The other evening, I caught Murder Ballad, a new musical living at the Union Square Theatre that stars Will Swenson (Hair), Caissie Levy (Ghost: The Musical), John Ellison Conlee and Rebecca Naomi Jones. This represents a second life for the work, which knocked (some of) 'em dead at the Manhattan Theatre Club's The Studio at Stage II.
The bottom line is that while the cast is killin' it, I'm afraid the show itself is offed by its own music.
According to this new book, the celebrated Greta Garbo-John Gilbert love affair was one-sided and lasted all of a few months:
"He bowled her over. She was a 20-year-old girl who didn't speak very much English. I don't think she was ever in love with him. I think she was just swept away by him. When she got back on her feet again, she distanced herself from him, which only took a couple of months. The big romance of the century lasted only a few months."
Bruce LaBruce is pinned down on what constitutes camp...which is a hard thing to decide. For example, he thinks of RuPaul's Drag Race as camp, but to me, true camp isn't knowing. I mean, you can aggressively "camp" while knowing that you're doing it, but I think creative works that know they're camp aren't; they're just funny. True camp is something like Liz & Dick, which is also on the list.
Dr. Joyce Brothers, famous as a quiz-show winner, a shrink and, later, as a sort of intentionally self-parodying, famous-for-being-famous celebrity, has died at 85. She used to pop up on just about every TV show. They say Ted McGinley's appearance sealed a show's fate, but Dr. Brothers was always able to squeeze in one last cameo before it went off the air.
Dr. Brothers was relatively open regarding gay issues, which matters more in that she was a psychiatric specialist and not just a TV personality. Unfortunately, without much digging, I found the above repulsive column from just 28 years ago. By 2003, she seemed much more open-minded. (See after the jump for pro-gay colums from 1976 and 1983.)
But hey, she's dead, so let's just remember her for Happy Days blooper, which demonstrates more than anything else that she may've had gay on the brain:
"I do not want to appear on another program or climb another mountain. I want instead to sit on a sunny field and admire the very
gifted women—and OK, some men too—who will be taking my place."
Wow. I really like and respect Barbara Walters. I realized the last time I posted about her that there is a lot of resentment and dislike of her, but I don't get it. I think she's a legend, and rightfully so.
