide no greater human interest than the obvious natural effects we will all soon suffer.

Jacques Audiard’s unsparing drama Rust and Bone is also screening now in NY and will open in LA on December 7th.  I first wrote about the film a few weeks back in my preview of AFI Fest, where it received a special screening.  Marion Cotillard (who won the Best Actress Academy Award for La Vie En Rose and seems a shoo-in for a nomination this year for her exceptional work here) plays Stephanie, a whale trainer at Marineland in the south of France who loses both her legs during a performance gone bad.  While I was grateful that Audiard depicts this accident minimally and tastefully, it also left me wondering exactly what happened.

Now confined to a wheelchair, Stephanie reaches out to a club bouncer she had met briefly prior to the accident. Ali (Matthias Schoenaerts, the terrific, previously unknown star of last year’s Oscar-nominated Bullhead) is a brutish, washed-up fighter with a little boy who has had to move in with his sister and her husband.  Although Ali accuses Stephanie of being a whore during their initial encounter, he’s the one who has sex with women indiscriminately and farms himself out for small-scale boxing matches to make money.

Stephanie and Ali gradually find wounded common ground, and more, between them.  A subplot about Ali installing surveillance cameras in unsuspecting workplaces seems extraneous, and Ali’s young son is forced to undergo a considerable amount of physical and emotional trauma during the course of the film.  Rust and Bone isn’t a love story for everyone, but many will find it and its two lead performances undeniably powerful.

Reverend’s Ratings:

Chasing Ice: B+

Rust and Bone: B

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