Reverend's Interview: One Grand Dame

Sandra Bernhard has distinguished herself in the entertainment industry since the late 1970's as a stand-up comedian, singer, actress and author. More recently, she has gained regard as an advocate, activist and mother. For all her achievements to date, Bernhard is being honored as Grand Marshall of the San Diego Pride parade on Saturday, July 21st.

She often wields a harsh or bitter attitude in her comedic performances, which landed Bernhard in hot water in 2008 when she declared that then-Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin would be "gang-raped by my big black brothers" upon her arrival in New York City. Fortunately, Bernhard was nothing but pleasant and gracious when Reverend spoke with her recently.

"I know, isn't that exciting?," she replied to my congratulations on being named Grand Marshall. "It's always great to be among my people and to appreciate each other." Bernhard was so honored previously during the St. Louis Pride parade two years ago and reflected fondly on the experience. "It was great, so fun; there was definitely mutual admiration" between her and that parade's spectators.

Along with the elders among us, Bernhard has watched the growth in prominence and equality of our LGBT community over the past few decades. This growth has exploded in just the last few years. "I think it's really timely and the perfect evolution of the gay movement," Bernhard noted. "It's a natural thing, but it is an ongoing battle and we need to keep those in mind who have paved the way for us: feminists, black people, and others who have suffered oppression."

Bernhard was raised in a Jewish family and came of age (along with Reverend) in Scottsdale, Arizona. After graduating from high school, she lived on a kibbutz in Israel for a year. She then moved to Los Angeles and began to develop her stand-up comedy while making ends meet as a manicurist. Soon after, Bernhard became a regular performer at The Comedy Store and was cast on The Richard Pryor Show, which she describes as "a great learning experience." She presently ranks among Comedy Central's listing of the 100 greatest standups of all time.

"When I was really little, my inspirations were Carol Channing, Carol Burnett and Phyllis Diller," Bernhard shared. "My musical influences were Tina Turner, Patti Smith and Joni Mitchell. It's pretty obvious I've always been attracted to tough, ballsy women."

The comedian-turned-actress made a big splash with her first major film role in Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy (1983). As Masha, a psychotic woman who stalks and ultimately kidnaps a talk show host played by Jerry Lewis, Bernhard inspired Oscar speculation and won the National Society of Film Critics award that year for Best Supporting Actress. Other prominent movie turns followed including Casual Sex?, Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird and, my personal favorite, Hudson Hawk. She plays the megalomaniacal Minerva Mayflower in this campy, 1991 comedy-adventure.

Though the big-budget movie starring Bruce Willis in the title role became a notorious flop at the box office, Bernhard has no regrets. "It was a blast, to live in Europe for three months and just fool around, because they spent so much money on that movie. Also, Richard E. Grant, who played my husband, and I have remained very good friends since then."

Bernhard was also famously good friends -- and possibly more -- with Madonna for a time. During an appearance together on The David Letterman Show in the late 1980's, the women alluded to a romantic relationship between them and staged a sexy confrontation before the flummoxed Letterman. Bernhard also appeared in Madonna's documentary Truth or Dare but the pair later grew distant.

As one of the first actresses to portray an openly-lesbian recurring character on TV, Bernhard had a six-year run on the hit sitcom Roseanne. She also played herself on two renowned episodes of Will & Grace. She includes these among the highlights of her career to date, along with The King of Comedy and her one-woman show Without You I'm Nothing, With You I'm Not Much Better, which became a movie in 1990.

"For me, almost every time I get up to perform live, it's a major moment," Bernhard said. "To still feel that way after thirty years is a great feeling." Today, she is making the rounds with a new live show, working on a new book, and working with some producers to try to resurrect her 1992 late-night show Sandra After Dark, at least as a weekly show. Bernhard also continues to make frequent guest appearances on various TV series, including recent shots on Hot in Cleveland and the final episode of GCB.

"On a career level, just getting up every day and being creative is something I enjoy and am blessed to be able to do," Bernhard reflects. "On a personal level, spending important quality time with my daughter and spending time with my family and friends" is important to her at this stage of her life. Bernhard, who lives in New York but gets back to Southern California and Arizona regularly, has been partnered with her girlfriend for the past 13 years and their daughter, Cicely, will be starting high school this fall.

Before concluding, I asked Bernhard if there was anything she wanted to say specifically to the GLBT community of Southern California. "I think it's really important to stay mobilized and to stay clear about our goals, and to get marriage equality recognized at the federal level," she replied. "There shouldn't be any question about that."

To keep up with Bernhard, visit her website.

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

Reverend’s Interview: Batmania Rises

These final days leading up to the release of anticipated blockbuster The Dark Knight Rises have seen Internet speculation about the movie’s content reach a fever pitch. Does hulking villain Bane (Tom Hardy) kill Bruce Wayne, with co-star Joseph Gordon-Levitt potentially assuming Batman’s cowl? Will Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow make a rumored cameo? Does Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle/Catwoman wear the black latex as well as predecessors Julie Newmar and Michelle Pfeiffer? Will Gotham City survive the terrorist attacks and urban warfare shown in the trailers?

A conversation I had last week with actress India Wadsworth shone very little light on the finished film, which she hadn’t yet seen. Wadsworth couldn’t even confirm who she plays in The Dark Knight Rises. While billed as “The Warlord’s Daughter,” some with more knowledge of the Batman comics and graphic novels than I have deduced that Wadsworth may actually be appearing as Talia Al Ghul and/or Talia’s mother. Talia is the pseudo-villainous daughter of Ra’s Al Ghul, the destructive mastermind played by Liam Neeson in Batman Begins. Neeson is slated to make an appearance in the new sequel, with another actor listed as playing a younger Ra’s. Could “The Warlord” be Ra’s mysterious alias?

“I really didn’t find out what I was doing until the day of filming,” Wadsworth says. “I had little advance knowledge of my character and didn’t have much time to prepare.” She also claims that, to this day, she doesn’t know who “The Warlord” is. Still, Wadsworth was thrilled to be cast in what I referred to as one of the most highly anticipated movies of all time.

“Oh my God, that sounds so scary when you put it like that!” she responded. The British-born actress and model has had a number of roles on BBC shows and in independent films but The Dark Knight Rises represents her first major movie. “I auditioned in London but didn’t even know what movie I was auditioning for,” Wadsworth said. “When they called and offered me the movie, I was so excited and said ‘yes’ right away.”

What is known about this climactic entry in director/producer/co-writer Christopher Nolan’s ultra-serious take on the superhero is that the drug-fueled Bane, possibly under the direction of a higher authority, cuts Gotham City off from the world and launches a punishing assault on The Bat (returning Christian Bale). Other returning cast members include Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine, who are joined by series newcomers Gordon-Levitt, Hathaway and Oscar-winner Marion Cotillard.

Wadsworth did reveal — perhaps cryptically — that she worked closely with co-star Hardy during her four days on set. In one Batman comics storyline, Talia Al Ghul had a reluctant relationship with Bane at her father’s behest after things with Batman, Talia’s one-time lover and Ra’s initial intended successor, didn’t quite work out.

“I kind of don’t really know how my character and story fit in (to the final film),” Wadsworth shared, “so I’m excited to see the film when it comes out to see how it all turned out.” Of her experience on set, she enthused: “It was awesome! It was such a huge, massive set. There wasn’t any green screen so it was all right there. Christopher Nolan is such a genius.”

Given that The Dark Knight Rises is the 25-year old’s introduction to the cast of Nolan’s Batman trilogy, I asked Wadsworth whether she was very familiar with the iconic character beforehand. “Yes, definitely,” she replied. “I was a huge fan of The Dark Knight and found it inspiring. I’m also a huge fan of Tim Burton and his earlier Batman films."

Wadsworth is currently better known in the UK than in the US thanks to her appearances on BBC series, London Fashion Week runways and in various beauty campaigns. That may well change after this Friday, when The Dark Knight Rises is released worldwide. She was discovered by a model scout when she was 14 years old and has been noted as an “Afro-Asian head-turner.” Despite Wadsworth’s rapid success as a model and actress, furthering her education after high school was important to her. She went to the London School of Economics and studied social anthropology, a field which captured her interest because of her African and Chinese roots.

“I wouldn’t say my dream is to be a movie star but I love the craft of acting and modeling,” Wadsworth said. “I want to be a success and happy with what I do, whatever that ultimately is.” She is currently shooting an indie film, Counter-Clockwise, and trying to base herself in the Los Angeles area. No matter who or what she plays in Batman’s latest, secrecy-shrouded epic, I predict even bigger things for Wadsworth in the future.

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

Reverend’s Reviews: La Cage in LA

When it first opened in 1983, the Jerry Herman-Harvey Fierstein stage musical adaptation of La Cage aux Folles was a far riskier venture than most Broadway productions of the time. Despite being based on a popular French stage play and an international hit film (which would be remade as the acclaimed, English-language The Birdcage in 1995), the unabashedly pro-gay musical was opening at the height of AIDS hysteria and much resultant anti-gay sentiment. The beloved, Tony Award-winning Herman — who had scored the classics Hello, Dolly! and Mame — even had a certified panic attack prior to the show’s pre-Broadway tryout in conservative Boston.

He needn’t have worried. Happily for all concerned, La Cage aux Folles was an instant smash in both Boston and New York. It eventually won six Tonys and ran for over four years. It’s 2004 and 2010 Broadway revivals both won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, making La Cage the first show to win a record three times for best musical production. Now, the 2010 revival is making its Los Angeles debut in a tour headed by out Broadway star Christopher Sieber (a Tony nominee for his hilarious turns in Monty Python's Spamalot and as the diminutive Lord Farquuad in Shrek the Musical) and 72-year old Hollywood legend George Hamilton. It is running through July 22nd at the Pantages Theatre.

Hamilton (as tan, in-shape and perfectly coiffed as ever) plays Georges, manager and MC of a popular gay nightclub in St. Tropez. Georges is also the longtime partner of his drag revue’s star, Albin (Sieber, who played Georges during the revival's Broadway run opposite Fierstein as Albin). Also known as Zaza when performing, Albin is the more flamboyant and histrionic of the two. Their relationship is put to the test when Georges’ son, Jean-Michel (a fine, attractive Michael Lowney), suddenly announces his engagement to the daughter of France’s leading family-values crusader. Before the in-laws-to-be meet over dinner, Jean-Michel demands that his birth mother be invited and Albin be put out of sight for 24 hours.

The plot, though fairly familiar now as a result of the various films’ popularity, remains fresh thanks to some tweaks from Fierstein, moments of improv by Sieber (he references Sarah Palin at one point to uproarious effect, asking Hamilton “Can you see Russia?” when Hamilton’s head briefly ends up under Zaza’s skirt) and the plot’s own inherent timeliness. The musical’s greatest strength is Herman’s score, featuring such memorable, hummable gems as “The Best of Times,” “Look Over There,” “Song on the Sand,” “A Little More Mascara,” “With You on My Arm” and, of course, the now-classic “I Am What I Am.” Sieber performs the latter anthem of gay- and self-pride more angrily than it has traditionally been done, and the result is riveting. Herman himself declared after the 1983 premiere of La Cage that he was so pleased with its success he would never write another original musical (although he did subsequently write a handful of songs for the 1996 made-for-TV movie, Mrs. Santa Claus, starring Angela Lansbury).

The revival now in LA and on tour originated in London and is on a smaller scale and more intimate than the show’s original staging. Directed by Tony-winner Terry Johnson and energetically choreographed by Lynne Page, this incarnation of La Cage has a reduced chorus and orchestra and only six gender-bending Les Cagelles. The orchestra wasn’t at its best opening night but this may have been due to adjustments necessitated by the Pantages’ cavernous space.

As is appropriate, the heart of La Cage remains the committed if frequently frustrating relationship (is there any other kind?) between its lead gay characters. Sieber has impeccable comic timing, a superb voice and is nothing but delightful as Albin/Zaza. While not the strongest singer, Hamilton’s voice is certainly pleasant enough and his dancing is impressive. Hamilton was a bit stiff opening night during his initial banter with the audience, but he loosened up as the show proper began. He and Sieber have excellent, genuine chemistry. Hamilton gets bonus points for being one of the few big-name actors of his generation to not only play a gay man respectfully and compassionately but to kiss his co-star full on the lips at the show’s climax. In the original Broadway production, nervous leads Gene Barry and George Hearn only kissed each other on the cheeks, claiming to follow “French tradition.”

Alas, as I witnessed opening night in LA, not all of today’s audience members are necessarily more comfortable than they were back in 1983 when it comes to acceptance of same-sex relationships. A heterosexual couple walked out in the middle of Act I, and several seats in my vicinity previously filled by heterosexual couples were empty when Act II began. I’d love to know which show the deserters thought they would be seeing when they purchased their tickets, perhaps the latest Cirque du Soleil extravaganza? More blatantly, a man seated a few rows behind me and my partner yelled out in opposition to drag performer Lily Whiteass’ pre-curtain call to legalize same-sex marriage in California. As far as American culture has come in the last 30 years, thanks in no small part to artistic works like La Cage aux Folles, we still have a way to go.

Reverend's Rating: B+

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

Movie Dearest: Year Five

Just five years ago today, Movie Dearest was born! To celebrate this milestone achievement in blogging, I and my "Men on Film", Chris Carpenter and Neil Cohen, want to thank all of our readers for making Movie Dearest so successful. Here's to another five years!