Andrew Weisblum, Oscar Nominee for “Black Swan”, talks about Aronofsky, Anderson & Editing

When I told Andrew Weisblum A.C.E., Academy Award Nominated Film Editor(for “Black Swan”) that I felt that film editors did not get the credit or recognition for the great contribution their work makes to films  and filmmakers we love, he said, “But we don’t want a light shined on us. We avoid the light. We are creatures of the dark,who like to live underground, in little dark rooms.” And for the most part that is an accurate description of what film editors do.

 

But not always. Weisblum is in that most enviable position of being the editor for two of the top film directors working today, Darren Aronofsky and Wes Anderson.and their editing styles couldn’t be more different.

And Weisblum’s contribution to their recent successes couldn’t be greater.Or more unknown.

 

What does he bring to the table? he was asked in an evening showcasing great film editors of today presented by Manhattan Edit Workshop as the first of a series of editing events of what they are calling “Inside the Cutting Room” hosted by Bobbi O’Steen, an editor herself, as well as the author of “Cut to the Chase.” 

 

“I bring myself,” the mild-mannered, but eloquent Weisblum answered. “I am totally open to whatever is being presented to me.”

 

Not always on track to one day being a Film Editor, Weisblum started out in Special Effects, most notably on the Academy Award Winner “Chicago,” and then came to meet  Darren Aronofsky in that capacity on his film “The Fountain,” which he worked on for a year. The collaboration became a very important one to both men, sensing in each other kindred spirits. 

 

And their relationship grew over time to one where now Weisblum is Aronofsky go-to-first editor on his subsequent projects, “Black Swan” and now is in post-production working on Aronosky’s epic “Noah.”

 

But he quickly noted that Aronofsky and Wes Anderson couldn’t be more different in how they approach working with an editor. 

 

Weisblum is never on set with Aronofsky and receives the footage to edit from him in an editing room, where he works on its’ assembly as is the classical paradigm of editing.

 

Anderson, on the other hand, shocked Weisblum, initially, by wanting to be IN the editing room with him, working on the footage together. 

 

“Wes Anderson” Weisblum noted “Has no rule book. It’s what he likes.” Whereas he finds Aronofsky is “a classicist. Who wants a structure, a beginning a middle and an end.” 

 

Anderson’s dialogue “is not natural.” He “does lots of different takes, but doesn’t rehearse.” 

 

His first collaboration was on Anderson’s “Darjelling Limited.” The story of three brothers(Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody & Jason Schwartzman). looking for their mother(Angelica Huston) who abandoned them and ran off to become a nun in India.Something you don’t find out til the very end of the film. Said O’Steen,”I’m spoiling the film for you, but it’s just such a good clip I had to show it.” Likewise when the time came to talk about “Moonrise Kingdom” it was again an extended clip of the film’s ending that she showed.

 

Weisblum said he was privy to Anderson’s editing style, which was ever-evolving, in the time he began working with him. Anderson, was most heavily influenced by the stop-motion animation cartoon “The Fantastic Mr. Fox” that Anderson directed after “Darjeeling” and before “Moonrise,” Weisblum said, surprisingly.

 

“Wes had never worked with story-boards before,” Weisblum said, “And ‘The Fantastic Mr. Fox’ was story-boarded to death.” But Anderson fell in love with this approach to editing and shooting, beloved by, for instance, the great Alfred Hitchcock, and used it extensively to prepare “Moonrise Kingdom.” Saving the production costs from sky-rocketing on this unusual, quirky love story that had to be done on a dime, “and was very difficult to finance.”

 

Weisblum found himself not only ON the set of “Moonrise” during the shooting at the beautifully scenic Camp Yawgoog (where my mother went as a girl scout in the ’20s) in Rhode Island, but living in the same house with Anderson.

 

He brought his laptop with him, and showed Anderson the day’s edit as they went along with the shooting. 

 

“Moonrise” was also complicated by the fact that the two tween actors, who were playing the leads didn’t really like each other, but were supposed to be the embodiment of young love. “The boy thought that the girl was yucky,” is how Weisblum put it. While, of course, the young actress was quite attractive.

 

And for the pivotal dancing-in-their-underwear on the beach scene, Anderson had to throw out his story boards and shoot it ‘from literally every angle” and “every line
had to be recorded and re-corded in a studio” because the young actors couldn’t make it sound believable. Looked at it that way, that scene and the uber-collaborative contribution of Andrew Weisblum as film editor, sound man, sounding board and best friend to Wes Anderson on “Moonrise Kingdom” cannot be underestimated.

 

Andrew Weisblum is also a very nice guy and the kind of kind spirit that auteur directors only dream about. And I’m sure both Darren Arofosky and Wes Anderson both appreciate and value working with this amiable, low-key artist of the editing room. 

 

VIA Rail’s Lovely Elaine McColloch Explaining the Joys of Canadian Train Travel

Thinking of traveling…Always…And as explained to me last year in the brand new Panorama Lounge at Toronto’s new refurbished Union Station, by VIA Rail’s lovely spokesperson Elaine McCollouch, it sounds irrestible!

New York Had a Wonderful Spring Day, Yesterday

New York City is not known for its’ great weather. It’s either freezing cold or boiling hot, and it gets three good days a year and yesterday was one of them. Spring in all its’ glory was present everywhere yesterday.

I woke up feeling incredibly lively. Just wonderful. For no discernible reason. Try as I might, I could not figure it out.

In the end, I just chalked it up to the beautiful day it was outside. A light breeze, mild temperatures. It was just a perfect New York Day, and I tried to stay outside. Out of a movie theater, Broadway play or a press screening, and just enjoy.

I’ve been so busy with the Drama Desk duties this year, seeing every nominated play that I could before the cut-off deadline, when the voting closes, and it’s all over but the shouting til next year.

But it was all done as of yesterday, which may have explain my elevated mood.

Surely, it couldn’t be because I drank one cup of coffee? I try to stick to tea nowadays, but that one cup, when I had it, just jolted my mood upwards of high

I sat on a lovely park bench, randomly encountering a dear friend, and that kind of stimulating conversation is always wonderful. A real friend, a park bench, a balmy breeze, I might have been on La Croisette in Cannes. But no. I was just here.

Living in New York is like traveling.

How could I live anywhere else?

R.I.P. Richard Griffiths, Great British Actor, TONY winner for “The History Boys”

Richard Griffiths passed about a month ago, but he is still remembered by all who knew him with great warmth, humor and poignancy. He was a Tony Award Winner for “The History Boys” and co-starred with Daniel Radcliffe on Broadway in “Equus.” He also famously played the dastardly Muggles uncle in the first part of “Harry Potter.
This is a particularly charming vignette at the Drama Desk Awards in 2006 the night he won THAT award for “The History Boys.”
I miss him. Everyone does.
And the doodles he’s referring to are an old Drama Desk tradition, where they ask the nominees at the Drama Desk Nominee Cocktail Party to draw a doodle of their character that they were nominated for.
They’ve dropped this since.

Funniest Documentary Ever Made! Monday, May 20 at 9pm on PBS! Of course, it’s “Mel Brooks: Make a Noise!”

Dear Readers, dear cineastes, dear lovers of theatre, you’re a in for a real, rich treat! You’ll never be able to stop laughing! I swear! “Mel Brooks: Make a Noise!” is coming your way on Monday, May 20. Stop the presses! Save the date! Circle it in red on your calendar! It’s something that I’ve never seen before on American Masters. It’s non-stop funny! It captures Brooks quite completely at his laugh-out-loud best. It’s hysterical. How many documentaries do you see that tickle your funny-bone? Almost none. So hooray for “Make A Noise”!

The new documentary on the comedy legend premieres nationally
Monday, May 20 at 9pm (ET/PT) on PBS (check local listings)
On DVD From Shout! Factory May 21, 2013

Oy! It’s soooo funny! I’ve already watched it TWICE! I can’t stop! Documentarian Robert Trachtenberg firmly restores Mel Brooks to the position from which his last Broadway flop, the musical of “Young Frankenstein” toppled him a few years back. He’s the American King of Comedy, a giant in the industry, a comic legend, and all those other great descriptions which really almost do not do him justice.

Except for the omission of “Mel Brooks: Young Frankenstein:The Musical” which would’ve been its ending, “Mel Brooks:Make a Noise” is well-nigh perfect. But it would have been too sad to end this joyous, mirthful man’s life story there.

It’s instructive that when Brooks’ career hits his mid-life low point, Trachtenberg even makes his flops look and sound funny.

And there’s a lot of news here, too. Like for instance, that the young Melvin Kaminsky started out as a drummer, among other things.

That his first taste of show business was his Joe uncle, a cab driver, took him to see his first Broadway show at nine. “Hey, Mel. I’ve got two tickets to a brand new Broadway show.” the original “Anything Goes” with Ethel Merman. And they even have a brief black and white clip of Merman onstage singing “Blow, Gabriel Blow” in 1934!

Brooks’ comment “It was thrilling! Thrilling! We were sitting in the last row of the second balcony. There were no mikes. Ethel Merman was still too loud and she was two miles away!”

And so this brilliant doc rolls on and on like a comic juggernaut, that REFUSES to stop making you life out loud at every turn.

We find out that his father died when he was two and that he was raised in “real poverty” in Willlamsburg, Brooklyn, with his three brothers. And a mother whom he adored.

We find that he was in World War II. That he had a first marriage, and three children.

That his marriage to Oscar-winning actress Anne Bancroft was one of the most enduring, true love stories in Hollywood history.

That he has trouble sleeping, stays up to three most nights and reads the classic.

Joan Rivers”You’re shocked to find out that this man is an intellectual.”

And on and on and on in a career that has so many highs its’ riduculous. “The Producers”(on film and on Broadway), “Blazing Saddles”, “Young Frankenstein”(The movie, not the musical) and everything else in between.

I have a Mel Brooks anecdote myself. I was sitting in the Broadway restaurant Angus McIndoe’s when “Young Frankenstein: The Musical” was about to close. Several years ago, and I said to my friend, “There’s Mel Brooks!” And he seemed totally absorbed in something. And he seemed very sad.

I couldn’t figure out what he was doing, he was so intent in his concentration, and that I realized that he was walking around to each picture on the walls and I saw that he was saying a silent “good-bye” to each one. Like he was saying “Good-bye” to Broadway. Like he felt he would never be back there again. And for the record, he hasn’t been. At least not yet. One thing “Mel Brooks: Make A Noise” makes clear is that you can never guess what Mel Brooks is going to do next. Can a musical version of “Blazing Saddles” be far behind?

SO in its own BIG way, American Masters “Make a Noise” is bringing about yet another great Mel Brooks come-back. He’s doing a huge promotional tour in support of this stupendous doc.

He can still make us laugh. We want him to. We need him to, that’s for sure.

Drama Desk Nominations Announced!

Here they are! I know you’ve been waiting for them! I’m a Voting Member, so I get to vote in all categories.

DRAMA DESK NOMINATIONS FOR THE 2012-2013 SEASON
The following awards were voted by the Nominating Committee and will be presented
by the Drama Desk at its awards ceremony:
Outstanding Ensemble Performance
This year the nominators chose to bestow a special ensemble award to the cast of
Working: A Musical. Marie-France Arcilla, Joe Cassidy, Donna Lynne Champlin,
Jay Armstrong Johnson, Nehal Joshi, and Kenita R. Miller created a memorable
ensemble of marvelously gifted singer-actors working together in pure artistic harmony.
Individual cast members receiving this award are ineligible for acting awards in the
competitive categories.
Special Awards
Each year, the Drama Desk votes special awards to recognize excellence and
significant contributions to the theater. For 2012-2013, these awards are:
• To The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), Isaac Robert Hurwitz,
Executive Director and Producer: For a decade of creating and nurturing new
musical theater, ensuring the future of this essential art form.
• To Wakka Wakka (Gabrielle Brechner, Kirjan Waage, and Gwendolyn
Warnock): For sophisticated puppet theater, as represented by this season’s
SAGA, that explores with wit, imagination, and insight serious issues of our
times.
• To Jayne Houdyshell: For her artistry as an exceptionally versatile and
distinctive Broadway and Off-Broadway performer.
• To Samuel D. Hunter: His empathic and indelible The Whale affirms his arrival
as a distinguished dramatist who depicts the human condition.
• To Maruti Evans, the Sam Norkin Off-Broadway Award: For his ingenious
lighting designs, reflecting an exquisite and bold theatrical aesthetic. This
season’s The Pilo Family Circus and Tiny Dynamite confirm his incandescent
creativity.
D r a m a D e s k N o m i n a t i o n s 2 0 1 2 – 2 0 1 3 P a g e | 2
The following are the nominations for the competitive categories. Winners will be
selected by the voting membership of the Drama Desk.
Note:
Eligibility and award category designations for the productions under consideration this
season were determined by the Drama Desk Board of Directors with recommendations
from the Nominating Committee. Because of the abundance of great work throughout
the season, the Board also authorized increasing the number of nominees allowed in
select categories.
The Other Place was considered for its Off-Broadway production in the 2011-2012
season. Under Drama Desk rules, only new elements in its transfer to Broadway were
eligible this season.
The Drama Desk is proud to announce the category of “Outstanding Projection Design,”
a new award honoring the design and creation of projected images, video, and other
visual media.
Outstanding Play
Annie Baker, The Flick
Christopher Durang, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Joe Gilford, Finks
Richard Greenberg, The Assembled Parties
Amy Herzog, Belleville
Deanna Jent, Falling
Richard Nelson, Sorry
Outstanding Musical
A Christmas Story: The Musical
Giant
Hands on a Hardbody
Here Lies Love
Matilda
Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
The Other Josh Cohen
Outstanding Revival of a Play
Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Golden Boy
Good Person of Szechwan
The Piano Lesson
The Trip to Bountiful
Uncle Vanya
D r a m a D e s k N o m i n a t i o n s 2 0 1 2 – 2 0 1 3 P a g e | 3
Outstanding Revival of a Musical or Revue
Passion
Pippin
Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
The Golden Land
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Working: A Musical
Outstanding Actor in a Play
Reed Birney, Uncle Vanya
Daniel Everidge, Falling
Tom Hanks, Lucky Guy
Shuler Hensley, The Whale
Nathan Lane, The Nance
Tracy Letts, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Outstanding Actress in a Play
Maria Dizzia, Belleville
Amy Morton, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Julia Murney, Falling
Vanessa Redgrave, The Revisionist
Miriam Silverman, Finks
Cicely Tyson, The Trip to Bountiful
Outstanding Actor in a Musical
Eric Anderson, Soul Doctor
Brian d’Arcy James, Giant
Jim Norton, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Billy Porter, Kinky Boots
Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen
Ryan Silverman, Passion
Anthony Warlow, Annie
Outstanding Actress in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, Giant
Stephanie J. Block, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Carolee Carmello, Scandalous
Lindsay Mendez, Dogfight
Donna Murphy, Into the Woods
Laura Osnes, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Jenny Powers, Donnybrook!
D r a m a D e s k N o m i n a t i o n s 2 0 1 2 – 2 0 1 3 P a g e | 4
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play
Chuck Cooper, The Piano Lesson
Peter Friedman, The Great God Pan
Richard Kind, The Big Knife
Aaron Clifton Moten, The Flick
Brían F. O’Byrne, If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet
Tony Shalhoub, Golden Boy
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play
Tasha Lawrence, The Whale
Judith Light, The Assembled Parties
Kellie Overbey, Sleeping Rough
Maryann Plunkett, Sorry
Condola Rashad, The Trip to Bountiful
Laila Robins, Sorry
Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical
Stephen Bogardus, Passion
John Bolton, A Christmas Story: The Musical
Keith Carradine, Hands on a Hardbody
Bertie Carvel, Matilda
John Dossett, Giant
Andy Karl, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical
Annaleigh Ashford, Kinky Boots
Melissa Errico, Passion
Andrea Martin, Pippin
Jessie Mueller, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Christiane Noll, Chaplin: The Musical
Keala Settle, Hands on a Hardbody
Kate Wetherhead, The Other Josh Cohen
Outstanding Director of a Play
Lear Debessonet, Good Person of Szechwan
Sam Gold, Uncle Vanya
Ed Sylvanus Iskandar, Restoration Comedy
Pam MacKinnon, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Lynne Meadow, The Assembled Parties
Ruben Santiago-Hudson, The Piano Lesson
D r a m a D e s k N o m i n a t i o n s 2 0 1 2 – 2 0 1 3 P a g e | 5
Outstanding Director of a Musical
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical
Rachel Chavkin, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
John Doyle, Passion
Diane Paulus, Pippin
Emma Rice, The Wild Bride
Alex Timbers, Here Lies Love
Matthew Warchus, Matilda
Outstanding Choreography
Andy Blankenbuehler, Bring It On: The Musical
Warren Carlyle, A Christmas Story: The Musical
Peter Darling, Matilda
Josh Rhodes, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Sergio Trujillo, Hands on a Hardbody
Chet Walker and Gypsy Snider, Pippin
Outstanding Music
Trey Anastasio and Amanda Green, Hands on a Hardbody
David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, Here Lies Love
Michael John LaChiusa, Giant
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, A Christmas Story: The Musical
David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen
Outstanding Lyrics
Amanda Green, Hands on a Hardbody
Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda, Bring It On: The Musical
Michael John LaChiusa, Giant
Dave Malloy, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Tim Minchin, Matilda
David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen
Outstanding Book of a Musical
Dennis Kelly, Matilda
Sybille Pearson, Giant
Joseph Robinette, A Christmas Story: The Musical
David Rossmer and Steve Rosen, The Other Josh Cohen
Jeff Whitty, Bring It On: The Musical
Doug Wright, Hands on a Hardbody
D r a m a D e s k N o m i n a t i o n s 2 0 1 2 – 2 0 1 3 P a g e | 6
Outstanding Orchestrations
Trey Anastasio and Don Hart, Hands on a Hardbody
Larry Blank, A Christmas Story: The Musical
Bruce Coughlin, Giant
Larry Hochman, Chaplin: The Musical
Steve Margoshes, Soul Doctor
Danny Troob, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Outstanding Music in a Play
César Alvarez with The Lisps, Good Person of Szechwan
Jiří Kadeřábek, Mahir Cetiz, and Ana Milosavljevic, Act Before You Speak: The Tragical
History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Glen Kelly, The Nance
Eugene Ma, The Man Who Laughs
Steve Martin, As You Like It
Jane Wang, Strange Tales of Liaozhai
Outstanding Revue
Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking!
Old Hats
Old Jews Telling Jokes
Outstanding Set Design
Rob Howell, Matilda
Mimi Lien, The Whale
Santo Loquasto, The Assembled Parties
Anna Louizos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Michael Yeargan, Golden Boy
David Zinn, The Flick
Outstanding Costume Design
Amy Clark and Martin Pakledinaz, Chaplin: The Musical
Dominique Lemieux, Pippin
William Ivey Long, Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
Chris March, Chris March’s The Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet
Loren Shaw, Restoration Comedy
Paloma Young, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Outstanding Lighting Design
Ken Billington, Chaplin: The Musical
Jane Cox, Passion
Kenneth Posner, Pippin
Justin Townsend, Here Lies Love
Daniel Winters, The Man Who Laughs
Scott Zielinski, A Civil War Christmas
D r a m a D e s k N o m i n a t i o n s 2 0 1 2 – 2 0 1 3 P a g e | 7
Outstanding Projection Design
Jon Driscoll, Chaplin: The Musical
Wendall K. Harrington, Old Hats
Peter Nigrini, Here Lies Love
Darrel Maloney, Checkers
Pedro Pires, Cirque du Soleil: Totem
Aaron Rhyne, Wild With Happy
Outstanding Sound Design in a Musical
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Hands on a Hardbody
Scott Lehrer and Drew Levy, Chaplin: The Musical
Tony Meola, The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Brian Ronan, Bring It On: The Musical
Brian Ronan, Giant
Dan Moses Schreier, Passion
Outstanding Sound Design in a Play
Ien DeNio, The Pilo Family Circus
Steve Fontaine, Last Man Club
Christian Frederickson, Through the Yellow Hour
Lindsay Jones, Wild With Happy
Mel Mercier, The Testament of Mary
Fergus O’Hare, Macbeth
Outstanding Solo Performance
Joel de la Fuente, Hold These Truths
Kathryn Hunter, Kafka’s Monkey
Bette Midler, I’ll Eat You Last: A Chat with Sue Mengers
Julian Sands, A Celebration of Harold Pinter
Holland Taylor, Ann
Michael Urie, Buyer & Cellar
Unique Theatrical Experience
Bello Mania
Chris March’s The Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet
Cirque Du Soleil: Totem
That Play: A Solo Macbeth
The Fazzino Ride
The Man Who Laughs
D r a m a D e s k N o m i n a t i o n s 2 0 1 2 – 2 0 1 3 P a g e | 8
PRODUCTIONS WITH MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS:
9 Giant
9 Hands on a Hardbody
7 Matilda
7 Passion
7 The Mystery of Edwin Drood
6 A Christmas Story: The Musical
6 Chaplin: The Musical
6 Pippin
6 The Other Josh Cohen
5 Bring It On: The Musical
5 Here Lies Love
5 Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812
5 Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella
4 Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
4 The Assembled Parties
3 Falling
3 Golden Boy
3 Good Person of Szechwan
3 Sorry
3 The Flick
3 The Man Who Laughs
3 The Piano Lesson
3 The Trip to Bountiful
3 The Whale
3 Uncle Vanya
2 Belleville
2 Chris March’s Butt-Cracker Suite! A Trailer Park Ballet
2 Cirque Du Soleil: Totem
2 Finks
2 Kinky Boots
2 Old Hats
2 Restoration Comedy
2 Soul Doctor
2 The Nance
2 Wild With Happy

“The Nance” Challenging, Difficult, Dark Gay Play on Bway

“The Nance” is a broadway PLAY, NOT a comedy, though it’s being billed as such. And it’s a challenging one for gay men to sit through. It’s dark, difficult and disturbing, highlighted only by comedy in the crude burlesque scenes that alternate with the drama of a tragic gay love story. Which isn’t pretty. I’m just warning you.

However, in the end, one has to admit its’ unpleasant truths about gay men of that era, and their immense self-loathing, are piercingly accurate. “The Nance” makes “Boys in the Band” look like “Hello, Dolly,” by comparison.

I immediately and admittedly did not like it at all. But then, this morning, after I woke up from “The Nance”s- inflicted dark-night-of-the-soul, I had to admit that it is an important work of gay theater, and essential and original, even, in the unspairing look that it takes of a by-gone era of gayness. Gay men at that time HAD to act in that unenlightened, stereotypical way. They didn’t have role models. They didn’t have the Gay Rights movement. They had nothing, except self-hatred. They didn’t know how to be anything else.

I never heard of “a Nance” in all my long gay life. I knew Franklin Pangborn’s and Edward Everett Horton’s campy turns from film, but I had not ever heard of the existence of a this sub-genre of burlesque that evidently was a home for many closeted gay types of that time, but then EVERYONE was in the closet then.

But some people didn’t hate themselves,nor where they in the closet.Like for instance Quentin Crisp.

I knew Quentin Crisp, who painted a VERY different picture of gay life in London of that time, completely without the self-loathing that “The Nance” wallows in. See “The Naked Civil Servant” for a very different picture of that era, the 1930′s, this time in London. Admittedly though, Quentin was not in show business, at that time, though he certainly was later in life. His was performance art, as it were, on the street. He LIVED in drag.

I knew a drag queen performer from Vaudeville, the late great Minette, who talked endlessly and fondly of those days (she also worked in Carnivals as well as Burlesque), but only and always in drag, which was a revered, always employable tradition. She never once mentioned the words “nance.” And I knew her very, very well.I wish she was alive now so I could ask her about the purported Nance’s of her time. She probably didn’t think much of them. To her drag was an art, the greatest art.

Nathan Lane, whom this part was written for, has to be commended for his bravery in taking on such an unflattering role. His comedy, of course, soars, especially in the finale, when he is “reduced” to, horror of horrors! playing in burlesque skits in drag. Which his character of “The Nance” considers the lowest of the low. That also offended me. Especially, as this seems to be what his character of Chancey Miles does best, and should-be been doing all along.

Lane, who is now Out as a gay performer, is so close to this part it irks, while it also rings unsettlingly true.

The piece-de-resistance was the opening scene in an Automat(How I miss that long gone New York institution!) where Lane’s Chauncey is so in the closet it’s painful, as he tries to pick up a beautiful young dream boat (Jonny Orsini) without looking directing at him the entire time, for fear of the police casing the joint. The Vice Squads of the time were always looking to make arrests of unsuspecting gay men trying to hook up. It happened on a weekly, if not nightly basis.

“Meetcha ‘Round the Corner in a Half-an-Hour” Chauncey tells the too-good-to-be-true Ned. And that Burlesque signature line takes on new meaning when Ned actually does just that and moves into Chauncey’s basement Greenwich Village flat. Marvelously evoked by John Lee Beatty’s detailed set which revolves around to reveal the Village Burlesque house, the Irving Place theater, 1937, where Chauncey plies his campy trade.

“Anna Mae Wong’s nightmare” as Chauncey describes his Orient-accented apartment, where the bathtub is in the living room, covered by a board to make a table, and affording the comely Ned a chance to bathe and parade nude, mais oui.

Chauncey’s unwillingness to accept the love and stability that the Perfect and incredibly hot Ned is offering him, is believable at first, but then horrifying in the end, when SPOILER ALERT! he rejects Ned’s monogamy as well as his love completely. THAT was the very disturbing scene to me. How Chauncey completely messes up the one happiness life seems to be offering to him.I’d never send the wonderful, devoted, beautiful, spectacularly endowed Ned packing!

But, Playwright Douglas Carter Beane is saying, this is what his character of the Nance, HAS to do. He has been so beaten up(literally) and beaten down by straight society( he does get arrested) he can’t accept or be happy with anything except rejection. At first, I was so appalled at how Chauncey and Ned ended their love story that I rejected “The Nance” as Chauncey rejects Ned.

But now I see, in the clear light of morning, that Douglas Carter Beane has written an immaculately researched and accurate telling of that era. And in the process, he has also written his first great gay play that is not a comedy. It’s an important social drama. Masterfully directed by the great Jack O’Brien.

So bravo to all involved!

“Matilda” Blindingly Brilliant British Bway Blockbuster!

“Matilda”! What a beautiful name! I thought, exiting the blindingly brilliant British blockbuster of the same name that just hit the heights on Broadway. A generation of little girls will now be named after its’ stalwart, brainy, pint-sized heroine.

At a purported five years old, Matilda is speaking, but not talking down, to the conflicted little girl in all of us, and rafts of little ones are in for the treat of their lives, and their parents, too, when they see “Matilda: The Musical” And they will see it in hoardes. “Matilda” is something they will never forget.

It’s so thoroughly original. I felt like I had never seen anything like it in the theater and on Broadway, yet.Is Bway known for originality these days? No.

But this empowering, powerhouse of positivity just sends you out of the theater practically jumping for joy!

A hit show espousing, literacy! Reading! Books! Librarians! Libraries! Incredible!

I just realized that the closest thing I can compare it to is the brilliant film “Beasts of the Southern Wild”, last year’s indie film hit of hits that ended up with five Oscar nominations. “Matilda” is like “Beasts” in that they both so completely project a little girl’s eye view of the world.And it’s not always a pretty-in-pink world that they see. Scary, weird, frightening, horrifying is the world Matilda is confronted with.

Five year old Matilda Wormword is even younger than Qu’venzhane Wallis’ six year old Hushpuppy. A survivor of Hurricane Katrina. Matilda is a survivor of HER AWFUL PARENTS. And the cold, cruel adult world that is constantly threatening to destroy her. And take away her sole refuge, her books, and her love of reading…

Another writer that this Roald Dahl based, super-smart musical( book by Dennis Kelly, Music & Lyrics by Tim Minchin) reminded me of was Charles Dickens. But not “Oliver” the musical version of Oliver Twist, which seems treacly sweet compared to the dark creepiness of “Matilda.” Dickens found his greatest inspiration in the lives and point of view of orphans. David Copperfield’s opening sentence and proclamation “I am born”, is echoed in “Matilda”s first number “Miracle”. Which is about child-birth and most parents’ ecstatic reaction to their off-springs’ arrivals in this not-inviting world.

Matilda’s parents’ HATE her. Actively, passionately HATE her, and refuse to acknowledge their incredibly smart daughter’s amazing mind. Or even her gender. Her stupid, oafish father keeps calling her “son” but Matilda keeps insisting “I’m a girl!” This horrible trope keeps get repeated all night long, wearing poor Matilda down to a nub.

Her peroxided harridan of a Cockney-Mother-From-Hell, over-played to the hilt by Lesli Margherita, is shocking in her screechy “Looks! Not Books!” mantras of superficiality. Her solo is, of course, “Loud!” She is matched by the slightly more sympathetic(but really pathetic) sleazy, used-car salesman husband, Gabriel Ebert. The duo torment poor little Matilda to the point of child abuse. She torments her father back by dying his hair green and gluing his hat to his head.

Matilda’s only refuge from them is local public library and an earthy, interested librarian, the marvelously daffy but dignified Mrs. Phleps. Karen Aldredge should’ve had a big number herself. She would’ve brought down the house.

Instead, we get a bit too much of a focus on the super-sweet Miss Honey, who is one of the more, shakily drawn characters, in that she has toooo many musical numbers. Lauren Ward’s interpretation of the helpful, but timid school-teacher, who sees Matilda’s brilliance and wants it to develop, was so cloying, irritatingly sweet, I felt my diabetes acting up. She pretty much wore out her welcome in the first act, but did redeem herself in the second, where it’s touchingly revealed how poor she is in the number “My House.” She lives in a shack.

The dull, clanking sound you hear just when you think “Matilda” is just hopelessly child-centric is the entrance of the scary, villainess to end all villanesses, Miss Trunchbull. And that resounding clanking is also the sound of the endless awards that British comic Bertie Carvel,( yes, he’s a man, playing Miss Truchbull in bad, frightening, brown drag) hitting the stage at Mr. Carvel’s feet, as all the awards-giving bodies rise as one and just HURL Tonys, Drama Desks, and every other award in the theater world at him.

And he deserves them. With his hair in a tight-brown bun, a huge brown mole on his upper lip, his grotesquely large breasts, and his brown/grey skirt hiked quite high on his hairy legs (in sensible brown shoes), Mr. Carvel never lets you for a moment forget that he’s a man, playing a monster. And then humanizes the monstrous Ms. Trunchbull, too. Wow.

Carvel is not a one-note horror, he’s a layered delight. And his brown brogues kick “Matilda” upstairs, literally, as his astounding re-interpretation of the age-old British pantomime staple, the drag queen Dame, becomes in Carvel’s hands something bold, original, hilarious and in the number “A World Without Children” suddenly surprisingly touching, too. The British Gold Medal champion women’s hammer-thrower yearns for his/her glory days and at one point early in the proceedings hurls a hapless pig-tailed girl into the air. A coup-de-theatre followed by many, many more.

Main among them, the burping Bruce Bogtrotter, of the bold Jack Broderick, who it seems wants to devour all the chocolate cake in the world, and who is then made my Miss Truchbull to do so in the hilarious/scary “Bruce.” Broderick then gets to belt out the climatic anthem “Revolting Children.”

And Matilda herself? Well, there are four little girls who alternate in this super-demanding role of roles for a child actress, but I saw Milly Shapiro. Who had the face and power of a young Charles Laughton(I’m not kidding). As she forcefully puts her hand on her hip to face a threatening, creepy, lying, hostile universe AND HER PARENTS, you KNOW that this tiny Matilda is truly a genius and a warrior who will take on the whole world. And win!

“Matilda” may be the biggest Tony Award winner since “The Producers” and is settling into the Schubert for a long, long run.

Matilda! You GO, girl!

Brady Corbet & Director Antonio Campos talk sex scenes in “Simon Killer”, Pt.2

As Brady Corbet & his director Antonio Campos talk about the many and varied sex scenes in this chilling erotic thriller”Simon Killer”, guess what? The interview heats up, too!

Brady Corbet – Performance of His Career in “Simon Killer”

Brady Corbet(pronounced “Cor-BAY”) has been a rising star since Gregg Akaki’s “Mysterious Skin” co-starring with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. With “Funny Game” directed by Michael Haneke, and “Melancholia” and “Marcy Marley May Marlene” now under his belt as well as TV’s “24″, he delivers a break-out performance in “Simon Killer”. Opening at Sundance at the same time as “Beasts of the Southern Wild” the year before last, it divided audiences, but I LOVED it! One of the best films of the new year so far IMHO.