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Home , Cheyenne Jackson

16 • The Official Mag©: AmbushMag.com • Nov. 4-17, 2014 • Official Mardi Gras Guide© since 1982 • GayMardiGras.com SouthernDecadence.com • Nov. 4-17, 2014 • Facebook.com/AmbushMag • The Official Mag©: AmbushMag.com • 17 18 • The Official Mag©: AmbushMag.com • Nov. 4-17, 2014 • Official Gay Mardi Gras Guide© since 1982 • GayMardiGras.com interview

by Brian Sands Email: [email protected] Cheyenne Jackson Bares All Mark your calendar for November 7. History will be made as an important boundary will be broken that day, tak- ing us one step closer to full equality. On that Friday evening at 7:30pm, Cheyenne Jackson will become the first male headliner to be featured in the fabulous Broadway @ NOCCA series who’s not wearing a dress for the occasion. The sound of a glass ceiling crashing is a wonderful thing. I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Jackson from his home in Los Angeles and he comes off as decent a person on the inside as he is handsome on the outside. The trip here for B@N will be his first visit to New Orleans. ”I’m excited about coming to New Orleans and wish I had more time to spend there,” Jackson said, “but I’m busy with various projects [he had just Cheyenne Jackson gotten back from working in Arizona] (Photo by Adam Bouska) and I just got married.” Sorry, guys, but While the show was in previews, Jason Landau’s the lucky one. Jackson got a call late one night from Although Jackson had performed Director Christopher Ashley, “so I knew in his native Washington State in his something was up.” It turned out that younger days and his parents had al- leading man was in- ways been supportive (“It was very jured in a skating accident and Ashley clear to them what I wanted to do.”), he was asking if Jackson would come see didn’t start performing professionally the show with Kerry Butler, the new till he was 27, “much older than some leading lady, and “maybe help us out.” starting straight out of Juilliard,” he Jackson went and “I was blown said. away by Kerry, so I was in,” getting Jackson wasted no time making rave reviews and a Drama Desk nomi- things happen as is his wont. - nation for Outstanding Actor in a Musi- ing to be a replacement for Thor- cal in the process. oughly Modern Millie, it was down to ”What was it like to do ,” I him and two other guys. But he didn’t enquired, “a show The Times know how to tap dance for that tap- accurately described as “silly bliss?” heavy show. “I told the choreographer, Jackson responded studiously. “You Rob Ashford, who had just won a Tony have to take it very seriously and com- for it, that if you cast me, I will learn.” He mit to its broad comedy as though was and he did, joining the ensemble you’re doing Medea.” and understudying the leading roles as As he learned from Tina Fey and well. Alec Baldwin when doing with He recently learned how to play them, “The more you commit to the guitar even if it meant a few bloody absurdity of the situation, the funnier it fingers in the process. gets. Pretend like you’re doing ”The way I live my life is by facing Shakespeare.” challenges,” Jackson commented. It might not be Shakespeare, but Asked if learning to roller skate for Finian’s Rainbow is certainly one of Xanadu, his breakout show (though the jewels of the musical theater canon the Elvis-themed did and Jackson starred in a fabulous re- earn him a ) was vival of it five years ago. Despite a a challenge, I could almost sense him phenomenal critical response, the show shrug as replied straightforwardly, “It lasted just three months. I had always wasn’t difficult cause I’m naturally ath- wondered if the producers might have letic.” been to blame. Jackson said they were Naturally athletic or not, Xanadu not. At all. almost didn’t happen for him. Having It might have been “too old-fash- starred in workshops of it opposite ioned a show for tourists,” he opined. “I Tony-winner , when it really loved that show and was bummed came time for Broadway she was un- that it didn’t have a longer run.” So was available and Jackson didn’t want to do it without her. [continued on 20] SouthernDecadence.com • Nov. 4-17, 2014 • Facebook.com/AmbushMag • The Official Mag©: AmbushMag.com • 19 figure he never had. Victim of Love, to their lesser hits Best of all is the Phillip of David which, if they tended to blur together, trodding the boards Williams, an Egon Schiele lookalike. were undeniably enjoyable; House of His manic eyes convey an intellectual Blue’s great lighting certainly kept things hunger that Treat has left unfed by peppy. over-protectingly keeping Phillip indoors But then came Blue Savannah and by Brian Sands all these years. Under Mead’s guid- Chorus and Love to Hate You and A Email: [email protected] ance, Williams’ subtlest look or move- Little Respect and by the time they got Orphans at The Marigny Theatre through ment expresses a lot. And when to Chains of Love we were all feeling Bradford’s Treat presents Phillip with a 25 years younger. And their encores of November 8 jar of Hellman’s mayonnaise as an ex- Always and Sometimes left us in a Lyle Kessler’s Orphans has been described in as both pression of brotherly love, Williams’ state of sheer bliss. “riveting” (original off-Broadway production in1985) and “pallid” (2013 Broadway casual dismissal of it is devastating. Among the many notable events revival). The current version at The Marigny (formerly AllWays) Theatre lands Mead and Simonette Berry’s coming up at House of Blues, two more towards the positive side of those two poles in a well-acted and -directed somewhat abstract set design, with its stand-outs are our own Bianca Del production that fastidiously respects the script without entirely providing all the floating door and window, is perfect for Rio’s Rolodex of Hate tour which ferocity the play demands. Orphans’ absurdist style and leaves touches down here on December 13, Orphans begins with two bothers playing tag in a seedy North Philadelphia something to the imagination rather and Billy Idol on January 21. I under- apartment. Treat (Martin Bradford), the older, has just returned from mugging than the hyper-realistic sets we tend to stand Billy’s already sold-out but, who someone, which is how he has pro- get here. knows, maybe you’ll discover some tix cheyenne jackson ...from 19 vided for himself and Phillip (David Mead keeps the homoerotic over- under your Christmas tree.\ Williams) since their parents exited their tones mostly at bay which is just as well I as it was one of the most perfect lives. As Treat teases Phillip, who seems as the show could easily fall into New Orleans productions I’ve ever seen. to exist on a diet of tuna and mayo, it’s campiness. Yet the absence of a req- I wanted to know what it was like clear who’s in control. uisite menace keeps the production’s Fringe Festival for a leading man like Jackson to come Kessler has a way with snappy temperature at a cooler than ideal level. at various venues out and if there was any drama involv- dialog and Director Frederick Mead Similarly, there’s something missing in In the past six years, the New ing his manager or agent or anyone has given the show a propulsive mo- Cooper’s and Bradford’s performances Orleans Fringe Festival has grown to else. He said he had a “really boring mentum so the first act, which consists that prevent Harold and Treat from become a fantastically overstuffed 5 answer” for me: “No.” of a lot of getting-to-know-the-charac- attaining a truly tragic status. day smorgasbord of theater, dance, He expanded on this, “Others’ opin- ters foreplay, hurtles along until the Yet having seen Orphans at a circus arts, spoken word, puppetry, ions are not important to me. I’ve been actual plot kicks in with the arrival of press preview before a small invited burlesque, etc., etc. This year there’ll out since I was 19. If I was not going to Harold (Silas Cooper), an inebriated audience, it is likely that the cast will even be a Yard Art Tour and a Proces- get a part because someone knew I businessman from Chicago whom Treat have refined and added to their already sion of Personal Saints! was gay, I wouldn’t want that part. I just has picked up at a bar. impressive performances as the run Here’s a brief look at some of the don’t care cause it’s my life and I want Treat’s planned kidnapping of has progressed. Which would make a shows coming our way. to live it openly.” Harold goes awry and as a series of worthy evening of theater even better. I heard wonderful things about Chris Yet, refreshingly, Jackson is not power reversals occur, Kessler ex- Davis’ Drunk Lion last year but, unfor- doctrinaire about this when it comes to plores the desperate need for attention Erasure at tunately, wasn’t able to see it. He’s others. “It’s not my business to tell and affection of these three orphans. back this year with Violence of the others [how to live their lives]. I realize House of Blues This was my first exposure to Or- Lambs, a one-man comedy about the how important visibility is, but don’t phans having missed its two NYC in- Erasure arrived on stage at the upcoming Animal Apocalypse. Sounds believe in outing people. Until a person carnations and the last production here House of Blues recently and for the crazy...and I don’t plan to miss Davis wants to come out, no one should force over two dozen years ago. It seems to next 90+ minutes the years melted again. (The First and Last Stop Bar, them.” share some of its DNA with Harold away as they delivered a strong set of 1843 Pauger St.) As it turns out, Jackson was re- Pinter’s The Caretaker, another tale of classic electro pop numbers from the cently looking over the roles he’s had an outsider entering the lives of two ’80s and ’90s. and it turned out he’s been cast in an needy brothers. There is a certain thin- Singer Andy Bell was all decked equal number of gay and straight ones. ness here, however, that other produc- out in sequined tails and a glittery over- And what can we expect at NOCCA tions apparently have covered up with sized gold top hat that he claimed he from this man whose motto is “Live life over-the-top production values. found “in a giant game of Monopoly.” to the fullest, treat people kindly and To Mead’s credit, he sticks to the Vince Clarke, wearing a muted but don’t have any regrets”? words themselves by which to examine natty suit, occasionally emerged from Hard to say. While the song list is these sad characters’ lives. Fluidly behind the keyboards to play guitar. planned and Jackson has known Host staged, we sense how the dynamics Along with their two fab back-up sing- Seth Rudetsky for many years, having among the trio shift; though both money ers they demonstrated that their songs sold out six of these shows last sum- and weapons come into play, Mead & have lost none of their ability to spread mer in Provincetown, “I never know Co. aptly limn how Treat, Phillip and joy. what Seth’s going to ask me or what Harold’s psychological underpinnings Starting with Oh L’amour, Bell he’s going to say.” motivate them. proved that his voice is as plangent and After chatting with Jackson, it was With his silky smooth voice, powerful as it’s ever been. Though he clear that this self-described “pretty Cooper’s Harold is oily and manipula- now looks more like he might be a honest” gentleman is an incredibly nice tive yet his polished veneer can under- butcher in some English town than the Elaine Liner in Sweater Curse: A and down-to-earth guy. (“I only get standably lull people into thinking he’s cutie patootie he was back in Erasure’s Yarn about Love upset when someone’s an asshole; it doing them a favor; to Cooper’s credit heyday, he’s still quite the dancing fool, (Photo by Chuck Marcelo) doesn’t matter who you are, only how he leaves it ambiguous as to how much shimmying and boogeying through most Two years ago More Power to you treat other people.”) he really cares for Treat and Phillip, and of the numbers. Your Knitting, Nell! was a winning So, regardless of what Rudetsky how much he’s just using them for his In between the songs, Bell’s sweet, delight so I’ll be looking forward to asks, I thoroughly believe Jackson when own purposes. down-to-earth personality came through Elaine Liner’s Sweater Curse: A Yarn he says “I’m going to share my heart Bradford imbues the excitable older as he commented that he was trying to about Love which weaves stories of and everything there is about myself as brother with rage but Treat’s underlying “make my fall like Debbie Harry’s” failed knitting projects into her history well as many songs. I’ve had an inter- dangerousness didn’t always come and gave a shout-out to a fan whose of failed romances. Feel free to bring esting past few years—I got divorced through. After an amazing transforma- sign said he had come all the way from your own knitting along! (The Shadow- [in 2013], got sober—so Seth and I will tion during intermission, though, Brazil just to see him. box Theatre, 2400 St Claude Ave.) have lots to chat about.” Bradford fully captures Treat’s deter- After Oh L’amour, the first hour [continued on 22] You won’t want to miss it. mination to please Harold, the father was devoted, with the exception of 20 • The Official Mag©: AmbushMag.com • Nov. 4-17, 2014 • Official Gay Mardi Gras Guide© since 1982 • GayMardiGras.com