Yet another laundry list

And what have I been up to recently, you ask. Well, I'll tell you.

Theater:
Shockheaded Peter - Brilliant. Horror and comedy, Grand Guignol, music and a fine acting company all came together for a wonderful afternoon of theater. If it hadn't just closed, I'd suggest you run out and see it.

Flight - Very good. It got savaged by Charles Isherwood of the Times, but good reviews most everywhere else. Sad to say, the Times trumps most of the other reviews as far as the blue-hairs who go to shows are concerned, so the show is now very underattended. You should go see it while you can; it's really good. The play is about Charles Lindbergh and his wife, the trans-Atlantic flight, the kidnapping, the price of fame and how heroes often have feet of clay. It has a terrific cast: Gregg Edelman as Lindbergh, Kerry O'Malley as his wife Ann, Brian D'Arcy James as the Reporter and Andrew Polk, Rex Young and Victoria Mack as everyone else. I have a code that can get you a discount on the tickets, e-mail me if you want it.

Songs From an Unmade Bed - Um . . . okay. Just okay. While I thought the music in this "song cycle" was really good (lyrics by Mark Campbell and music by seventeen different composers . . . each did a song) and the actor (Michael Winther from Mamma Mia) was terrific, the show didn't do much for me as a piece of theater. I loved the songs (Campell is very funny, knows how to neatly turn a phrase and he and his composers really know how to work different styles of music) and I thought Michael Winther was funny and cute as the gay man whose love life was being explored in the songs, but I would have gotten about as much enjoyment out of a CD of the music and it would have been considerably less expensive than the $50 tickets.

Movies:
Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy - Blah. Uniformly blah. Great source material, several great actors, very nice special effects . . . and yet, blah. Save your money, wait until it's on DVD, then don't rent it.

Foreign Exchanges - A group of short foreign films that is part of the NewFest (NY Gay and Lesbian Film Festival). Some good, some absolutely unbearable. Old Black Ridinghood was an animated short that really grew on me. Another good one was a Spanish film called Maricon.

Straight Acting - A documentary about gay men who play 'straight' sports (rugby, rodeo, hockey) and what it means to be gay and/or straight acting. This one was done by a fellow rugger who is on the LA Rebellion RFC. It was okay. Rough, but okay. It was also very odd seeing a lot of folks I know on screen. All in all, this is worth seeing.

Original Pride - Another documentary, this one about the Satyrs Motorcycle Club in LA, the oldest continuously active gay organization in the States (it celebrated its 50th anniversary last year). This was really good and I hope you will all keep an eye out for it as it plays the various film festivals around the country.