Wiley & Morelli (Image via Instagram @whododatlikedat)
Samira Wiley and Lauren Morelli got married in Palm Springs, ExtraTV reports.
Wiley, who plays Poussey Washington on Orange Is the New Black, and Morelli, who is one of the Netflix show's writers, met on set... when Morelli thought she was straight, and was definitely married to a man.
... while it certainly would have been disorienting to begin to question my sexuality after three decades of knowing myself, it was particularly blinding because I'd gotten married only a few months before. It was the sort of wedding that makes you believe in absolute partnership and the strength that can come from facing obstacles, like the life-threatening illness that my new husband had battled for the majority of our relationship. But he was healthy again, so we danced under strings of Christmas lights and drank fancy cocktails that were served in mason jars, all while being surrounded by the friends and family who had held us up over the previous six years.
Which is why it's now a punch in the gut every time I have to say, “I'm getting divorced because I'm gay.” It's a sentence I've said approximately 5,223 times in the last six months. For those of you keeping track, I'm definitely not exaggerating and I'm not prone to hyperbole, ever.
Often, after I make the declaration in as casual a voice as I can manage, the next question is, “Did you know?” It's a question that I dread because I always hear the implied “How could you not know?”
Out really delivers with its pair of Love Story-themed covers, one of which features actor/Internet personality Matthew Wilkas and his boyfriend Gus Kenworthy, the Olympic athlete, the other of which showcases once-you've-gone-Orange Is the New Black-you'll-never-go-back girlfriends Samira Wiley and Lauren Morelli — just beautiful.
I was particularly interested in the very real approach the guys are taking in their relationship, with Wilkas saying:
For me, being apart a lot of the time is a good thing, but I don’t think Gus feels that way. He doesn’t really want a long-distance relationship. I don’t either but think time apart is valuable and can work.
Kenworthy says:
All relationships take work, and we’ve definitely begun to realize that…I was in a relationship from 18-23, and I still haven’t really experienced that much sexually. I wouldn’t want to ever sacrifice my relationship with Matt just to go out and get that out of my system, but we’ve also talked about that and he doesn’t want to deprive me of experiencing anything while I’m still young. I don’t necessarily know what that means. But we’re not in an open relationship and we’re not breaking up. But we’re also not getting married.
I thought the show was great, and felt right, as always. However the SAG membership works its voting is superior to the Oscars, and has the benefit of not coming dead-last in the season so as not to be overly influenced by other shows.
LGBT highlights include wins for Orange Is the New Black (see victory dance above) for comedy series and Uzo Aduba for her performance on the same show; Jeffrey Tambor for Transparent;and Alicia Vikander for The Danish Girl. Also, Queen Latifah won for Bessie, and I hear she liked women. Bessie Smith, that is.
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A reader contacted me on Grindr on Sunday morning to say:
I skipped Broadway Bares last year after getting reamed for taking photos at a Solo Strips, but returned Sunday for Broadway Bares 25: Top Bottoms of Burlesque, the silver-anniversary installment of Jerry Mitchell's unfortunately-still-necessary AIDS charity show that rounds up as many hot and talented chorus boys and girls from Broadway and Broadway-adjacent (and a few who just have roommates on Broadway) to put on a one-night only, two-times only, razzle-dazzle-'em-at-any-cost show.
I decided to go back because I missed the good time and knew the dancers always seem to like having photos to share, people affiliated with the show “like” them on Instagram, etc. Where we stood, everyone around us had their phones out. I think the rule about photos is a misguided fear that it will bite into the show's revenues. In reality, since it's a show that happens once a year, seeing photos from it just encourages people to come the following year, and/or to seek out the merch. I have had a lot of readers say they now travel in for the show thanks to the photos I've posted. So hopefully it helps.
You would think this year's title would mean it was going to be 100% up my alley (I am the original ASSMAN), but I found it to have no more or less tail than past editions, save for its hilariously sexy opening—the curtain lifted to just above waist-level to reveal a bevy of dimpled booties peeking out at the crowd. It was not unlike waving a turkey at a bunch of starving bums on Thanksgiving and saucily asking, “White meat or dark?”
I swear Nick Adams's ass and this tableau could be a Mel Odom illustration.
Directed by Jerry Mitchell and Nick Kenkel, who choreographed it with Laya Barak, Jim Cooney, Armando Farfan Jr., Peter Gregus, Ryan Lyons, Brice Mousset, Rachelle Rak, Michael Lee Scott, Kellen Stancil and Sidney Erik Wright, the show loosely followed the travails of a wannabe played by Nick Adams, he of the Mario Lopez-threatening biceps.
Orange is the new black corset!
Adams starts out too shy to be a stripper, but luckily falls in with the wrong crowd and everything works (and comes) out in the end.
Big Nick
Along the way, the show included 11 tight numbers (it felt super fast this go-round, and I hated the Hammerstein venue as compared to the more spacious and now vanished Roseland), often takes on classic show tunes, always ending with a little more nudity than you might encounter in a locker room.
Baby, if Callan's the bottom, I'm the top.
“Take It from the Top” was a sterling opener starring Harvey Fierstein and Callan Bergmann, a one-time Mr. Broadway, the latter of which as a great opener. Bergmann's were choice cheeks to inaugurate a buns-hun show, and he was one of the performers who really shone this year.
