Mark Nadler is one of the greatest showmen of our time, capable of leaping from floor to piano bench, tap-dancing madly, singing and keeping steady eye contact with the audience, all this while playing a complex passage on the piano without even glancing at the keys. However, in his latest, I’m A Stranger Here Myself, he takes a somewhat more low-key approach – the abundant theatrics and virtuosity are still there, but applied in a different way. Stranger was originally a cabaret show, but Mark has worked with director David Schweizer to craft it into an even more thoughtful multimedia theatre piece.

For this show, Nadler performs songs by German, French and Russian songwriters who were active between 1919 and 1933, the years of Germany’s Wiemar Republic (though not all the songs are from that period). Nadler examines these composers’ lives as well as those of ordinary German citizens caught up in that politically and emotionally charged period, leading his audience into some surprising corners.

There’s usually at least a gay subtext to Mark’s shows, but gayness is all out in the open on this one, where he spends much time reflecting on the place of gays and Jews in the socially progressive Wiemar era. As open an era as it was, though, homosexuality was still illegal, and Nadler highlights the bravery of lyricist Kurt Schwabach and composer Mischa Spoliansky who wrote the totally astonishing “Lavender Song (Das Lila Lied)” – as defiant an anthem for gay rights as I’ve ever heard – in 1920.

I’m A Stranger Here Myself was already ripe for adaptation into a more theatrical piece. That’s because, more than any other cabaret artist I’m aware of, Nadler puts his shows together with passionate intelligence and careful structuring – to truly stunning results. His shows are truly theatre pieces and truly cabaret, all at once, this has just shifted the emphasis even further towards theatre. There are always many layers in a Mark Nadler show, ranging from the obvious, to the unspoken subtext; this one has an even more profound emotional pull, and is truly not to be missed.

For tickets, click here.

For more reviews and interviews by Jonathan Warman, see dramaqueennyc.com.

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Written by Jonathan Warman

Rhode Island became the 10th state to allow gay marriage when Governor Lincoln Chafee officially signed a bill into law that extends marriage rights to gay and lesbian couples late Thursday.

Gov. Chafee signed the gay marriage bill into law as hundreds watched on the Statehouse steps following a final 56-15 vote in the Rhode Island House of Representatives.

“I’ve been waiting 32 years for this day, and I never thought it would come in my lifetime,” said Raymond Beausejour, a 66-year-old gay North Providence man who has been with his partner for 32 years. “For the first time in my life, I feel welcome in my own state.”

After the signing of the bill, the hundreds of people who gathered to watch erupted into cheers as a chorus sang “Chapel of Love.”

“Now, at long last, you are free to marry the person that you love,” Chafee told the crowd.

The first gay weddings in Rhode Island will take effect on August 1st when the law officially takes effect.

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Written by Charles Winters

Charles Winters is the founder, CEO and Editorial Director for GaySocialites Media.

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The Speaker of the New York Assembly Sheldon Silver says he is going to push for equal rights for transgendered New Yorkers.

In a letter to supporters, Speaker Silver wrote:

“I believe that all New Yorkers deserve to live their lives with dignity, free from discrimination and protected from the harmful effects of bigotry. That is why, as part of our ongoing effort to guarantee equal justice under the law, we in the Assembly yesterday passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA).

For too long, transgender New Yorkers have struggled to gain employment, safe housing and educational opportunities because of a loophole in our state’s Human Rights Law. The legislation we approved ensures that all New Yorkers, including those who identify as transgender or present their gender in a way that differs from what is traditionally associated with their birth sex, are protected from discrimination in housing, employment, credit, public accommodations, and other areas of everyday life. It would also include offenses relating to gender identity or expression within the definition of hate crimes.

The passage of GENDA is another milestone in our longstanding commitment to ensure equal treatment to all New Yorkers regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation or gender identity. It is the renewal of a commitment we made when we passed landmark legislation legalizing same-sex marriage and it is a commitment we will continue until all New Yorkers are treated equally under the law.

Sincerely,

Shelly 

Speaker Silver represents the district that includes Lower Manhattan, the home of the GaySocialites World Headquarters in New York.

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Written by Charles Winters

Charles Winters is the founder, CEO and Editorial Director for GaySocialites Media.

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The Speaker of the New York House of Representatives Sheldon Silver says he is going to push for equal rights for transgendered New Yorkers.

In a letter to supporters, Speaker Silver wrote:

“I believe that all New Yorkers deserve to live their lives with dignity, free from discrimination and protected from the harmful effects of bigotry. That is why, as part of our ongoing effort to guarantee equal justice under the law, we in the Assembly yesterday passed the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA).

For too long, transgender New Yorkers have struggled to gain employment, safe housing and educational opportunities because of a loophole in our state’s Human Rights Law. The legislation we approved ensures that all New Yorkers, including those who identify as transgender or present their gender in a way that differs from what is traditionally associated with their birth sex, are protected from discrimination in housing, employment, credit, public accommodations, and other areas of everyday life. It would also include offenses relating to gender identity or expression within the definition of hate crimes.

The passage of GENDA is another milestone in our longstanding commitment to ensure equal treatment to all New Yorkers regardless of sex, race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation or gender identity. It is the renewal of a commitment we made when we passed landmark legislation legalizing same-sex marriage and it is a commitment we will continue until all New Yorkers are treated equally under the law.

Sincerely,

Shelly 

Speaker Silver represents the district that includes Lower Manhattan, the home of the GaySocialites World Headquarters in New York.

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Written by Charles Winters

Charles Winters is the founder, CEO and Editorial Director for GaySocialites Media.

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Gay couples are now recognized under the law in Colorado after civil unions officially became legal as of 12:01am on Wednesday. 
The first gay couple exchanged vows and were granted a civil union on Wednesday morning in Denver as hundfeds gathered to cheer them on.

As soon as the new law legalizing civil unions took effect at 12.01am Wednesday, both Denver and Boulder began issuing licenses immediately.

Both gay and straight couples can obtain civil unions in Colorado receiving similar rights to married couples.  Gay marriage was banned in 2008 by a referendum passed by voters.

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Written by Charles Winters

Charles Winters is the founder, CEO and Editorial Director for GaySocialites Media.

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If you you know Fiona Shaw only from her film work, then you don’t know Fiona Shaw. Her overpoweringly impressive solo performance in The Testament of Mary is – I’ll just say it – searingly brilliant. I’ve quipped to people who enthuse about “searing” performances that I’d rather theatre not burn me. However, if it’s done as expertly as Shaw does it, I truly have no complaints.

The Testament of Mary takes place many years after the Crucifixion. Mary, the mother of Jesus, is in the city of Ephesus where two men, presumably St. Paul and St. Peter, both guard and protect her. Resisting the too-unearthly shape they are giving to her son’s story, Mary tells her own version.

Playwright Colm Tóibín has crafted a very human Mary who is more disturbed than moved by her son’s faith healing, and is even more disturbed by the thought of what’s going to happen to him when the Roman occupiers get wind of his revolutionary spiritual teachings. This Mary is emphatically a concerned mother, and as such takes a very dim view of her son’s oversized claims and ambitions.

It’s a very provocative take, that might even be considered blasphemous in some more conservative corners. Shaw leans into the humanity of this woman, throwing chairs and ladders about to underline her frustrated fury and rage.

The most interesting description I ever heard of postmodernism was from writer Umberto Eco, something to effect that a good faith postmodernist feels that they have history under their belt – rather than weighing down on their backs, as it did for modernists like Samuel Beckett. Well, taking it a degree further, I’d say Mary director Deborah Warner has theatrical postmodernism under her belt rather than weighing on her back – her staging owes much to postmodernists like Robert Wilson or Heiner Müller, but she and Shaw wear it much more lightly than their predecessors, and use it in a way that is much more expressive.

I might not recommend this to the more hidebound variety of Christian, but anybody outside of that group will find a great deal to appreciate in this daring and exquisitely executed portrait of a woman dealing with more than any person should have to face.

For tickets, click here.

For more reviews and interviews by Jonathan Warman, see his blog Drama Queen.

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The AIDS Service Center NYC (ASCNYC), a non-profit community based organization that helps New Yorkers living with AIDS and other chronic illnesses, would like to invite GaySocialites.com readers to their annual fundraiser called HEAT – Reignite the Fight Against AIDS.  This year HEAT is being held at XL nightclub in New York on June 6th.

Here’s more information about HEAT:

Have a great time while helping to make life better for New Yorkers living with HIV/AIDS! Join ASCNYC for our annual spring benefit HEAT at XL Nightclub, Cabaret & Lounge in NYC on Thursday, June 6.  It’s all about playing safe in the age of AIDS, and it’s part of National HIV Testing Day in June. HEAT playfully spotlights the importance of HIV testing, knowing your status, and protecting yourself and your loved ones. HEAT draws a sought-after professional audience of all ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds, and promises to be a fantastic night of celebration, dancing, and awareness with a premium open bar, the hottest music, smokin’ dancers, a photo booth, exciting prizes, and much more! Not only is this the hottest party of the summer, but all proceeds from HEAT benefit the amazing and life-saving work we do at ASCNYC. Past celebrity guests and supporters have included Bravo stars from the Real Housewives of NY and NJ, actress Lili Taylor, Joy Behar, the Food Network’s Ellie Krieger, adult film star Savanna Samson, drag superstar Manila Luzon and comedian/ actress Margaret Cho.

XL Nightclub is located at 512 West 42nd Street (between 10th and 11th Avenues) in New York.  You can get more information at www.heatnyc.org.

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Written by Charles Winters

Charles Winters is the founder, CEO and Editorial Director for GaySocialites Media.

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Thank goodness I know this play very intimately – I played Macbeth’s nemesis MacDuff in college – otherwise I might not have been able to follow this artful but somewhat opaque adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy.

This Macbeth is set in a clinical room deep within a forbidding psychiatric unit. Alan Cumming plays the lone patient, who for some reason relives the events of the play, inhabiting all of the roles himself.

The context is never fully explained, but it seems that the patient has either been witness to a murder or murders, or committed them himself in a fit of madness. There is a whiff of virulent Scottish nationalism in his ramblings (Cumming is Scottish-born and director John Tiffany went to school at Glascow and worked at the National Theatre of Scotland). Most notably, the king that Macbeth kills, Duncan, is played as a haughty Englishman, with more than a hint of contempt from the patient as he plays him.

Cumming has disavowed this interpretation in interviews, observing that Macbeth is nobody’s idea of a good role model. However, if one thinks about the negative psychological effects of imperialism while watching this production (as I did after hearing Duncan’s twee Brit accent), it all makes a good deal more sense. Still pretty opaque even then, though.

Tiffany has always owed something to high art European theatre – as a matter of fact his ability to mix that sensibility with soulful, clear storytelling has made him one of the directors I admire most. This has many soulful moments, but doesn’t tell the story of Macbeth with any clarity. This is far closer to pure high art than Tiffany’s other productions; while I personally like that kind of stuff, I recognize that it is definitely an acquired taste. Plus, I also like his more accessible stuff better, myself.

There is no denying, though, that visually and aurally this production is very fully realized. In particular, Merle Hensel’s set and costumes and Max Richter’s music truly bleed eerie, emotionally wrought atmosphere.

Finally though, this is all in service of a genuinely virtuoso performance from Cumming. Using all the intense energy and aching vulnerability he brings to every role, Cumming won me over. I may not have understood why the patient did any particular thing, but I certainly understood what he was doing, and how this tortured soul felt about it. Tremendously compelling, but not for everybody.

For tickets, click here.

For more reviews and interviews by Jonathan Warman, see his blog Drama Queen.

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Written by Jonathan Warman