I’ve actually been in New York City for the last week, so to be honest I don’t really care about know what’s going on in Toronto, but let me tell you, there is more gay in this city than you can shake a dick at.
As a theatre artist, of course I’m drawn to Broadway, and my first stop was Avenue Q, which is closing in three weeks. I managed to be out of town during the show’s entire Toronto run, so I was glad to finally get a chance to see it. And what a show! I caught it with understudy Seth Rettberg playing the lead male roles, and was absolutely blown away by this delightful young charmer. If there’s only one thing about his performance I found distracting, um, this is probably really bad theatre etiquette to comment on, but… the boy is clearly packing. Check out the bulge (pic via Rettberg’s web site).
If you missed the show in TO, do try to make it down to New York before it closes. Rettberg performs on Mondays. (Oh lordy, I’m going to actor hell for this post).
Speaking of cute actors and their bulges, I also caught one of the final performances of The Temperamentals, starring Ugly Betty’s Michael Urie. It’s a pretty straight bio-play about the founding members of The Mattachine Society, one of America’s first gay rights organisations. Urie is hilarious and touching as the Austrian-born fashion designer Rudi Gernreich. And he can certainly fill out a pair of 1950’s-era swim trunks.
Finally, I managed to catch a play at the New York Fringe Festival and I ended up seeing Art’s Heart, which was written and performed by Canadian ex-pat Anthony Johnston. It’s a cute solo show about an agoraphobic gay boy who lives with his pet fish above a porn shop and pines for the hot Frenchman who lives across the street. It’s a sweet little tale even more sweetly performed by Johnston, who’s considerable charm will win you over in a second. And, he performs half the show in a pair of skimpy red boxer briefs. It plays through Saturday, if you’re in town for the Fringe.
The Fringe actually has a tonne of queer content this year — 40 out of 201 shows this year, according to their PR. I’m going to check out His Greatness, an obscure Daniel MacIvor play that’s never been performed in Toronto and is getting its US premiere at the festival later this week. I’ll keep you posted.
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