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Gay EasterParade.COM • GayMardiGras.COM • GayNewOrleans.COM • June 5-18, 2012 • The Official Mag: AmbushMag.COM • 21 have fueled her since she was a child maker whose still currents run deep; actress. Sure there was a physical addic- Brooke, luminescent but forever devas- feature tion, but Quilter’s subtly captivating script, tated by the loss of her brother; and Lyman which only occasionally succumbs to cli- & Polly’s son Trip (Thomas Sadoski), a ches in plotting or dialog, lays out Garland’s reality show producer whose casual de- Local Artist Returns to insecurities and harrowing psychological meanor does not preclude strong emo- need for chemical support despite her tions. The 700 Club towering talent. Best of all are Polly and her sister eing no stranger to the visual Such a sturdy vehicle would hardly Silda Grauman (Judith Light), Jews from and performing arts, it would run, however, if the actress playing Gar- Texas who came to Hollywood and be- Bseem that New Orleans local, land could not pull off the tough task of came successful screenwriters of a series Jay Hendrix, has been painting as long as portraying a legend. of teenage-themed movies. If Silda, a re- he’s been performing. Not so! At the age And here, End of the Rainbow tri- covering alcoholic is funny and warm of 44, he picked up his first paint brush umphs with a career-making performance and everything you’d want your aunt to be, just four years ago. With no formal train- by Tracie Bennett who, whether singing, Polly is the opposite. Strident and self- ing and being completely self taught, he smoking, lusting after her man, or just plain assured to a fault, she hates being fair. drew inspiration from the artists he most posturing, is utterly natural, yet seemingly While not entirely covering up her identified with: Dali, Picasso, Matisse, larger than life. Bennett’s Garland offers Jewishness, it’s certainly nothing she Kahlo, and the rest as they say....is the self-deprecating humor and can turn the flaunts. Loyal to her friends, she will not future! diva shtik on like that, but in her off mo- countenance disloyalty, even in those clos- ments she still seems always to be per- est to her. forming even if only for an audience of one. With Brooke determined to publish, That Bennett is Tony-nominated for Baitz lets these characters go at each Best Actress in a Play is a little surprising other and if these are the 1%, I’m happy to as, recreating the Talk of the Town engage- be part of the other 99. After an extremely successful first ever ment, she sings about ten songs in the The cast is nearly perfect. Keach art opening at 700 Club two years ago and course of Rainbow utterly capturing brings patrician authority to Lyman yet the introduction of his wildly popular Kitty Garland’s unique persona and sounding gives him a softer side as well, more collection, Jay has been asked to do sev- uncannily like her. This is an extraordinary Rockefeller Republican than Tea Party. eral commissions both privately and com- performance that keeps on giving includ- Sadoski fulfills the role of the third child, mercially. His work has been displayed in ing a little lagniappe after the bows. friend to all, no agenda to push, hoping restaurants and retail spaces from New This is no one woman show, however. everyone gets along but refusing to partici- Michael Cumpsty shades his performance Orleans to Houston. Now he returns to [continued on 25] 700 Club this month with a new collection as Garland’s gay, loyal pianist with nobility, he calls A Tribute to the Masters and resignation and, late in the game, a bit of Kitty’s Komeback. pie-in-the-sky optimism, clearly getting a under the gaydar ...from 12 Come join Mr. Hendrix and 700 Club certain satisfaction for being in the orbit of Thursday, June 21st from 6-8pm as they an icon. As Deans, Tom Pelphrey fights I throw many fundraisers; you give present these colorfully re-worked clas- hard to save Garland; whether he really people canapés, cocktails and background sics, and meet the “colorful” artist behind sees her as anything more than a meal music with a lovely silent auction; now that Artist Jay Hendrix Kitty’s creation. ticket is left pleasingly ambiguous yet ladies and gentlemen is how you raise Pelphrey makes it clear, that among hard funds. choices, he’s trying to do the right thing. The other day, no lie at the corner of All of Rainbow’s production values Elysian Fields and Claiborne, there were trodding the boards are topnotch and Terry Johnson’s wonder- four different groups working the intersec- fully modulated direction, along with the tion. A group of grunge kids had one performances, gives depth to the tabloidity corner and several of them were texting on of Judy’s descent into her own personal their phones while begging. Seriously, hell, a process almost painful to watch as by Brian Sands somehow utter poverty is not coming to her layers of desperation are revealed. Email: [email protected] mind when you have a cell phone. Then One can’t help but wonder if Quilter is there was the homeless, which by the way, already preparing a play about Whitney... I recognized as a man who lived in a house That’s about the least of her worries. New in New York If Garland was fatally burned by the in my neighborhood, and by no means is Short of funds, Judy pulls every trick glare of the ever-present spotlight, a few he homeless or hungry. ...and NOLA in the book to get the imperious hotel blocks away from the Belasco, a family is The next corner was a cheerleading manager to let her and Deans stay without f you’re a theater lover and head- doing all it can to remain on the sidelines of squad, in which one pushy little girl in paying in full right away. Worse, Judy seems ing up to New York in the next few our national stage. In Jon Robin Baitz’ pigtails came up to my car and demanded to be in thrall to the pills and alcohol that Iweeks, it’s a great opportunity to Other Desert Cities (Booth Theatre thru money so she could go to Florida for a check out the current crop of Broadway June 17), Brooke Wyeth (Elizabeth Mar- competition, I told her to do a flip if she shows before the Tony Awards (or lack vel) is visiting her parents Polly (Stockard wanted something. I mean, how do I know thereof) signal the end of some runs. Channing) and Lyman (Stacy Keach) for these kids are any good, I do not want to While there may not be an immediate Christmas. Brooke, a writer, had had a back a losing team. need to see Once (featuring former NOLA nervous breakdown a few years ago and What lessons are we teaching our Project member Will Connolly), as it looks was hospitalized but is now apparently youth, beg for money for the things in life likely to win the Best Musical award and be well. you want? You do not have to work for it or around for a while, here are three shows She has brought along a memoir of even actually earn it. At least when a drag that I recently saw that, win or lose, are the family that will soon be published. And queen wants to go to a pageant, she puts quite worth seeing. as with any memoir worth publishing, it on a benefit show, there is some “enter- Top on the list for any gay man should contains material that Lyman and espe- tainment value” (I use this term loosely) be End of the Rainbow (Belasco The- cially Polly do not want the public to see. involved. But still you are given something ater), a London import about Judy Gar- For they are Republicans, friends of Nancy in return for your money. land, ’cause even if you think you’ve been and Ron, Lyman a former actor of some Also, I do not know exactly how safe it through this territory before, Peter Quilter’s note himself and once the chairman of the is to have these children running in and out biodrama provides an immediacy and a California G.O.P. And the fact that they had of cars at a busy intersection for dollar bills. theatricality that rivet one’s attention. a son who had joined a Weatherman-like So stop giving money to these people, or It’s December 1968. No longer Dor- organization in the 1970s, participated in a pretty soon I will walk around asking for othy or even Vicki Lester, a throatier though fatal bombing, and then killed himself, is money to send me to Europe. Hell, I know still charismatic Judy and her husband-to- something they want to keep in the past. people who would pay good money to see be Mickey Deans arrive in London for the Against John Lee Beatty’s well-heeled me out of town for two weeks. Hey, it could start of what is to be a five week run at the Palm Springs home that is anchored by a work. Talk of the Town nightclub. Promising to stone wall, an apt metaphor, Joe Mantello behave herself, Judy is convinced that fluidly directs Baitz’ sharp, glittering dialog If you have an event, story or idea, you their (huge) suite at The Ritz Hotel is Tracie Bennett in End of the that reveals his exquisitely defined char- want covered, contact me at smaller than the one she had last time.