Tuesday, February 14, is LGBT night at Priscilla Queen of the Desert on Broadway. You can purchase tickets at special prizes ($77 orch/front mezz, $60 rear mezz, $43 balcony—regularly $52-$127) and you'll get a comped drink at the Ritz Bar (369 W. 46th St.) between 5:30PM and 6:45PM on the day of the show. You can get tix at Ticketmaster.com or at (877) 250-2929 using the code PQDVDAY or by printing this page and taking it to The Palace Theatre b.o. at 1564 Broadway (between W. 46th and W. 47th).
On top of all that (hopefully, right???) there's Nick Adams...and as you can see from the image above, you can get a shot at being his Valentine. Good luck!
Prove it!
As of midnight last night, it was exactly six years since my first post. It's been a tough thing to keep up with a dayjob and outside activities, and just when I think I might walk away, a valuable connection or interesting opportunity or a kind word comes my way. Thank you all for reading me.
Of whom are you more jealous?
Here are my favorite 100+ posts out of nearly 11,000. Please take some time to read (or re-read!) a couple and tweet or Facebook any you like.
xoxo Matt
The pocket pool championships were intense this year
BOY CULTURE
FROM BOY TO MAN: BC B.C. (2007): The entire history of my novell and novel Boy Culture as well as the movie version; might be my ultimate post.
Jonathon Trent & Derek Magyar make an Allan Brocka sandwich
BOY ON FILM (2006): An account of the NYC launch party for Boy Culture as it played the TriBeCa Film Fest.
I was left "Reeling" by the experience
FRIENDS AND "FAMILY" (2006): The movie version of Boy Culture hits Chicago.
No one would've mistaken me for Taylor Lautner
RAPT PUPIL (2006): The final night of Outfest with Boy Culture; I was fat but on the other hand got to meet Bryan Singer.
MY ART
Construction worker (shot this week) vs. James Dean
GUYDAR (since at least January 17, 2008) & ENDS OF THE WORLD (since at least January 13, 2008): Attractive men of the world—I got your backs. Your fronts, too.
Unaltered iPhone image that still blows me away
"Your pictures suck" (2008): An art critic attacks me, but not without sustaining some hits in return.
DRAWN TOGETHER (2008): How my desire to draw related to my secret desire. One of my absolute favorite posts.
The shirtless one
LOST ANGELES (2009): My favorite photographic travelogue of L.A.
Even then, New Yorkers feared 9/11 was the beginning of the end
ART IMITATES LIFE (2006): My 9/11 and my distaste for grief tourism.
ME
Death of the party—Jeff in high school, already halfway through his life
BURNING MAN (2007): Tribute to my late high school friend and first romance.
Signed, sealed (eventually) delivered
LOST BOY FOUND (2011): There is a book in here somewhere.
Be Italian
CIAO HOUNDS: OUR TRIP TO ITALY (2011): Finally got José to Europe.
ILLINOIS DEATH TRIP (2007): Ruminations on death while revisiting a past home, and the past.
Life is short...and meaningful
PASSING BY (2008): Mourning the loss of a person I only met once.
Lots more...
Composite image of Brandon Pereyda from "René Magritte"
Support Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS! Visit the official BCEFA YouTube channel!
BROADWAY BARES 2010: Here
BROADWAY BARES Q&As: Here
BROADWAY BARES 2009: Here
BROADWAY BARES 2008: Here
***PLEASE CLUE ME IN ON NAMES OF ANY UNIDENTIFIED DANCERS***
Last night was the twenty-first annual edition of Broadway Bares and the fourth one in a row I've attended. Broadway Bares XXI: Masterpiece! snuck up on me; as I was watching it, I was thinking it wasn't my favorite. However, looking back at pictures and videos, it's obvious that there were some stunning numbers in spite of some pretty cringe-worthy humor interludes. In fact, the full-length musicals in which the night's dancers are currently performing should take notes.
The David? How about The Brandon! (Rubendall)
We arrived at Roseland to get in line around 9:30PM, so would have our pick of spots once the show let us in two hours later. Jason and I ran into a bunch of his friends, including Clark Kent, "Hey, Jude," and someone who once dated with Truth Wins Out good-fighter Wayne Besen (I guess his ex-, just not an ex-gay). There was a Bares virgin among us (sounds like a Treasure Media title), but the rest of us knew what to expect inside—skin, bawdy humor and opportunities to slip green into pink and/or brown. (Sidebar: Not just saying that—this year's Bares felt remarkably more racially diverse than past installments.)
Let's just look at Rotation here instead of at the end
Just past 11:30PM and after the 9:30PM show's patrons had spilled into the streets looking keyed up and, well, drunk, we filed in and beelined to the far side of the middle runway. I was pleased to be right at the stage, yet I'd later realize my "less good" position in previous years had actually been more desirable—I was so close it was tougher to take pictures and, at times, see thanks to the very sweet but confoundingly non-transparent guy in front of me. Making conversation as a go-go boy doled out ones in exchange for twenties, he asked me if I liked that the dancer was wearing a cock ring.
The sea of horny homos looked like Grindr come to life; I didn't check it inside, but I imagine the first 50 guys on my screen would have been 0 feet away.
Keegan Albrecht paints "Come back to Broadway Bares, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean"
The place was teeming with celebrities along with testosterone, including Wilson Cruz (in my group yet too far for me to chat with), John Benjamin Hickey, Nick Adams, BearCity's Joe Conti, entertainer nonpareil Scott Nevins, Jack Plotnick, Jonathan D. Lovitz and probably more.
While waiting for things to begin, we were treated to watching a cute artiste (Keegan Albrecht) painting an image of James Dean, but it was just as fun watching the pre-show T-shirt vendors attempting to steal the dancers' thunder by baring their buns for a determinedly devoted crew at the end of the middle runway.
Number by number:
With thanks to Donald: Nick Adams, Jacqueline B. Arnold, Anastacia McCleskey and Ashley Spencer belt out "Like a Prayer" at the Barnes & Noble signing for the original cast recording of Priscilla Queen of the Desert...
On the road to nowhere (special)
I really, really wanted to like this.
I finally saw Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and while I am tempted to say it's a good thing it's got such a big cast 'cuz it's broken, I decided to approach my post on it in a different way. I think of this show as more of a Vegas-style revue than a Broadway musical, very much in the style of the far worse Mamma Mia!, so instead of "reviewing" it in a highly structured way and going all guns blazing, I'm just going to "revue" it:
YAYS!
Probably Tony nominee Tony Sheldon has just the right mix of ladylike allure and hardened showbiz trouperism as Bernadette, so memorably played in the film by Terence Stamp.
As uberflouncy Adam/Felicia, Nick Adams has a body that would make all those "no femmes!" guys think twice, and is indefatigable in his efforts to wring laughs out of every line he's given.
Luke Mannikus as Tick/Mitzi's son Benji is adorable! The show is bogged down by cheap sentiment, but still...there is no beating an aw-shucks cute kid.
Madonna should make some money from the use of some of her songs, as should some other cool artists, like Cyndi Lauper and Pat Benatar.
And best of all, Keala Settle as grizzled Shirley (in a scene that more than passingly reminded me of "Mr. Cellophane" from Chicago) and J. Elaine Marcos as "mail-order bride" Cynthia are phenomenally funny, taking tiny roles and making them not only entertaining but fresh. To put this into perspective—two real women managed to upstage a posse of men in drag.
Just a note that KEVIN HOWELL was the winner of a pair of tickets to Broadway's Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical. Thanks to everyone who entered, making it my most successful giveaway—and the one with by far the most interesting replies—ever!
Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical is the feel-good theatrical experience of the year! Based on the smash-hit movie, Priscilla is the heart-warming, uplifting adventure of three friends who hop aboard a battered old bus searching for love and friendship and end up finding more than they could have ever dreamed of. With a dazzling array of outrageous costumes and a hit parade of dance-floor favorites, this wildly fresh and funny new musical is a journey to the heart of FABULOUS.
More info:
Nick Adams, in the Guy Pearce role, had never seen the original movie!
Priscilla Queen of the Desert: The Musical (the theatrical adaptation of the 1994 film with a similar title, original pictured at right) will open October 12 in Toronto. Ahead of that, the cast and the producer talk it up in this video after the jump. Could be fun. I'm leery of musicals that make use of pre-existing pop classics like "Go West" and "Don't Leave Me This Way" (not to mention those that require fake Australian accents), but I do think the original film was so fantastic I'd give this a try if it headed to Broadway...
Nick Adams is one of NYC's best-looking guys, and yet I only just now realized I "Guydar"-shot him last week!
