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'Gigli': It's hard to pronounce, and harder to fathom
USA TODAY
By Claudia Puig
Aug 1, 2003
 
You know things aren't going well for J. Lo and Ben when the highlight of their first movie together is a surprise, histrionic appearance by that old yeller, Al Pacino. His entrance about two-thirds of the way through Gigli finally injects some familiar energy into this embarrassing debacle.

Gigli is the rare movie that never seems to take off, but also never seems to end. It tries hard to titillate, but ends up making audiences want to avert their eyes. 

Ben Affleck, playing the low-rent hood Gigli, kidnaps a retarded teenager. When the task threatens to become too tough, reinforcement arrives: glam lesbian Ricki (Jennifer Lopez). Of course, she succumbs to his wily charms.

The stars preen for the camera but strike no sparks with each other. There's no question that Lopez knows how to steam things up: Check out her scenes with George Clooney in 1998's Out of Sight. But Affleck had more chemistry with buddy Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting than he does with Lopez, whom he met while making this film and now is his fiancee.

Maybe it's because Lopez appears so in love with herself that there's no room for anyone else. She shows off her curves through a variety of yoga postures and other self-consciously suggestive moves while Affleck looks on, sometimes in a dumb leer, sometimes in a calculated approximation of desire.

Gigli aspires to the comic noir style of the Elmore Leonard adaptations Get Shorty and Out of Sight. The intent, one imagines, was to integrate black humor and sexy banter with some shatteringly violent moments. But what emerges is desperate and occasionally offensive salaciousness merged with corny, predictable jokes.

Supporting actor Justin Bartha must have watched Rain Man a few hundred times to nail his performance as Brian, a cheery lad with occasional bouts of Tourette's syndrome interspersed with moments of comic wisdom. When he obsesses over his favorite show, "the Baywatch," he sounds as if he's channeling Dustin Hoffman's Judge Wapner-loving Raymond. Still, Bartha 
is a good deal more engaging than our not-so-dynamic duo. 

When Bartha requests a bedtime story ("it soothes me down," he explains innocently), Affleck mocks him, reading aloud from a Tabasco sauce label and a Charmin toilet paper wrapper. See, he has no books in his house.

A rare illuminating moment in Gigli comes when we learn the proper pronunciation: Gigli rhymes with "really." Or is it silly? No big deal-y.
Bravo sets more records with gay shows
Planet Out
By Randol White
July 31, 2003
 
SUMMARY: The Bravo cable channel's new hit show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" pulled in a record number of television viewers on Tuesday night. 

The Bravo cable channel's new hit show "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" pulled in a record number of television viewers on Tuesday night, beating the record set during its premiere earlier this month. 

The show, featuring five gay men out to remake a "fashion-challenged" straight guy, became the highest rated in Bravo's history with 2.8 million people watching the 10 p.m. program. 

"We couldn't be more pleased with the results, and Bravo is on its way to becoming destination television," said Bravo president Jeff Gaspin. 

"Queer Eye" is doing so well that Bravo's parent company, NBC, wants a piece of the action. A half-hour version of the premiere episode was shown after "Will & Grace (news - Y! TV)" on the network last Thursday. Now, after record setting ratings on Tuesday night, the New York Post said NBC is also considering re-airing this week's episode. 

Bravo actually has two hits on its new gay-themed Tuesday night lineup. The premiere episode of the reality show "Boy Meets Boy" gathered 1.6 million viewers. While the total number watching "Boy" was slightly smaller than the premiere of "Queer Eye," it still considerably boosted Bravo's average viewer totals for the 9 p.m. time slot. 

"Boy" is a show similar to ABC's "The Bachelor," only in this case it's a gay man who has 15 possible mates to choose from. The show makes life more difficult for the leading man because he doesn't know which of his suitors are gay or straight. 

Despite the gay-themed appearance of Bravo's lineup, Gaspin said the target audience is actually women and that Bravo is absolutely not becoming a gay network. "Not that there's anything wrong with that," Gaspin said, quoting a famous "Sienfeld" episode. 

NBC's cable news channel MSNBC reported on its Web site that there was internal debate at Bravo over how to market the shows. The network decided to drop gay viewers to the number two slot and spend the majority of its marketing dollars on women. The network said the reason for the decision is that gay viewers are not tracked by television ratings company Nielsen. 

The shows are being carefully screened by GLBT groups like the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). 

"Bravo is being very inclusive, and we hope to see more from them," GLAAD entertainment media director Scott Seomin told the Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network. "What the ratings prove is that gays and lesbians are starved to see themselves in the 
media." 

GLAAD however does have some concern over the "straight" twist on "Boy." 

"The fact that this is TV's first gay romantic reality show is interesting enough," said Seomin. "The straight twist seems unnecessary and even cruel to the show's leading man." 
 
Tomlin Reflects on Career Before Prize
AP
Mon Jul 14, 3:30 PM ET
 
LOS ANGELES - Rarely will Lily Tomlin make a joke about Michael Jackson or "Spider-Man." That's not the kind of stuff she does. Tomlin said jokes about celebrities and politicians do not appeal to her. 

"Specifically, topical humor has never appealed to me very much, largely because it has no shelf-life," Tomlin told the Associated Press. "And secondly, because it's not human enough, it's not large enough." 

Instead, Tomlin is drawn to stories about people and individuals. She attributes this interest to her growing up in Detroit in an old apartment bulding, and her southern parents who living in a black neighborhood. 

Tomlin is looking back at her career in advance of the annual Mark Twain Prize for comedy on Oct. 26. The show will air one month later on PBS. 

These days, Tomlin can be seen on NBC's "The West Wing (news - web sites)." She says Aaron Sorkin knew what he was doing when he created her character, Debbie Fiderer. The actress said she signed for ten episodes this coming season. 

"Aaron wrote a character that was so off-the-wall and so interesting that all I had to do was show up," Tomlin said. "Somehow he married me to a role that was just right for me. Honestly, I do so little, I just come and speak the words."
 
Salma Hayek in Tokyo
Reuters
July 14, 2003
 
Hollywood actress Salma Hayek (news) waves during a news conference to promote her film 'Frida', in Tokyo July 14, 2003. The movie opens to the public in Japan on August 2. REUTERS/Haruyoshi Yamaguchi 
 
Jennifer Beals to Play Lesbian in Series
The Associated Press
Mon Jul 14, 7:34 AM ET
 
LOS ANGELES - Jennifer Beals (news) didn't think twice about playing a lesbian in the upcoming Showtime television series "The L Word." 

"One of the most important things for me was the fact that it could be so impactful and that it could be so helpful in terms of breaking down stereotypes," she told the Television Critics Association. "Somebody might tune into the show for one reason and then come away having learned something that they had never even considered." 

Beals describes herself as a "biracial heterosexual woman." She said the question of her sexuality has come up since the show started filming. 

"What becomes interesting is to think about how easy it is for a heterosexual actress or actor to play someone who is homosexual, how that's somehow permissible, but for a homosexual to be out and portray a homosexual character it becomes sort of much more problematic for an audience to accept," she said. "As a species, we're so fixated and curious about this mystery of sexuality." 

The series about the lives and loves of a group of West Hollywood women, many of whom are lesbians, also stars Pam Grier (news) and Mia Kirshner (news). It debuts in January. Beals gained fame in the 1983 movie "Flashdance."
Salma Hayek Set for Directorial Debut
Associated Press
Sun Jul 13, 2:30 PM ET
 
Actor/director Salma Hayek smiles as she takes questions from the media Wednesday, July 9, 2003, during the presentation of the cable-TV movie 'The Maldonado Miracle,' her directorial debut, at a hotel in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. The movie, which debuts Oct. 12, stars Peter Fonda, Mare Winningham , Ruben Blades and Eddy Martin. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) 

LOS ANGELES - Actress Salma Hayek says she initially turned down the offer to direct the upcoming cable television movie "The Maldonado Miracle." 

"I felt so honored, but I passed," she said. "Then I went to do `Frida' and when I came back and I started reading scripts and I didn't like anything, I said `I need to find something that I'm passionate about.'" 

The film is Hayek's directorial debut. 

"The Maldonado Miracle" is about the testing of a small town's faith when a statue of Jesus appears to be shedding tears of blood. It stars Ruben Blades, Peter Fonda and Mare Winningham. 

"She's a born leader and you want to deliver for her," Winningham told the Television Critics Association last week. "She's very inspired and excitable and bossy and creative, and you want to make her dream come true." 

Hayek also was executive producer for the movie, which airs Oct. 12 on Showtime. 
 
Talk Show Host Apologizes For Antigay Remarks
Gfn.com News
July 10, 2003
 
Michael Savage, the talk-show host fired by cable news channel MSNBC for
telling a caller he was a pig who deserved to die from AIDS, on Tuesday
apologized for his remarks. 

"If my comments brought pain to anyone I certainly did not intend for this
to happen and apologize for any such reaction," Savage said on his Web site,
www.michaelsavage.com <http://www.michaelsavage.com> .


"I especially appeal to my many listeners in the gay community to accept my
apologies for any inadvertent insults which may have occurred." A day
earlier, MSNBC canceled Savage's show, The Savage Nation, after the incident
Saturday. 

In his apology Savage said that he thought he was talking to "a crank caller
from a competitive talk show" and that the call had been cut off by
producers. "Unfortunately, my personal comments to this crank caller were
broadcast," he said. "Let me repeat, this was an interchange between me
personally and a mean-spirited, vicious setup caller which I thought was
taking place off the air. It was not meant to reflect my views of the
terrible tragedy and suffering associated with AIDS." 

According to a report in The Boston Globe, Bob Foster, a California man who
regularly makes prank calls, has been identified as the individual who
elicited Savage's ill-fated MSNBC response. 

In the wake of the comments and the subsequent firing, at least five radio
stations have decided to pull Savage's popular radio talk show off the air. 

Among them, Boston's WRKO-AM (680) suspended Savage from its airwaves
Tuesday, as the antigay remarks rippled through the media, sparking debate
about the boundaries of taste and decency in the raucous talk-radio culture.


Program director Mike Elder suspended Savage "at least temporarily," pending
a conversation with the show's syndicators, the Oregon-based Talk Radio
Network. Elder called Savage's remarks "over the line" and said, "I think
he's probably a homophobe in reality." Three Salem, Mass., stations also
dropped the show. 

Another large market, Los Angeles's KRLA-AM (870) suspended Savage Nation
Tuesday. 

Terry Fahy, KRLA's general manager, issued a prepared statement explaining
the indefinite suspension of Savage Nation. The remarks attributed to
Savage, "if accurate, are totally unacceptable to this station and its
owner, Salem Communications Corp.," the Christian broadcaster that owns two
other stations in Los Angeles, the statement read. 
Angelina's Lesbian Affair
Source: The Sun
July 11, 2003
 
Angelina Jolie has admitted that she had a lesbian affair before she became
famous.

According to The Sun, the Tomb Raider star also boasts that she would
contemplate having another female lover when she spills the beans in an
American interview with ABC's 20/20 tomorrow night.

Jolie says: "I consider myself a very sexual person. If I fell in love with
a woman tomorrow, it's right to want to kiss her and touch her."

The twice-wed star refused to name her lesbian lover but openly spoke about
her two-year marriage to film star Billy Bob Thornton.

Angelina said: "We became very different people and I just didn't know what
to talk to him about."
 
'ALL MY CHILDREN' BEGINS TO EXAMINE REALITY OF RAPE EXPERIENCE FOR LESBIANS
GLAAD News Pop
July 10, 2003
 
'ALL MY CHILDREN' BEGINS TO EXAMINE REALITY OF RAPE EXPERIENCE FOR LESBIANS 

On the July 8 episode of "All My Children," Bianca Montgomery (played by
Eden Riegel) -- the only lesbian character on daytime television -- was
raped by Michael Cambias (William de Vry), a psychopath who previously
attempted to sexually assault her mother, Erica Kane (Susan Lucci). The
storyline has drawn a mix of concern and cautiously optimistic reactions
from LGBT community organizations. 

Initially the story was characterized by ABC Daytime simply as Cambias'
"revenge" against Bianca's mother -- an assault that, according to ABC,
"doesn't happen to her because she is a lesbian." However, the July 7-8
episodes did depict the rape as based in part on Bianca's sexual orientation
and on the fact that Cambias was a former lover of Bianca's bisexual
girlfriend, Lena (Olga Sosnovska). 

On July 7, Cambias referred to Lena as a "lying lesbo" and said that "poor
Bianca's so screwed up, she has to get it from women." In the following
episode, Cambias said to Bianca, "Ah, boy. Lena. Another one of my great
disappointments. ... What does she do? She falls in love with you and turns
on me." And prior to the assault, Cambias told Bianca: "Just relax. Give
yourself over to the moment. Gosh, Bianca, you are just so incredibly
beautiful. I could make you forget all about Lena, if you'd just let me." 

According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), ABC's
portrayal represents the kind of bias violence often experienced by
lesbians.

"So far, ABC and 'All My Children' are getting a lot of things right," said
Rachel Baum, MSW, NCAVP's associate director and domestic violence, rape and
sexual assault specialist. "Men who rape lesbians not only engage in
gender-based acts of violence, but also in acts of hate-violence based on
the victim's actual or perceived sexual orientation. In many cases men who
target lesbians will use language like Cambias used before and during his
attack on Bianca. In fact, when bias is present in a sexual assault, it can
often intensify the attack."

"GLAAD remains concerned that ABC Daytime may have singled out Bianca's
character for this storyline on the notion that her sexuality could be
exploited to sensationalize this plot," said Scott Seomin, entertainment
media director for the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. "And if
there were more LGBT representations on daytime television, the perceptions
of this story would likely be different. But we're encouraged by the fact
that the story seems to be presenting an accurate portrayal of the kind of
sexual assault that's been experienced by women in our community. The
viewers I've heard from say the rape episode accurately reflected a complex
reality -- one that 'All My Children' seems to be positioning itself to
explore in more depth."

Now that "All My Children" has depicted Bianca's sexual orientation as a
contributing factor in her rape, both GLAAD and NCAVP are encouraging ABC
Daytime to continue to explore the implications of this plotline in all
their complexity, including the unique impacts of rape and bias-motivated
violence on lesbians and bisexual women. 

"There are certainly false stereotypes ABC should go out of its way to
avoid, as well as a number of important angles we hope they don't avoid --
things we deal with every day at NCAVP," said Clarence Patton, NCAVP's
acting executive director. "Many lesbians who seek assistance from law
enforcement, hospitals or rape crisis centers find themselves re-victimized
by a system that's unaware of or insensitive to their needs, and may end up
choosing not to make a report as a result. There are ways in which the sense
of shame and isolation associated with rape can be exacerbated when the
victim is a lesbian, and I hope ABC addresses this." 

"This is a complex set of issues 'All My Children' is exploring," Seomin
said. "And we hope this marks the beginning of a larger, more nuanced story
that avoids the untrue, defamatory cliches of the past. Whether it's a
notion that lesbian sexuality is something that invites 'punishment,' or the
implication that Bianca's sexuality -- as it continues to develop -- is some
kind of negative response to being raped, these kinds of stereotypes have no
place in this story." 

"Our expectation is that ABC's writers and producers will seek out the
resources they need to make Bianca's story fair, accurate and inclusive, and
we'll be watching carefully as this story unfolds," Seomin said.

ARTICLES & RESOURCES:

Scott Seomin
GLAAD Entertainment Media Director
(323) 634-2012
seomin@glaad.org <mailto:seomin@glaad.org> http:// www.glaad.org
<http://www.glaad.org/> 

Rachel Baum, MSW
NCAVP Associate Director
(212) 714-1184
rbaum@avp.org <mailto:rbaum@avp.org> http:// www.avp.org/ncavp.htm
<http://www.avp.org/ncavp.htm> 
TV Program Canceled Over Remarks on Gays
NY Times
By JIM RUTENBERG
July 8, 2003
 
MSNBC said yesterday that it had canceled its Saturday afternoon television program featuring Michael Savage, the conservative talk radio host, after he made antigay remarks that the network called "extremely inappropriate."

Mr. Savage's program, "Savage Nation," has been on MSNBC since March. 

His joining the network angered gay and lesbian groups because of his outspoken stance against homosexuality.

The remarks made on last Saturday's show came in response to a man who called in during a discussion about airline security and told Mr. Savage that he should "go to the dentist because your teeth are real bad."

Mr. Savage proceeded to ask the man if he was "one of those sodomists." When the man responded that he was, Mr. Savage said: "You should only get AIDS and die, you pig. How's that?"

Mr. Savage went on, "O.K., do we have another nice caller here who's busy because he didn't have a nice night in the bathhouse who's angry at me today?"

In light of those comments, Jeremy Gaines, a network spokesman, said "The decision to cancel the program was not difficult."

Mr. Savage's program has generated outsize attention relative to its importance to MSNBC. With an average audience of 347,000, it is shown once a week, on Saturdays at 5 p.m. Since the program made its debut on March 8, there have been 15 episodes broadcast. 

Mr. Savage, a longtime radio talk show host, was hired as part of an effort by executives to broaden the network's appeal to those cable news viewers who are to the right of the political center.

After he was hired in the late winter, groups, including the National Organization for Women and the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, called for MSNBC to reverse its decision. In the wake of their complaints, Kraft Foods and the Procter & Gamble Company announced they would not advertise on the program. 

In a statement yesterday, Cathy Renna, a spokeswoman for the gay and lesbian alliance, said "`Michael Savage's latest rant made the clearest possible case for why this kind of behavior has no place on any reputable news network." 

Calls to Mr. Savage's office were not returned.
 
Malkovich Turns Onto Dark 'Street'
NY Times By REUTERS
July 8, 2003
 
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - John Malkovich's production company plans a fall start for a feature film adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's novel ``Found in the Street.''

The indie project is a psychological suspense thriller about a chance encounter between several people in New York's Greenwich Village, including a middle-aged security guard, an artist, his bisexual wife and a lesbian waitress/model. A series of events leads to murder and blame.

Terry Kinney, a veteran of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater with Malkovich, will make his feature directorial debut on the film. Malkovich's Mr. Mudd banner will produce. Kinney has starred in and directed episodes of HBO's ``Oz.'' He most recently directed Gary Sinise in Steppenwolf's production ``One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest,'' which then moved to the London stage before finishing up on Broadway.

Highsmith's novel was first published in 1989 from Grove/Atlantic Inc.

German production company Senator International is in negotiations to acquire ``Found in the Street,'' which previously was set up at Britain's Granada Film.

Malkovich's directorial debut, ``The Dancer Upstairs,'' which was produced by Mr. Mudd, was recently released in the U.S.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
[THEATER REVIEW] 'GETTING INTO HEAVEN': Fortysomething Rock Star's Plight
Source: The NY Times
By BRUCE WEBER
July 3, 2003
 
Polly Draper is a very appealing actress with a significant stage resume, but nothing she has ever done theatrically has usurped her identity as Ellyn, the single young professional from television's "thirtysomething." It's easy to imagine that she's weary of hearing that, weary of waiting around for the next role that sticks in the mind and so decided to create it herself. But the play she has written, "Getting Into Heaven" will not, sad to say, rectify the situation.

The play, which opened at the Flea Theater in Lower Manhattan last night, offers a mishmash of themes and narrative tricks, and in the end reveals a deeply squishy sentimentality. It's about motherhood and mortality and love and redemption, not to mention sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

Ms. Draper, who wrote the screenplay for and appeared in "The Tic Code," a well-reviewed 2000 film about a child with Tourette's syndrome, has overreached here, seemingly in an attempt to give herself qualities to play. The part she has written for herself is constructed as if out of spare parts, from several cultural stereotypes. Cat, as she is called, is a weathered, cynical, fortysomething rock star in the punk vein, a fading icon of the Joan Jett variety. She is also a recovering drug addict and a lesbian. She aches for everything: love, solace, the devotion of her fans, a child. Her partner, Rose (Gretchen Egolf), is younger, the drummer in Cat's band. 

The plot is too convoluted to recount. But here are a few of its key elements: Rose has had a child, Danny (Cooper Pillot), 4, who is being happily raised by two mommies, though his father, a moronic sound man and aspiring rapper named Jed (James Badge Dale), refuses to acknowledge his son. Jed's older brother Cal is dead; he'd been Rose's previous lover. The other significant character is Crystal (Barbara eda-Young), Jed's loopy mother, who has fallen in love with someone she has never seen or heard, a persistent phone caller who never utters a syllable. 

The play is at its best in the beginning, when Cat has some sexy and sardonic banter with Rose and Jed, and Ms. Draper, who has a coy wit as a performer, gets to show off her sly chops. But very shortly, the questions of credibility begin to arise. (No. 1: Why would either of these women have anything at all to do with Jed, who is truly an idiot?) Then the gimmicks begin to accumulate. Television screens sprinkled around the stage are intermittently fired to life, and suddenly Danny is narrating the show in a cutesy fashion and scenes are being rewound and replayed as if on tape. And the eccentricities of character and plot begin to pile up, and the soapy emotions gather until everyone is drowning in suds. None of this is made any clearer by the soddenly paced direction of Claire Lundberg or the awkward set, which places an enormous bed in the center of every scene. 

By the second act, tragedy has set in and so has betrayal. Ms. Draper has run out of dialogue and, when she's not rendering dreadful rock songs in a drug-addled haze, she is thumbing through the cliche dictionary in an effort to get across that deep down Cat is really a very good person. 

That the title is meant to be taken literally is only the final signal of the play's hokey heart.

GETTING INTO HEAVEN

By Polly Draper; directed by Claire Lundberg; music composed by Michael Wolff; music produced by Mr. Wolff and Michael Levine; sets by Junghyun Georgia Lee; lighting by Matthew Richards; costumes by Jenny Mannis; sound by Fitz Patton; video by Topiary Productions/Nara Garber and Ben Wolf; production manager, Ben Struck; general manager, Todd Rosen; associate producer, Nella Vera; stage manager, Beth-Stiegel Rohr. Presented by the Flea Theater, Jim Simpson, artistic director; Carol Ostrow, producing director. At 41 White Street, Lower Manhattan. 

WITH: Polly Draper, James Badge Dale, Gretchen Egolf, Barbara eda-Young and Cooper Pillot.


Photo description: Polly Draper, left, as a fortysomething rock star and Gretchen Egolf as her partner in Ms. Draper's play "Getting Into Heaven." 

-----------------------------
http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/getting.htm
Getting Into Heaven is a new play by Polly Draper. Described as a new drama about sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and the challenges of motherhood, Getting Into Heaven stars Draper as Cat Venita, a bad girl of rock, who is struggling to keep her family together in the rough-and-tumble music world. 

-----------------------------
nytheatre voices
http://www.nytheatre.com/nytheatre/v_draper.htm
Polly Draper
Getting Into Heaven

Polly Draper is an actor, screenwriter and playwright. She has appeared on the stage, in films and on TV. This is the first play she has written for the stage.
nytheatre.com interviewed Polly by phone on Thursday, June 12, 2003.

Getting Into Heaven begins performances at the Flea Theatre on June 11, 2003.

How did you come to write this play Getting Into Heaven about sex, drugs, rock and roll and motherhood and why did you think it was a play that should be seen at this time?

My movie The Tic Code featured drugs, sex and rock and roll so next I wrote a play adding motherhood ¡V that's my joke reason. In fact, the story was intriguing to me; about a lesbian couple raising a child and the love triangle between them and the father ¡V the sperm donor. One of them is an aging rock star ¡V me. She¡¦s sort of like based on Chrissie Hines, Pretender or Joan Jett -- those people ¡V bad ass rockers . But really it's about the importance of this child to these two women, and all who love the child ¡V the father, the grandmother. So it¡¦s really about that. 

Also it's about the music. It was written by my husband [Michael Wolff] except for one song by Warren Zevon a great man to whom the play is dedicated. Rock and roll, an entertaining play, very wild, people seem to love it ¡V very unique and fun and upsetting and touching too. 

The real emotional reasons I wrote it -- ever since I¡¦ve had kids there¡¦s this terror I have -- shopping with kids, afraid they¡¦ll disappear. One of them, when we lived in Berkeley, just took off down the street after a little girl. I was in a panic. In Central Park one was hiding from me. He thought it was funny and I was terrified. Fear every mother has about something happening to her child. Also I have an interest in eccentric families that are to the outside observer an odd structure. In my first movie the eccentric family was a child who had Tourette¡¦s Syndrome. a black man and a white woman. That was a couple that to the average person was unusual. This is also an unusual grouping of three:. a couple of lesbians with a child, involved with the family of the father. Both are also rock stars. People look at it and say that¡¦s an unusual family to have a child. But all families have something in common.

Is any of the play based on first hand knowledge, people you know, events you have seen?

All of it. I am friends with lots of rock and roll people. Having a child is first hand. Lesbians raising a child, not exactly first hand, but in Los Angeles I lived on a street where two or three lesbian couples did exactly the same thing. Each had a child by a sperm donor. What if the sperm donor had an attraction to one of them? What if they did it the old fashioned way? An interesting story. All of it is first hand, except the child dying . This is my first rock and roll singing experience. There's video and slides -- very multi media. I sing live, too. Even have a rap video. Michael [Michael Wolff, husband and composer] and I wrote a rap song together. I went into the studio with these brilliant rock and roll stars and I felt like a rock star. 

How different do you find writing and acting on the stage as opposed to doing either or both in TV and film and what do you like best about live theatre?

Writing is really the same. You have to tell a good story whether it's on stage or on film. I have about 100 years experience on the stage. Having gone to drama school with a mandatory writing class I¡¦ve always loved plays. This is the first I've written. I have always had an affinity for the theatre 'cause that¡¦s where I got my start. The difference is when you¡¦ve done a film and you¡¦re in it you can watch it and edit it and see what works best. In a play you can only do this to a point. You can only see the technical things. I¡¦m going to rewrite a couple of things after last night [the first preview]. There are things I wouldn¡¦t have noticed until last night. Only the director could know certain things, cues, etc. I really like to problem solve. I don¡¦t get beaten down by problems. How can we fix that? I don¡¦t see it as daunting, either. Probably the most positive thing about me as a writer is I don¡¦t see anything as unsolvable. 

Of course it¡¦s very easy for me to learn my lines. As an actor ¡V acting is more delicate. As to what someone says to you, as an actor it can hurt more, but as a writer, I can hear a wrong note and figure out what they meant by it ¡V what problem they were addressing. Writing is just one step removed from your physical body. As an actor you need an air bubble around you to perform. That¡¦s the director¡¦s job -- encouraging as she helps.

Your husband, Michael Wolff, has supplied the original music for this production. Do you have opinions about the music, yourself, or do you completely leave this up to him?

He did the music, but I did the lyrics. The lyrics are hand and hand with the music. The amazing thing about Michael is I can say "In this place there should be some bad ass rock" and he¡¦ll stand there for a few minutes and then go to the piano and say "like that" and then he'll rework it and it¡¦s perfect. Then I would write the lyrics. He was always a jazz musician but for a period of his life he wanted to be a rock star ¡V so he has a real affinity for '80s rock and roll. That was his era, too. He was on Arsenio Hall's show as band leader. He has a very well versed ear. He knows every rock and roll performer, every jazz performer. Rap! We have a lot of rap friends. He wrote this great rap song, very funny, done by the sperm donor, a gorgeous 25 year old Marlon Brando type. Beyond being entertaining, it¡¦s also very sexy. 

I assume the play has been seen, at least in workshops or readings. What was the reaction of the audience and did you make any changes as a result?

I always make changes every time there is an audience based on what they tell me. The reactions have always been wonderful. This is a very visual play. Every time we did it I learned new things. A lot of the people who saw it last night couldn¡¦t believe the visuals after having seen only the readings. You hear that someone is going to sing a song, but seeing the song is different. Comments are enormously interesting ¡V each rewrite makes it clearer and better. I don¡¦t miss anything from old drafts.

What would you like to overhear from the audience as they leave the theatre?

[Laugh] That was the greatest play I've seen all year...Oh, does Polly Draper have a great body for an old broad.

Last update: 14 June, 2003
[Excerpt] 'The Last Sunday in June'
Source: The NY Times
June 29, 2003
 
IN "The Last Sunday in June," Tom and Michael (played by Peter Smith and Johnathan F. McClain) are a couple whose Village apartment has one great feature: a window overlooking the route of the Gay Pride Parade. On Pride Day ¡X the last Sunday in June ¡X they invite friends to drop by to watch.

The play, written by Jonathan Tolins and directed by Trip Cullman, is being presented at the Century Center for the Performing Arts through July 6. In this excerpt, Tom and Michael and their friends Joe, Brad and Charles (David Turner, Arnie Burton and Donald Corren) have just heard a perplexing bit of gossip. When the subject of this information, Susan (Susan Pourfar), arrives, the men question her about her engagement to James, known to them as a flamboyant gay man.

SUSAN: Pretty freaky, huh? My mother tells people I'm marrying a foreigner so he can get his green card. Which I suspect is how you see it, too. 

JOE: Are you a lesbian? 

MICHAEL: Joe!

JOE: What? It's a fair question.

SUSAN: No, alas, I am not. 

JOE: Are you a fag hag?

TOM AND MICHAEL: Joe!

JOE: What?

SUSAN: God, I hate that term. It's so demeaning. 

MICHAEL: I agree.

SUSAN: It conjures this image of a woman hanging around a bunch of gay men bitching at each other, praying they'll ask her to dance before she goes home to feed her cats.

BRAD: How many cats do you have?

SUSAN: One. O.K., so I like gay men. I always have, ever since I was a teenager. I was one of those sensitive adolescent girls interested in horseback riding and homosexuals. You know the type. 

JOE: I was friends with a girl like that in drama club. 

BRAD: We all were. 

SUSAN: Yes, we're a proud stereotype. I guess the idea of a guy who wasn't determined to snap my bra-strap really appealed to me. A boy who was like me, you know, who felt different. Who had some aesthetic sense. What can I say? I read "The Front Runner." 

CHARLES: That'll do it. 

SUSAN: Then all of "Tales of the City," David Leavitt, the "Buddies" trilogy . . . I somehow had an affinity for this stuff, I totally got it. So I was ready when all my friends came out in college. A lot of them told me first. I'm still proud of that. 

MICHAEL: You should be. 

SUSAN: Yeah. All the time I spent taking care of my boys. They were so dear to me. 

CHARLES: Past tense. What happened? 

SUSAN: Oh, I don't know. They joined "the scene" or whatever you call what's going on out the window. And I wasn't willing to go there with them. 

CHARLES: Why not? 

SUSAN: I started reading those books because I wanted to know about these people who had feelings and interests beyond those of the average 14-year-old. But then, when we graduated from college, all my gay male friends turned into the girls in my seventh grade homeroom. "Ooh, did you see that guy? Ooh, do you think he's cute? Ooh, let's do facials." I went through so much with them, all that drama, and then they buried what made them so special to me in the first place. What was in their hearts. So, to be honest, I pulled away. I went a long time keeping my distance from gay guys. Unless I went to the theater or the ballet or something. 

TOM: Until James.

SUSAN: Until James. Yeah, James was different. He'd been through the wringer. He needed someone safe he could open up to. I told him early on, I said, "I'm not going to be your fag hag, James. I'm not going to comfort you when that bartender hasn't called in three days and then not mind when you don't call me for a month because he did." 

CHARLES: You put conditions on a friendship? 

SUSAN: Yes, I know, that was unfair, but I promised the same thing. I don't go on and on about how many bridesmaid dresses I have hanging in my closet or how loudly my biological clock is ticking. We have rules. We're determined to bring out only the best in each other. 
Ellen DeGeneres: not a 'gay' comedian
Source: ASSOCIATED PRESS
By DAVID BAUDER
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
 
NEW YORK, June 25 ¡X She was once simply Ellen DeGeneres, comedian. And that's what she would like to be again. 

Everything changed in the spring of 1997, when DeGeneres proclaimed from the cover of Time magazine that she was a lesbian. It was a major TV event when her character on the ABC sitcom, ''Ellen,'' came out a month later. 

Now she was Ellen DeGeneres, gay comedian. 

There's no putting that genie back in the bottle. But DeGeneres' new HBO stand-up special seems designed as a transition to a time when, she hopes, her sexual status won't matter. The show premieres Saturday at 10 p.m. ET. 

Catching her breath recently after dodging photographers outside a Manhattan hotel, she talked about how some of her stand-up comedy audience was there for the wrong reasons. 

''They come because they're gay and I'm gay and it's not like they really get the humor that I'm doing or get that that's not what I'm really all about,'' she said. 

''They come expecting to see some kind of thing, or they want to scream out. And as much as they're coming from a good place because I did something that helped them ... it is disruptive some times.'' 

About 90 percent of the audience for her 2000 stand-up comedy tour was gay or lesbian, she said. This year, she senses it's about 50-50 gay and straight. 

At the outset of the HBO show, taped before a New York audience, DeGeneres notes that despite their differences, members of her audience all have one thing in common. ''We're all gay,'' she says. 

The crowd roars. She cracks a few jokes about non-gays looking around nervously.
 
''That's my obligatory gay reference,'' she continues. ''I have to say something gay, otherwise people might leave here tonight and say, 'She didn't do anything gay. She's not our leader. What happened to our leader?''' 

What everyone really has in common, she says, is they all like to laugh. She follows with nearly an hour of observational comedy, jokes about cell phones, behavior in elevators and annoying TV commercials. 

The ''g word'' is never mentioned again. 

DeGeneres said she's not making a calculated effort to distance herself from a gay and lesbian audience, and she's grateful for any fans that have stuck with her during the past few years, gay or straight. 

Scott Seomin, entertainment media director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, doesn't believe the gay audience will feel abandoned. DeGeneres built her career on comedy that had nothing to do with being gay, he said. 

That wasn't the case with the later years of her TV show. The final season was widely considered unpleasant, and DeGeneres fought with ABC over how much of the show dealt with sexual orientation. She protested when ABC slapped a parental advisory on a show where her character kissed another woman. 

''It was no longer a character who happened to be a lesbian,'' Seomin said. ''It was a lesbian character. And it suffered. It became a very different show.'' 

He said he understood the psychology involved. 

''When someone comes out of the closet, they really come out with a bang,'' he said. ''It is such a relief. Depending on the experience, if you're accepted, you want to talk about it more. The way she was embraced empowered her to do more.'' 

But the embrace didn't stretch far beyond the gay and lesbian community. Her secret fears ¡X that she wouldn't get work or that people wouldn't like her because she was gay ¡X came true, DeGeneres said. 

''It made me insane,'' she said. 

''I was sort of an example of why people shouldn't do it,'' she said. ''It took me three years to get back on my feet again. It was a long time before I had another chance. I had to do the last (HBO) special because it was all I could do. I wasn't being offered anything. I thought, 'God, I have to write another special and remind people of who I am and that my humor wouldn't change.''' 

For all the career calculation that has gone into her HBO special, something completely different may help her more in the long run. DeGeneres has drawn raves, and introduced herself to a new generation, with her voiceover work on the hit Disney-Pixar movie ''Finding Nemo.'' 

This fall, she will get another test before a mainstream audience when her syndicated talk show debuts. 

DeGeneres said she's always admired Johnny Carson, and will use him as a model for an entertainment-oriented talk show. 

''I think it will be the thing that will overshadow everything else I do in my career,'' she said. ''I want to do this for 15 years or so. I want this to be the last thing I do. I can only be myself and be real and make it entertaining and fun and something I would like to sit down and watch every day.'' 

If you yearn to see her perform stand-up live, you've probably missed your chance. Between the talk show commitment and her distaste for travel, those days are over, she said. 
''I grew up making my mom laugh because it changed her mood, because she was going through a divorce with my dad,'' she said. ''And it made me feel good that I could make her laugh. That's how it all started ¡X and that's what it should be about.'' 

On the Net: 
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*Please visit the associate press site for this article
'LESBIAN PULP-O-RAMA GETS SWEATY' Giving Life the Raspberries
New York Times
By D. J. R. BRUCKNER
Wednesday, June 25, 2003
Confident self-mockery seems to be the dominant tone in the dozens of theatrical events in the Fuse festival, a joint venture of Here and Dixon Place, which these two downtown theaters bill as a "celebration of queer culture." 

The attitude is epitomized by On the Verge Theater Company's "Lesbian Pulp-O-Rama Gets Sweaty," which opened last weekend at the Here Arts Center in the South Village and will be repeated on Friday and Saturday. Its title refers to Lesbian pulp novels of the 1960's, but the seven actors ¡X who create 23 memorable characters in 5 skits in an hour and a quarter ¡X demolish movies, music and a lot more of popular culture then and now.

The targets of the comedy are obvious picks: housewives discovering what they've been missing, a girls' summer camp, a Hollywood studio and its stars and moguls, and 60's movies about love among brainless youths on sunny beaches. Some of the characters are stock: the tough camp counselor, the horse-riding instructor, the innocent who longs to be a sinner if only she can find out how.

But there is nothing ordinary about the writing, acting and music. Three skits are the work of individual actors in the cast, and two are collaborations. The dialogue is spare, simple and 
direct, and there are few coarse jokes and no double entendres. The ability of all the cast members to change characters, and costumes, in a minute, is striking; one scene's superhero can become the next's wallflower right in front of your eyes.

And the music, which always moves the story along, is often funny, especially in the summer camp's choral anthem, the rousing production number that opens the scene ridiculing the old beach films and a soulful and amusing ballad that binds all the skits together, a song about a Hawaiian woman's journey to New York in search of love she can float on for life.

Altogether, "Pulp-O-Rama" is a fine celebration.
Ellen's New Film and Shows
Source: PlanetOut.com
Wednesday, June 11 ,2003
 
I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I've ever known," said Mick's creator, Walt Disney.

This week, I talked to a woman Walt would have adored -- one of the heroines of "Finding Nemo" -- the talented Ellen DeGeneres. She is not only the voice of the fish Dory, she seems to be the inspiration for this lovable, absent-minded undersea character, who teams up with Nemo's father to go searching for the little fish lost from his coral reef.

The real Ellen is a happy camper these days. When she agreed to do the voice for Pixar more than three years ago, she felt her career was in the doldrums. Now, "Finding Nemo" is a $144-million smash, and Ellen is the most distinctive character in the film. "Children were already besieging me because I am at Disney World explaining about the energy in a ride. Now, they want to talk to me about Nemo. It's just delightful!" The star worked on her Dory tapings and characterization under the guidance of writer-director Andrew Stanton. She was videotaped, and her facial expressions and attitudes were put into the animation. So it was more than just a "voice-over."

I asked if she is making a bundle from being Dory? "No," Ellen said, laughing. "I did it for scale, for the joy of it and for the joy of watching Disney make more money. You don't get bonuses or anything. But Pixar is a cool company, and now 'Dory' is part of my 'illustrious' career. I'm also the voice of Dory as a toy. And so, I'm in a movie that will be here forever."

Ellen is bringing out a second book, "Funny Thing Is," in October, and her talk show begins Sept. 8. It will be seen on WNBC/4 in New York at 10 a.m. and in L.A. at 3 p.m. five days a week. You can also catch her HBO special June 28.

I asked about a sequel to Dory and Nemo. Ellen said she didn't know, "but I couldn't have planned this better. Either I'm really good as Dory, or I was meant to be a fish. I hope its not typecasting, and I'm now offered every fish role that comes along." I said that maybe the sequel would involve Dory's love life. Ellen said, "Well, she wouldn't remember, anyway. That's why she's so happy. She doesn't hang on to anything. I wish I could be more like Dory and just live in the moment. Actually, I learned a lot in the 3 1/2 years I did this -- about the joy of absent-mindedness. In real life, I am more like the Albert Brooks character; Nemo's dad, fearful of everything. So Dory was a good role model for me!

 
LLOYD GROVE in Washington says that the coming Barbara Bush memoir is so hot that her publisher's libel lawyers are asking her to tone it down. "Reflections," coming Oct. 14, has been written by Barbara herself, and though the former first lady agreed to some changes, she is mostly sticking to her guns.
 
Said to be the targets of the proud wife and mother of two presidents named Bush are these VIPs who offended her: Garry Trudeau, Maureen Dowd, David Gergen, Ann Richards, Ross Perot, Patrick Buchanan, Steve Forbes and John McCain.
 
THE MAGAZINE WORLD is grieving for editor Art Cooper, who died Monday. He had just retired after a long, successful stint at GQ magazine. I saw him looking trim and slim in the Four Seasons grill Thursday shortly before he suffered from the collapse that overtook him. He will be severely missed.
 
DOWN IN TEXAS, near the little town of Bastrop on the Lost Pines Nature Ranch, Disney is re-creating the Battle of San Jacinto for its $90-million production of "The Alamo." They hope to show the site of what is now the big city of Houston as it was in 1836. According to Austin reporter Pamela Le Blanc, John Lee Hancock directs his military extras by yelling, "Nobody chewing any gum. Don't let a bag of Doritos pop out of your pocket. I want to see revenge. I want to see it in your faces!" Dennis Quaid is playing the hero, Sam Houston, on a big, white horse resembling Houston's actual mount, Saracen. In the movie, Billy Bob Thornton plays Davy Crockett and Jason Patric is Jim Bowie, but their characters have already died at the Alamo before the Battle of San Jacinto can free Texas. This one is a biggie, with two historians sitting behind the director to keep him on track!
LYNN FORESTER (the baroness Rothschild) and former ambassador to France, Felix Rohatyn, poured for Democratic candidate Dick Gephardt at Lynn's River House apartment Monday night. The incredible lineup of important people writing checks would surprise and shock the Republicans (although the GOP is light-years ahead of the Dems in money-raising for 2004). If you like Gephardt and have $1,000, you can get in on an evening with Barry Manilow June 23 at the Grand Hyatt. Call (202) 448-9347. TOMORROW, Phyllis George receives the 2003 Norman Vincent Peale Award for Positive Thinking at the Plaza Hotel. Walter Anderson presents Phyllis with her honor. Kathie Lee Gifford hosts. And nobody has a more positive outlook than the divine Miss George.
 
(C) 2003 NEWSDAY INC. DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
Bright Colors, Dark Reality Define the Year
Source: New York Times
By ROBIN POGREBIN
Monday, June 9, 2003
 
It was apparently the right show at the right time.
 
In a theater season darkened by war, terrorist alerts and seemingly relentless rain, "Hairspray" proved to be the perfect multicolored, upbeat antidote, winning eight prizes, including best musical, last night at the 57th annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall.
 
Audiences also seemed to welcome the harsher dose of reality offered by "Movin' Out," Twyla Tharp's dance show set to Billy Joel's music that chronicles working- class friends finding their way in the wake of Vietnam.
 
Ms. Tharp won the Tony for choreography. And as if to make sure to thank Mr. Joel himself ¡X and to encourage other pop artists to come to Broadway ¡X the Tony voters gave him the award for orchestrations, which he shared with Stuart Malina. In accepting it, Mr. Joel said, "Just watching all those terrific people perform my songs has been very moving and very gratifying."
 
Playing a grand piano in Times Square, Mr. Joel opened the Tony broadcast with a live performance of his song "New York State of Mind."
 
Eugene O'Neill's classic "Long Day's Journey Into Night" was crowned best revival and won the top two acting awards.
 
"Nine," written by Mario Fratti, Arthur Kopit and Maury Yeston, won the Tony for best musical revival.
 
Richard Greenberg's "Take Me Out," a play about a gay baseball player that originated at the Joseph Papp Public Theater, won the Tony for best play and best direction (Joe Mantello).
 
If the Tony Awards are Broadway's way of sending a message, last night the commercial theater honored the 1960's, albeit very different versions of the decade: the beehive hairdos of "Hairspray," the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll of " Movin' Out," the short-skirted chic of "Nine."
 
Broadway also rewarded the unconventional, given that "Movin' Out" has only one singer and no speaking; "La Boheme" ¡X which won the Tonys for best scenic design ( Catherine Martin) and lighting (Nigel Levings) ¡X is a Puccini opera; and "A Year With Frog and Toad," which received several nominations, is based on Arnold Lobel's children's books and aimed at young audiences.
And Broadway seemed to be trying to reach out to nontraditional theatergoers in awarding "Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam on Broadway" last night's Tony Award for special theatrical event. The production, in which nine poets perform their own work, attracted a population of nonwhite, young theatergoers before closing last month. In accepting the award, with the cast behind him, Mr. Simmons said, "Thank all of you for being so open-minded." Plenty of traditional theater was also honored last night. "Hairspray," after all, is a book musical, albeit one based on the subversive 1988 film by John Waters.
 
Broadway seemed to be welcoming newcomers as well, giving Marissa Jaret Winokur the award for best actress in a musical for her performance as a heavyset teen activist in "Hairspray." It was a significant win, given that Ms. Winokur beat out the reigning queen of Broadway, Bernadette Peters, who had been nominated for "Gypsy" and last night had audience members on their feet after her performance of "Rose's Turn."
In her acceptance speech, Ms. Winokur talked about fairy tales. "If a 4-foot-11, chubby New York girl can be a leading lady in a Broadway show and win a Tony," she said, "then anything can happen."
 
In another disappointment for "Gypsy," the show lost out on the award for best revival to "Nine." Jane Krakowski won the Tony for featured actress in a musical for her performance as Antonio Banderas's sexy mistress in that musical, beating out two of her co-stars, Chita Rivera and Mary Stuart Masterson.
Similarly, Denis O'Hare of "Take Me Out" won last night's featured actor award over the man he plays opposite, Daniel Sunjata. "Half the award is his, because acting is a team sport," Mr. O'Hare said.
 
Another pair of co-stars had been pitted against each other in that category: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robert Sean Leonard of "Long Day's Journey."
Vanessa Redgrave won the Tony, her first, for best actress in a play for her performance as the unraveling Mary Tyrone in "Long Day's Journey." For his performance as Ms. Redgrave's husband, Brian Dennehy was named best actor in a play.
"The words of Eugene O'Neill ¡X they've got to be heard," Mr. Dennehy said last night. "They've got be heard and heard and heard. And thank you so much for giving us the chance to enunciate them."
 
When all was said and done, last night belonged to "Hairspray." Jack O'Brien won the Tony Award for best director. "Finally," Mr. O'Brien said in accepting. "The quest for this silver goes back 26 years, before many of you were born."
Harvey Fierstein won the award for best actor in a musical ¡X even though he plays a woman ¡X beating out Mr. Banderas, who was considered the other leading contender.
"I adore each and every one of you, I want to have your children, and I promise to raise them well," Mr. Fierstein said.
 
Dick Latessa, the theater veteran who refuses to give his age, won the Tony for featured actor in a musical for his performance as Mr. Fierstein's adoring husband in "Hairspray." Last night Mr. Latessa called the show "the joy ride of my life."
In saying thank you for the award for the "Hairspray" score, Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman thanked each other. In addition to being collaborators, the two have been companions for 25 years. "I love you, and I'd like to live with you the rest of my life," Mr. Shaiman said to Mr. Wittman. Then they kissed on national television.
In what many considered a surprising victory, Michele Pawk won for featured actress in a play for her performance in "Hollywood Arms," which closed in January. "To have been remembered," Ms. Pawk said. "I am so honored."
 
Several of the shows nominated in various categories had already closed, including "Urban Cowboy," "Amour," "Dinner at Eight," "Flower Drum Song" and "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune."
 
"Frog and Toad" has announced plans to close after next Sunday's performance.
The spirit at the awards last night was often playful. In accepting the prize for best book of a musical, Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan started speaking at the same time to make a joke about collaboration.
 
In one comic bit, the British comedy team of Sean Foley and Hamish McColl from the comedy revue "The Play What I Wrote" spent a great deal of time trying to find the stage, only to finally arrive and be told by Mr. Jackson that it was time to go to a commercial.
 
Despite a weak New York economy and a continuing drop in tourism in the wake of the terrorist attacks, Broadway attracted a record $720.9 million in the 2002-3 season.
The Tonys ¡X formally, the Antoinette Perry Awards ¡X were presented by the League of American Theaters and Producers, the industry's trade association, and the American Theater Wing, which founded the Tonys in 1947 and runs educational programs.
The ceremony was the first to be broadcast in full on CBS; in past years, PBS has presented the first hour, which featured technical awards.
 
This year, the awards in categories like costumes and set design were presented in advance of the broadcast to allow for more production numbers and give the winners more time to speak.
 
Each year there is an effort to lure more high-profile stars to the show to improve the Tonys' typically weak television ratings. Last night's presentation had as host Hugh Jackman, currently in "X-Men 2" and due to make his Broadway debut in the fall in "The Boy From Oz." With his hair long and his face unshaven, Mr. Jackman made fun of himself in a song to the tune of "Soliloquy" from "Carousel."
 
The show had some built-in star power because of the celebrities appearing this season on Broadway, including Mr. Banderas in "Nine."
 
The song from "Nine" performed last night was introduced by the actress Melanie Griffith, Mr. Banderas's wife, who in July is to step into the show "Chicago."
The broadcast began with New Yorkers commenting on the Tony Awards, concluding with Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "Being mayor is great," he said. "But I'd rather be Antonio Banderas."
 
In a separate, forthcoming ceremony, Tony honors for excellence in the theater are to be given to the 10 principals who rotate performances in "La Boheme"; to Paul Huntley, the hair and wig designer; to Johnson-Liff Casting Associates, a leading Broadway casting office, whose principal, Vincent G. Liff, died in February; and to the Acting Company, the touring theater company.
 
Among the awards given out before the broadcast was a special Tony for lifetime achievement to Cy Feuer, the producer of shows like "Guys and Dolls" "Where's Charlie?," "Little Me" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." In accepting the award, Mr. Feuer said, "I want to thank you for this longevity award, which you will all be eligible to receive if you stick around for a while."
Tony voters comprise 724 theater professionals and journalists.
Forsaking Health to Join the H.I.V. Club
Source: New York Times
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Friday, June 6, 2003
 
Far and away the most important selection in NewFest 2003: The New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, celebrating its 15th anniversary, is Louise Hogarth's alarming documentary, "The Gift." This film, to be screened at the New York University Cantor Film Center tomorrow evening, examines the increasing ineffectiveness of safer-sex education in urban gay culture and the resulting rise in H.I.V.-infection rates among younger men.
 
The title refers to a small, Internet-fed subculture that romanticizes H.I.V. infection in ritualized initiations known as conversion parties, at which the virus, known as "the gift," is passed to so-called bug-chasers.
 
A subject that could easily have been sensationalized is treated evenhandedly in a film that suggests that in an effort not to offend those who are H.I.V.-positive, AIDS educators have sent out messages that are too vague and timid to register. The misleading ads for drugs that have kept AIDS patients alive show robust, sexy musclemen who seem carefree and asymptomatic.
 
Several men who give and attend large, organized sex parties testify that revealing your H.I.V. status has become an unspoken taboo at such affairs, and that the use of condoms is now optional and in some cases even discouraged.
 
Two young men who deliberately became infected are also interviewed. One is tearfully regretful about his decision, the other relieved because he figures that he has a few more years of good health and freedom from worry before he becomes ill. For the first man, an insecure outsider longing for acceptance, the allure of infection was a feeling of belonging to a club. For the second it was the more nihilistic decision to live for the moment.
 
Reflecting on the shift in attitude is a support group of older AIDS patients, all suffering life-threatening cardiovascular side effects from the medications that are keeping them alive. The tone of their conversation mixes sadness with anger at the degree to which many urban gay men have blinded themselves to an unpleasant truth. The young men seeking "the gift' simply don't know what awaits them.
 
Linda Goode Bryant's documentary "Flag Wars," showing tonight at the Cantor Film Center, takes a hardheaded look at urban gentrification and what happens when a working-class (largely African-American) neighborhood in Columbus, Ohio, becomes a mecca for middle-class lesbian and gay homeowners. As the city declares the neighborhood a historic district, stringent new restrictions force many residents to abandon the neighborhood in which they grew up.
 
This year's festival is more internationalist than ever. Last night's festival-opening film, "Mambo Italiano," has been described as a gay Italian-American "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." The closing-night film (on June 15), "Merci Dr. Rey," is a French farce starring Dianne Wiest as an American opera diva who returns to Paris, where her gay son lives.
 
The protagonist of the Sri Lankan comedy "Flying With One Wing" is a mechanic (married to a woman) who has successfully passed as a man until a doctor, treating an injury, discovers her secret.
 
"Gasoline" suggests an Italian lesbian "Thelma and Louise." "Yossi and Jagger" is the love story of two Israeli soldiers. "Kiki and Tiger," set in Germany on the eve of the war in Kosovo, explores the interplay of sex and politics in the friendship of a gay Serb who falls in love with a straight illegal immigrant from Albania.
 
Whether the setting is Sri Lanka or Israel or Germany, the gay and lesbian characters face variations of the same social pressures, stereotyping and potential violence that they do in the United States.
 
NewFest 2003: The New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival runs through June 15 at two Greenwich Village locations: the New York University Cantor Film Center, 36 East Eighth Street, and the New School University's Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street. Information: (917) 721-5480 or (212) 571-2170; www.newfestival.org. Tickets: $10; $9 for members; $6 for students and 60+; closing night, $30.
Women in Love, Passengers in Danger
Source: New York Times
By Alessandra Stanley
Saturday, May 23, 2003
A lesbian romance set in late Victorian England, "Tipping the Velvet" begins so gently that viewers might dismiss it as another "Well of Loneliness," a dated 1928 novel by Radclyffe Hall about lesbian love and despair. But there is nothing mournful about this BBC America mini-series, which begins tonight and ends Sunday.
 
Moving from an oyster parlor in Kent to the bawdy music halls and slums of 1890's London, "Tipping the Velvet" turns out to be a picaresque romp.
 
When the heroine tumbles into the demimonde of rich, bohemian lesbians and their Sapphic bacchanals, "Tipping the Velvet" comes close to a girl's version of Frank Harris's "My Life and Loves" ?sex, with recriminations.
 
"My House in Umbria," the title of an HBO film starring Maggie Smith on Sunday night, is in its own very different way just as misleading. It is not an adaptation of a Henry James novel or a tale of villa restoration. ("A Room With a View" meets "Under the Tuscan Sun.") It is a leisurely paced psychological thriller based on a novel by William Trevor.
 
Viewers have a right to be wary. Maggie Smith has played the role of dotty, autocratic Englishwoman so well and so often that she almost deserves her own rubric: Ur-Dowager, or Lady Bracknellia. Here she takes on a role she has not played as often: her Emily Delahunty is a ridiculous and deluded woman who, under a very thin veneer of British hauteur, is also kind and loving.
 
The house in Umbria isn't even really her house; it is a small hotel she owns and runs. And the golden light of Umbria is quickly blackened by the explosion of a terrorist's bomb.
 
Both films are glossy, lavish productions with impressive pedigrees. Andrew Davies, who adapted "Pride and Prejudice" for the memorable BBC version of that Jane Austen novel, wrote the screenplay for "Tipping the Velvet," based on a 1999 novel by Sarah Waters. Rachael Stirling, who plays Nan Astley, an oyster girl in Kent who discovers her true feelings when she sees a woman cross-dressed as a boy onstage, is the daughter of Diana Rigg.
 
Because of its subject matter, "Tipping the Velvet" seems to be the more daring project of the two. Actually, on television today it is far braver to cast an actress over 50 in a slow-moving story set in rural Italy, as is "Umbria."
 
Besides Ms. Smith, "My House in Umbria" stars Chris Cooper, who won an Oscar for "Adaptation," and Giancarlo Giannini ("Seven Beauties"). It was directed by Richard Loncraine, who directed "The Gathering Storm," the HBO biography of Winston Churchill.
 
There is no sex in "Umbria," and the one silent, frozen moment of violence gives way quickly to an intricate character study of four ill-matched survivors of an explosion in a train bound for Milan. The bomb only lightly wounds Mrs. Delahunty, but it revives suppressed memories of her pitiable past.
 
She invites the others - an elderly Englishman, a German photojournalist and a young American girl whose parents are killed in the explosion - to recuperate at her house. Their dawning friendship is threatened when the girl's uncle, Thomas Riversmith (Mr. Cooper), arrives to take her back to the United States. Mysteries are solved, secrets are laid bare, but the appeal of "My House in Umbria" is elusive: mostly, it is to be found in Ms. Smith's layered and riveting performance.
 
"Tipping the Velvet," on the other hand, is a sure thing: a well-made, well-acted melodrama about beautiful young women making passionate love. (Warnings appear on the screen before each sex scene, but actually there is little nudity, and the most graphic love scenes are brief.)
 
"Tipping the Velvet" takes its title from a Victorian term for a sexual act common among lesbians, and it provides a sympathetic, lighthearted portrait of lesbian love that should please gay organizations worried about negative stereotypes. Yet it is unlikely to offend anyone but the most prudish conservatives.
 
The sight of women kissing and fondling each other has lost its taboo. On college campuses, in big cities and even on network television, it is viewed as titillating, not shocking. Female characters on "Friends" kiss other women; their male friends talk longingly about watching them do so. In some circles, women seducing each other has become a post-feminist act ?a way of excluding men while still attracting them.
The camera work of "Velvet" is lush and erotic, but the story is bawdy and not meant to be taken too seriously. Anna Chancellor ("Four Weddings and a Funeral"), who plays Diana Lethaby, a rich lesbian dominatrix, is almost cartoonishly camp. Ms. Stirling, however, is quite touching as the besotted heroine, and she and her first love, Kitty Butler (played by Keeley Hawes), have chemistry on-screen.
 
What most distinguishes this film is that it is entirely a love story, with very little "redeeming social value" to weigh it down. The focus is on love lost, not the hypocrisy or moral rigidity of the times that forced men and women to live secret lives. (The film embraces the historian Peter Gay's theory that Victorian repression and prudery are myths.)
 
In "Tipping the Velvet," the heroines face very little hostility from the outside world. Nan loves a woman, loses her and seeks love again. The hurdles she overcomes are a broken heart and poverty ?tribulations that could just as easily thwart a heterosexual romance.

TIPPING THE VELVET

BBC America, tonight at 10, Eastern time; 7, Pacific time; 9, Central time.
Directed by Geoffrey Sax; Georgina Lowe, producer; Gareth Neame and Sally Woodward Gentle, executive producers for BBC; Sally Head, executive producer for Sally Head Productions; adapted by Andrew Davies from the novel by Sarah Waters.
WITH: Rachael Stirling (Nan Astley), Keeley Hawes (Kitty Butler), Anna Chancellor (Diana Lethaby), Jodhi May (Florence Banner), John Bowe (Walter Bliss), Hugh Bonneville (Ralph Banner), Monica Dolan (Alice Astley), Richard Hope (Mr. Astley), Annie Hulley (Mrs. Astley), Sally Hawkins (Blake), Johnny Vegas (Gully Sutherland) and Alexei Sayle (Charles Frobisher).
MY HOUSE IN UMBRIA
HBO, Sunday night at 9, Eastern and Pacific times; 8, Central time.
Directed by Richard Loncraine; Frank Doelger and Robert Allan Ackerman, executive producers; Ann Wingate, producer; Hugh Whitemore, writer. Based on the novel by William Trevor.
WITH: Maggie Smith (Emily Delahunty), Ronnie Barker (The General), Chris Cooper (Thomas Riversmith), Benno Furmann (Werner), Giancarlo Giannini (Inspector Girotti), Timothy Spall (Quinty) and Emmy Clarke (Aimee).
Gaywatch: "Tipping the Velvet" brings a lesbian novel to life
Source: PlanetOut.com
by Christine Champagne
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
The British miniseries "Tipping the Velvet" -- airing on BBC America over three consecutive nights beginning Friday, May 23 at 10 p.m. EDT -- is a tame, yet entertaining, adaptation of lesbian author Sarah Waters' acclaimed novel. Episode one of the beautifully filmed story, set in Victorian England, is the strongest of the three installments. We meet Nan Astley (Rachael Stirling, who happens to be the daughter of Dame Diana Rigg), a simple girl who works in her family's oyster parlor in Whitstable. It is expected that Nan will ultimately wed her boyfriend; instead, she loses all interest in the boy after becoming fascinated with the captivating Kitty Butler (Keeley Hawes), a "masher" (male impersonator) making waves at the local music hall. Nan takes a job as Kitty's dresser and tags along with her to London -- where she, too, becomes a masher, joining Kitty's act. The charismatic pair is a smash hit onstage; offstage, they embark on a secret love affair.
 
You can feel Nan's passion for Kitty, but her fire doesn't make for much heat in the bedroom. Screenwriter Andrew Davies once told the British press that the television version of "Tipping the Velvet" would be "absolutely filthy," but it really isn't -- too bad. Stirling and Hawes' love scenes should be deliriously tawdry; instead, they are disappointingly timid.
 
Back to the plot: Nan and Kitty are happy together -- until Nan catches Kitty in bed with her manager Walter Bliss (John Bowe) and learns they are to be married.
In the second episode, a heartbroken Nan flees the life she shared with Kitty and takes up residence in a rundown rooming house. After spending two months unable to get out of bed, she starts walking the streets dressed as a man -- earning a living as a male prostitute. Stirling isn't very convincing during this sequence. We are to believe that Nan could truly pass for a fresh-faced young man, so much so that she fools everyone around her. But with her soft features, Stirling doesn't pass muster: She simply looks like a pretty girl dressed in men's clothes, and it detracts from this portion of the film.
 
As episode two continues, Nan becomes the live-in lover of Diana Lethaby (the wonderfully wicked Anna Chancellor), a wealthy lesbian widow who teaches our naïve young heroine how to wield a dildo. The filmmakers, or perhaps BBC America's censors, don't allow us to see Diana's prized dildo, which she keeps in a special box. This is funny, given the fact that they're practically set decoration on "Queer as Folk." Again, so much for Davies' promise.
 
Things take a potentially kinky turn when Diana throws a costume party for her circle of privileged lesbians, including bitchy dyke Dickie (Sara Stockbridge). Diana parades Nan around as if she were a possession, then attempts to humiliate chambermaid Zena Blake (Sally Hawkins) by demanding that the girl reveal her privates. But Nan comes to Zena's rescue, and later winds up in bed with her. After Diana catches the two in a compromising position, she tosses them out of her house.
As episode three begins, poor Nan has been abandoned by Zena and is again on her own. Left with nothing, she seeks help from Florence (the exquisitely sweet Jodhi May), an old acquaintance who may ultimately be able to provide Nan with more than food and shelter. Episode three veers farthest from the action depicted in Waters' book -- a clear attempt to create a tidy ending. The deviation seems unnecessary, though those who haven't read the novel will probably neither notice nor mind.
 
In fact, those who haven't read "Tipping the Velvet" may very well be more enthralled with the film than those who fell in love with Nan of the novel. And while the film doesn't live up to Waters' provocative book, it is quite thrilling to see this lesbian-themed story depicted on television.
Lily Tomlin wins Mark Twain Humor Prize
Source: Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network
Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Lily Tomlin has been named this year's winner of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in recognition for her 40-year career of making people laugh.
 
The award, announced on Tuesday by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., recognizes performers whose body of work both entertains and challenges. Past recipients include Richard Pryor, Carl Reiner, Bob Newhart and Whoopi Goldberg.
 
"Her comedy is meaningful because, like Twain's, it expresses truths we already recognize unconsciously, and she allows us to embrace our frailties without shame or embarrassment," said the Kennedy Center in a news release announcing Tomlin's selection.
 
Tomlin, whose memorable performances span film, television and theater, has guarded her privacy for years and eschewed labels that might categorize her. She did, however, discuss her sexual orientation in an interview two years ago.
 
"I related as a woman and a feminist long before I related as a gay person," she told Ann Northrop on the New York cable show, "Gay USA."
 
Tomlin gained national recognition as a cast member of TV series "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In," which ran from 1968 to 1973. Her most famous creation was the character of Ernestine, a sassy telephone operator who delivered social commentary in the midst of one-liners.
 
She appeared in the 1975 film "Nashville," for which she received a supporting actress Oscar nomination, and the 1980 comedy "9 to 5." Her work in the Broadway shows "Appearing Nitely" (1977) and "The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe" (1985), both written by her longtime partner Jane Wagner, earned her two Tony Awards.
 
Her awards also include six Emmys and a Grammy.
 
"I am truly honored to be recognized in the name of Mark Twain, an American humorist who was beloved throughout his lifetime and beyond, even as he imparted a strong and vital social consciousness that still resonates today," Tomlin said in a statement from Los Angeles.
 
Tomlin will receive the award during a star-studded celebration on Oct. 26 that will be televised on PBS.
Eric McCormack, Todd Haynes, Christina Agulera, The Hours, Six Feet Under, honored at 14th Annual Glaad Media Awards presented by Absolut Vodka in Los Angeles
[National] ArtsEnt
Contact:
LOS ANGELES
Kelly Striewski - BWR
(310) 550-7776 / kstriewski@bwr-la.com
SAN FRANCISCO:
Nick Adams - GLAAD
(323) 933-2240, ext. 343 / adams@glaad.org
Monday, April 28, 2003 - 05:34pm
[NOTE: Free-use print-quality photos from the 14th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles will be available to LGBT press after 8PM Pacific/11PM Eastern April 27 at http://www.glaad.org.]
LOS ANGELES, SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2003 - The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) honored Eric McCormack, Todd Haynes, Christina Aguilera and the best in journalism, film, television and theater last night at the 14th Annual GLAAD Media Awards Presented by ABSOLUT VODKA in Los Angeles.
 
At the ceremonies held at the Kodak Theatre, Sean Hayes presented "Will & Grace" co-star Eric McCormack with GLAAD's Vanguard Award, honoring a member of the entertainment community who has made a significant difference in promoting equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
 
"It was GLAAD that during the shooting of the ['Will & Grace'] pilot sent a telegram saying, 'We're behind you all the way,'" McCormack said. "It was this atmosphere of support over skepticism, of enthusiasm over elitism, that not only encouraged me to do my best work as an actor but inspired me to give back to this community any way that I could."
 
Also at the ceremony, Dennis Haysbert ("Far From Heaven," "24") presented Todd Haynes ("Far From Heaven," "Velvet Goldmine," "Poison") with GLAAD's Stephen F. Kolzak Award, which honors an openly gay or lesbian member of the entertainment or media community for their outstanding contribution in combating homophobia.
 
"This is an amazing honor to me. I've always sort of considered myself someone working very much in the margins, very much outside of the mainstream, free to experiment with narrative, with depictions of homosexuality and struggle and a lot of other themes as well. Not always committed to positive representations necessarily, but trying to really get down deep into the things that unify all of us," Haynes said in accepting the award. "In honor of this award, in honor of GLAAD, I want to thank all of you. I feel very proud to be part of the representation of the gay struggle in film, and it'll be something I'll continue to do."
 
Following an a capella performance of her song "Beautiful," Christina Aguilera was honored with a Special Recognition award (presented by David LaChapelle) for including gay and transgender images in her music video for "Beautiful."
 
"It's so important that in my music I convey positive messages, and this song is definitely a universal message that everybody can relate to - anyone that's been discriminated against or unaccepted, unappreciated or disrespected just because of who you are," Aguilera said in her acceptance speech. "It was so important to me that I support the gay community in this sense. It's so sad that still in 2003 we even have to give awards like this. And that's why I'm here to show my love and support to all of you."
 
Other guests and presenters included:
 
Gloria Allred; Alan Ball; Jennifer Beals; Billy Bean; Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon, Bill Brochtrup and Henry Simmons ("NYPD Blue"); Jacqueline Bisset; Jennifer Coolidge ("A Mighty Wind"); Kathy Griffin; Shawn Hatosy ("Borstal Boy," Showtime's upcoming "Soldier's Girl"); Mariel Hemingway; Jill Hennessey ("Crossing Jordan"); Heather Juergensen ("Kissing Jessica Stein"); Dave Kopay; Jane Leeves; Judith Light; Scott Lowell; Camryn Manheim; Constance Marie ("George Lopez"); Peter Paige; Doris Roberts; Judy Shepard; Hal Sparks; Mathew ST. Patrick; Jennifer Tilly, Esera Tuaolo and more.
"Tonight is about real people who do important things -- real people who have been touched by GLAAD and the media, and in return have touched all of us," said GLAAD Executive Director Joan M. Garry. "We're here to celebrate Eric, Todd, Christina and all tonight's nominees and winners -- to thank them for their responsibility, their commitment and their actions. Their work is making this world a better place for all of us."
 
GLAAD Media Awards were also handed out in seven of this year's 23 media categories (a complete list of last night's Media Awards recipients follows below). Additional awards were presented in New York on April 7. The remaining awards will be given out in San Francisco on May 31.
 
Following is a complete list of GLAAD Media Awards recipients announced Saturday in Los Angeles:
 
* Vanguard Award: Eric McCormack (presented by Sean Hayes) * Stephen F. Kolzak Award: Todd Haynes (presented by Dennis Haysbert) * Special Recognition: Christina Aguilera (presented by David LaChapelle)
* Outstanding Film - Wide Release: The Hours (Paramount Pictures) * Outstanding Comedy Series: Will & Grace (NBC) * Outstanding Drama Series: Six Feet Under (HBO) * Outstanding Individual Episode (in a series without a gay character): "Pararse" Resurrection Blvd. (Showtime) * Outstanding Television Movie: The Laramie Project (HBO) * Outstanding Newspaper Article: "Dos Madres para un Hogar (Two Mothers in One Household)" by Patricia A. González-Portillo, (La Opinión [Los Angeles]) * Outstanding Los Angeles Theater: Dementia (Latino Theater Company)
To purchase tickets for upcoming GLAAD Media Awards ceremonies, please contact Levy, Pazanti & Associates at (888) 655-6529 or (310) 201-5033. General event information and online ticketing can also be found online at www.glaad.org/mediaawards.
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) is dedicated to promoting and ensuring fair, accurate, and inclusive representation of people and events in the media as a means of eliminating homophobia and discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Melissa Etheridge Engaged
Source: Eonline.com
By Lia Haberman
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Melissa Etheridge is engaged, and David Crosby had nothing to do with it.
The Grammy-winning singer announced her engagement to gal-pal Tammy Lynn Michaels via her rep on Tuesday.
 
The couple, who reportedly started dating two years ago, are planning a holiday 2003 wedding. It'll be a first trip down the aisle for both.
 
After the ceremony, they plan to continue living in Los Angeles, according to Etheridge's spokesman.
 
Etheridge, 41, spent 12 years with former partner Julie Cypher. The two met while Cypher was married to actor Lou Diamond Phillips and was working as assistant director on a music video Etheridge was shooting.
 
They went on to have two children together, Bailey and Becket, each born by Cypher with Crosby contributing his sperm for the cause. The lesbian duo split in 2000.
Michaels, 28, is best known for playing high-maintenance princess Nicole Julian on the defunct WB series Popular. She's reportedly signed to star in the Jennifer Love Hewitt vehicle Why Can't I Be Audrey Hepburn?, slated for a 2004 release.
 
Etheridge's life has been an open book since the singer-songwriter came out in 1993. Crosby's paternity status was splashed across the cover of Rolling Stone magazine; Etheridge then exorcised the demons of her breakup with Cypher in her 2001 album Skin and later that year disclosed that she'd been sexually abused by her older sister in her book The Truth Is: My Life in Love and Music. Finally, she introduced fans to Michaels last year through her concert video Liveand Powerful.
Daytime TV to Get First Lesbian Kiss
Source: Reuters
Monday, April 14, 2003
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Daytime television viewers -- considered to be among America's most conservative audiences -- will see their first on-screen lesbian kiss next week, ABC television said on Monday.
 
The kiss will take place during the April 22 episode of the Emmy-award winning soap opera "All My Children," making what ABC said would be a first in the world of daytime television.
 
It comes in a scene featuring gay teen character Bianca Montgomery (Eden Riegel (news)), who came out as a lesbian in 2000, and her new friend Lena (Olga Sosnovska) who "in a moment of truth and true love ... comes to terms with her feelings."
"All My Children" has tackled a number of controversial topics during its 33 years on the air including AIDS (news - web sites), abortion, drug abuse, racial bias and teenage alcoholism.
 
"The theme of 'All My Children' from the beginning is the belief that, as God's children, we are all bound to each other by our common humanity despite our many personal differences; that it is our failure to understand and respect those differences that causes most of life's pain and suffering," said the show's creator, Agnes Nixon, in a statement..
 
"The Bianca story is our latest effort to dramatize that belief," she added.
The Leslie Cheung legend lives on
Source: Taipei Times
By Yu Sen-lun (STAFF REPORTER)
Thursday, April 10, 2003
For 20 years he was one of the Chinese-speaking world's most popular artists, and although he decided to end it all on April 1, he'll never be forgotten.
 
Leslie Cheung's dramatic death marked an end to his colorful life. It also served to cement the legend he built up in the course of his career -- for the high standards he set himself and the bravery he showed in being the first openly gay actor in contemporary Chinese cinema.
 
On screen and stage, Cheung charmed audiences with his androgynous good looks and his wild antics. His concerts were always dramatic -- and so was the manner of his death.
During the rush hour on April 1, Cheung plummeted 24 floors from the gym of the five-star Oriental Mandarin onto the busy streets of Hong Kong's Central district, bringing traffic to a halt.
 
The news of his bloody death shocked Asia, for the 46-year-old star, who had reached the peak of his fame back in the 1980s, still had a solid fan base. Anyone growing up in Hong Kong, Taiwan or China during the 1980s will remember the glamor of his concerts; he remains an idol to many Asian women at their late 20s and 30s, who remember him from the days of A Better Tomorrow (英雄本色, 1986) and A Chinese Ghost Story (倩女幽魂, 1987).
Chinese-language media gave prominent coverage to Cheung's death, three full pages in some instances. Tabloids are already speculating on the reasons behind the tragedy, probing the nuances of the mysterious suicide note and the ups and downs of a long-term gay relationship that turned sour. Such heavy coverage of a celebrity's death is on a par with the media frenzy that surrounded the deaths of singer Teresa Teng (鄧麗君) and action star Bruce Lee (李小龍).
Thousands of fans from around Asia ignored the danger of SARS, traveling to Hong Kong for a final farewell. Tong Hok-tak (唐鶴德), Cheung's long-time partner, performed the role of Cheung's bereaved spouse at the ceremony.
The youngest of ten children of a well-known tailor, Cheung once described his childhood as an unhappy one. He was deeply affected by his parents' divorce and experienced racial discrimination as a student in Leeds, England.
From his childhood, he devoted himself to singing and dreaming. After returning to Hong Kong from the UK, Cheung worked as a sales person in a jeans store and then as a member of staff at a law firm. His break came when he won second prize at a pop contest in 1977, (where he sang American Pie). He jumped into the world of showbiz with his first album, titled Like Dreamin'.
 
The Hong Kong pop music scene of the 1980s emphasized expressive sentiment and romantic tunes, and there was a massive demand for baby-faced stars who were packaged as idols by the music industry. It was in this context that Cheung became popular.
With the 1984 hit Monica, Cheung was launched as a star. In 10 years, he published 18 records, and in 1989, set a record with 33 consecutive concerts.
 
At this time, Cheung's acting career also took off. John Woo's (吳宇森) gangland action drama A Better Tomorrow brought fame to both Chow Yun-fat (周潤發) and Cheung. The success was followed by Tsui Hark's (徐克). The Chinese Ghost Story, in which Cheung successfully managed the transition from impulsive young policeman to romantic lover. In 1988, in Stanley Kwan's (關錦鵬) elegant ghost story, Rouge (胭脂扣), Cheung was clearly a rising star.
In the film, Cheung plays an opera-loving, opium-smoking dandy who falls for a beautiful courtesan. They decide to kill themselves when marriage plans are blocked by family pressure. Cheung's character gets cold feet and he survives. Thirty years later, the ghost of his lover comes in search of him.
 
In real life, Cheung was never a person to get cold feet. He was regarded as a perfectionist by many directors who worked with him, including Tsui Hark and Wang Kar-wai (王家衛). And his standards rose as he became more successful. Wang's 1990 film, Days of Being Wild (阿飛正傳), marks the first recognition of Cheung as a major actor.
In it he plays a self-indulgent prodigal in the 1960s, a slicker who beats up people and enjoys wooing women. A scene in which Cheung narcissisticly dances a solo cha-cha in front of a mirror is reminiscent of John Travolta's self-involved dancing in Saturday Night Fever.
 
Days of Being Wild won Cheung Best Actor in the Hong Kong Academy Awards. It was Cheung's only acting award, despite his numerous nominations at both the Hong Kong Academy and Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards.
 
Cheung's roles are a strange mix of defiance, passion, pride and sophistication -- not unlike his private life. His rebellious, sexy image can be traced back to a 1982 film Nomad (烈火青春) where he boldly played a sex scene in a Hong Kong tram.
At his 1980s concerts, Cheung loved to wear open necked shirts, shiny embroidered suits and feather boas. In 2000, he pushed the limits still further when he got designer Jean-paul Gautier to create female costumes for him, including a short tartan skirt, feminine sandals and toe rings.
 
In the Oscar-nominated Farewell My Concubine (霸王別姬, 1993), Cheung plays an obsessive art lover and artist Cheng Tieh-yi (程蝶衣), who gets his own sexual identity confused with the female roles he plays in Beijing operas. It was a daring role in which Cheung learned to act as a woman. "I am exactly Cheng Tieh-yi," said Cheung before taking the role.
This statement was a prelude to Cheung's official announcement of his sexuality.
The only actually gay character Cheung played was in Wang Kar-wai's 1997 film Happy Together (春光乍洩), in which he has passionate gay sex with Tony Leung (梁朝偉) at the very beginning of the film.
The film won critical acclaim and, during a concert that year, Cheung declared his love for his partner Tong Hock-tak. Before singing the Mandarin love song The Moon is My Heart (月亮代表我的心), he said, "The song is dedicated to my long-time lover Mr. Tong who is in the audience."
The announcement surprised many in the audience but also cleared up a long-time rumor about Cheung's sexuality. Leslie Cheung's brave declaration of his love earned him his place as the first openly gay actor in contemporary Chinese cinema.
The years after 2000 were bad years for Hong Kong cinema as well as Cheung's movie career. Between 2000 and 2002, Cheung made four mediocre films, and his most recent, the action film Double Tap (鎗王) and the ghost story Inner Senses (異度空間), Cheung failed to surpass, or even achieve, the quality of acting he achieved in Farewell and Happy Together.
For a star who had always striven to dazzle and who had grown used to a high level of success and praise, it was an especially difficult time. There had even been talk of the 46 year-old actor, who was proud of his boyish image, going bald. He was also rumored to be suffering from insomnia and depression, which some said was linked to evil spirits that dogged the shooting of Inner Senses.
 
Romantic problems, an inability to revisit the artistic heights of Farewell and Happy Together, and a decline of his idol status may all have contributed to his suicide. But, for an actor known to be afraid of heights, his jump from the Oriental Mandarin remains mysterious.
 
"Leslie often joked about being a legend. But I never thought that his legend would be completed in such a dramatic way. We will always remember him," said director Wang Kar-wai.
France will get gay cable TV channel
Source: Planet Out
Wednesday, April 9, 2003
SUMMARY: French television viewers will soon be able to watch Pink TV, a cable television channel targeted to a gay audience, the BBC reported.
 
French television viewers will soon be able to watch Pink TV, a cable television channel targeted to a gay audience, the BBC reported.
 
The programming will include drama and comedy shows, films and music videos. The channel also received permission from the Higher Audiovisual Council to broadcast adult content, but only between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m., and the shows must be double-encrypted.
 
Subscribers will have the option to not receive the adult programming, and cable operators will not be able to offer Pink TV in conjunction with channels devoted to children's programming.
 
Pink TV has reportedly committed to investing 23.5 percent of its returns into French-based film and television production.
 
The BBC report did not specify a date for the channel's launch.
 
Canada's PrideVision TV, the world's first cable channel devoted to GLBT programming, has struggled to succeed financially. With approximately 22,000 subscribers after nearly two years, the network put itself up for sale in December.
 
In the United States, the Showtime and MTV networks have collaborated to develop a similar cable channel. Last year an alleged internal memo from Viacom, owner of both networks, suggested the channel will be called "Outlet" and would be available by spring of this year. Network officials, however, refused to comment on those details.
Rosie's Story: O'Donnell Talks About Being a Gay Mom
Source: ABCNews.com
Rosie O'Donnell doesn't care whether the world knows that she's gay. But she does want everyone to know that she is a gay mother.
By Rebecca Raphael
Friday, March 14, 2003
"I don't think America knows what a gay parent looks like: I am the gay parent," the entertainer tells ABCNEWS' Diane Sawyer in her first in-depth interview about her sexuality.
 
O'Donnell has three adopted children --- Parker, 6, Chelsea, 4, and Blake, 2. --- and says she is in "a committed, long-term life relationship" with her partner of about four years, Kelli Carpenter. She talked about her experiences as a gay parent publicly for the first time with Sawyer, hoping to bring attention to the issue of gay adoption and a Florida law that prevents gay couples from adopting.
 
'I Totally Think I'm Gay'
 
There's no earth-shattering coming-out story, O'Donnell says, just a realization that dawned on her in a private moment.
 
"When all my friends in high school, my girlfriends, were going out to bars and picking up men and fooling around on the beach," she says, "I would get Diet Coke and I was the designated driver. So it was never like a priority for me. I never thought about it."
 
When she was 18, she thought about it. "I remember driving my car when I got my permit," she says. "I was alone and I was like, 'I totally think I'm gay.' Like I says it out loud in the car."
 
She first fell in love with a woman a couple of years later; but she also had male lovers.
 
"It took me a while to understand and to figure out all that things that made me me, where I was most comfortable, who I was, and how I was going to define my life," she says. "And I found the coat that fit me."
 
Her sexuality never has been and is not now "a big deal" for her, she says. "Part of the reason why I've never said that I was gay until now was because I didn't want that adjective assigned to my name for all of eternity. You know, gay Rosie O'Donnell."
 
O'Donnell, who lost her mother when she was 10 and describes her father as "not very available," says being gay was not that big of an obstacle in her generally difficult childhood.
 
Still, she believes that being gay is incredibly challenging.
"I don't think you choose whether or not you're gay," she says. "Who would choose it? It's a very difficult life. You get socially ostracized. You worry all the time whether or not you're in physical danger if you show affection to your partner. You're worried that you're an outcast with your friends and with society in general."
 
Florida Case Strikes a Chord
 
Though there has been speculation that she chose to discuss her sexuality only because her talk show will come to an end this May, the actress/comedian says that is not so.
 
"I wanted there to be a reason" to talk about her sexuality, she says. And when she learned about a Florida gay parenting case, she found that reason and has made it her cause.
 
Steve Lofton and Roger Croteau are raising five HIV-positive children, three of whom are foster kids. The couple were able to adopt the other two in Oregon. The family was thrown into disarray when the state of Florida told them they had to give up one of their foster children, Bert, whom they have raised for 10 years. Lofton and Croteau would like to adopt Bert, but under Florida law they can't, because they are gay.
 
When O'Donnell read about the Lofton-Croteau case, she thought about her adopted son Parker: "My Lord, if somebody came to me now and said ¡K 'We're going to take him now because you're gay,' my world would collapse. I'm lucky to have adopted my children, not in the state that I live, Florida. I'm lucky, because otherwise I would be in danger of losing my children."
 
The Right to Parent
 
O'Donnell says her own experiences as a mother make her certain that gay people should have the right to be parents.
 
"I know I'm a really good mother. I know it. I'm a really good mother. And I have every right to parent this child," she said. "It takes a lot to become a foster parent ¡K You have to really want to save a child who others have deemed unsaveable. And for the state of Florida to tell anyone who's willing, capable, and able to do that, that they're unworthy, is wrong."
 
Asked about President Bush's statement ¡X as well as the staunch belief of many ¡X that children ought to be adopted only by a man and a woman who are married, O'Donnell says: "He's wrong. President Bush is wrong about that. And you know, if he'd like, he and his wife are invited to come spend a weekend at my house with my children. And I'm sure his mind would change."
 
Being gay, she says, does not make someone a bad parent. Any while the children of gay parents may face some ridicule from their peers, O'Donnell thinks they can get past that.
 
"I do think the kids will get teased, and you know, in some capacity that's very sad, and eventually I think that will stop. ¡K I'm not asking that people accept homosexuality. I'm not asking that they believe like I do that it's inborn. I'm not asking that. All I'm saying is don't let these children suffer without a family because of your bias."
 
The Foster Care System
 
O'Donnell is trying to keep the Lofton-Croteau family together, but she's also hoping to shed light on the hundreds of thousands of children who are lost in America's foster care system.
 
"I was stunned into action. I mean I never knew that there were half a million kids in foster care in America," says O'Donnell. "There are over 350,000 children with nowhere to go --- children who are most likely aged out of the system, and go either directly on welfare or directly to jail. It stunned me as an adoptive parent."
With so many children aching for a family, she says, "I don't think that restricting the pool of adoptive parents is beneficial."
 
O'Donnell dismisses claims that children adopted by gay parents are more likely to be gay. As for her own children, she says she hopes they will be straight. "I do. I think life is easier if you're straight. I hope that they are genuinely happy, whatever they are. That if they're gay, they know they're gay and they live a happy life. But if I were to pick, would I rather have my children have to go through the struggles of being gay in America, or being heterosexual? I would say heterosexual."
After emphasizing how much easier it is to be straight than gay, she says she wouldn't change her own sexuality. "I think if I could take a pill to make myself straight, I wouldn't do it, because I am who I am, and I've come to this point in my life and I'm very happy."
The real Rosie
365 days of amazing challenges and feisty decisions turned America's sweetheart into the fighter she's always been¡Xand The Advocate's leading lady for 2002
Source: The Advocate
By Judy Wieder
Tuesday, January 21, 2003
First of all, there are not two Rosies. She was never the "Queen of Nice," and she's not the "Queen of Mean." That's just our media selling tickets to its own headlines. Sure, she's a complicated bunny, but there's still only one Rosie, and one's enough! Passionate, boisterous, creative, sad, fun, generous, and genuine, she is The Advocate's Person of the Year for many reasons --- not the least of which is that she survived the year at all!
 
un authentic Rosie Hood for the underdog, this woman had it all when 2002 began --- except what she treasured the most: the ongoing connection to those who have nothing. And that included the Rosie she still remembers: the isolated child who grew up in Commack, Long Island, whose cherished mother died when she was 10 and whose father was never emotionally hers. The kid who ran all the way to Broadway to find her feelings but lost her soul on the wild, empty fame ride.
 
Exaggeration? A little, but not much. For the rich and famous Rosie, the gap had grown too wide. She missed herself. So starting with her book, Find Me, she decided to put herself back together in an open, honest way.
 
When Rosie came out this year, she became the most famous gay person in the world. For years her daily daytime TV show made her a regular guest in millions of homes. Her magazine, Rosie, with her name and face all over it, followed suit. Nobody of her stature had ever come out before, and I, for one, can understand her looking at it from all angles before leaping off the cliff. Fortunately, she finally collided with an offer she couldn't refuse: the chance to be on Diane Sawyer's TV special and discuss what it was like to be a gay parent, as did Steve Lofton and Roger Croteau, the gay couple suing Florida to overturn its ban on gay adoption. Not only is Rosie gay and a huge child advocate, she lost her own bid to adopt the daughter she'd fostered in Florida because of this law.
 
"I occasionally tell Bert [the son Lofton and Croteau are fighting to keep] that he outed Rosie," Roger Croteau jokes. "But really, she did the perfect thing for the issues and the children on that show. Prior to that the media was clueless and uninterested; now they cannot get enough."
 
Asked about the biggest impact Rosie's had on their personal lives, Steve Lofton refers to Rosie's quiet generosity: "When Rosie found out we didn't have a television, she sent the kids a TV and cable. Now they can choose between a TV movie and a cable movie once a week."
 
Unfortunately, the good vibes of Rosie's coming-out took a quick turn south when Gruner + Jahr USA, the publishers of Rosie, allegedly thought their star was looking too much like (gasp!) an activist. They worried whether she was still the right figurehead for this onetime McCall's readership. In the end, they wanted her name but not her. Rosie saw things differently. This was her name. They got both, or neither. That's when the real circus started.
 
"It wasn't the gay thing," Rosie says, "it was the magazine stuff. That's when the tabloids went nuts. That's when they started in about my hair and me being a man and so tough and scary."
 
Tough and scary? Not really. You can tell a lot by being in someone's home. Rosie's is warm and easy. Her girlfriend and children adore her, and she brightens whenever they're around. And when they're not, she goes looking for them. After viewing Rosie's unexpectedly cathartic art pieces in her studio, I sat down with Kelli Carpenter, Rosie's partner of five years, and discussed why she thought Rosie should be The Advocate's Person of the Year.
 
"So much! Her ability to effect change and open people's minds --- not just in the big world but in my life," Kelli says. "She was able to change my parents' perspective on being gay and how gay relationships work, that it didn't mean you have to be alone all your life. That was their biggest fear. But there she was."
And there she still is. Vaulting across the family room, trying to get her youngest son, Blake, to sing "It's the Hard-Knock Life" for us --- both of them laughing too hard to sing anything.
 
The following interview took place in Rosie's Manhattan offices and in her home outside New York.
 
So how was your year, Rosie?
 
Oh, boy, it's been very eventful, I can say that. My whole life and career --- I was focused on just that, my career. And the first break in that came when I adopted my son [Parker], and the second break in that career focus came when I met Kelli, and I knew that this was, as I told Parker, the puzzle piece that matched my heart.
 
Why?
 
Kelli is an unbelievable person. She was just the piece that fit. She's part of the real grace that comes from being able to live the truth. It's too hard to describe.
 
How did you two first meet?
 
My brother Danny, who's gay, met her at --- [calling out to Kelli in the kitchen] what event was that, honey? It was some gay function in New York, and he met Kelli because they were at the same table. She had just moved from Chicago and just broken up with someone. She asked him, did he know anybody who was single.
Kelli [moving into the conversation from the kitchen]: I asked him to introduce me to a nice attorney.
 
Rosie [rolls her eyes]: Right. And then he called me and said, "I met the perfect girl for you." And I thought, Naw, I'm never going to meet anyone! I never really was a dater, you know?
 
Kelli: Then there was another event where you ---
Rosie: No, no --- I know what it was! I buy tables to a lot of charity events, but then I don't go. I send other people instead. I'd rather stay home at night. My brother Danny was going, and he told me Kelli was going, so I told him and everybody else going to "check her out!"
Kelli [laughing]: I had no idea this was going on.
Rosie: So they all came back giving me the [makes "OK" clicking sounds]. But it was four months before we had a date.
 
So people were reporting to you, but you still hadn't seen or spoken to her?
 
Rosie: Right. Then she called my brother and asked for tickets to the show.
Kelli: My parents were in town.
Rosie: So I was like, "Red alert! Kelli Carpenter's coming to the show!¡¨
 
You were really nervous?
 
Rosie: Well, I wasn't really nervous, but I looked out there during the show and saw her and thought, Oh, my God, she's so preppy! A-a-ahhh, preppy, this is going to be impossible. So after the show I made my assistant go tell her that if she wanted to have a picture taken with Rosie or meet her, she could. So Kelli was like, "Umm...I don't know." But her mother said [yelling in a Southern accent], "I'd love to meet her!" [Laughs] Little did I know what I was getting into: Gomer Pyle as an in-law!
Kelli: We just found that picture the other day.
Rosie: Yeah, there we all are, posing before Kelli and I had ever even talked. Then she got all flirty with me, saying, "O-o-oh, you burned your hand. Does it hurt?"
Wait a minute! More hand karma?
Rosie: Yes, that's true. It started that way, honey. Right up to this [holds up hand, wrapped after still another surgery].
Kelli: Yeah, but she had four months of prep while I didn't even know what was going on.
Rosie: True [laughs]. We were, like, totally setting it up while I was checking her out. [Kelli returns to the kitchen]
 
Did getting together with Kelli push you toward coming out?
 
There were many people who said to me, "Famous or not, why don't you come out?" and I always said, "I'm out enough," because I never pretended to have a boyfriend. My crush on Tom Cruise is real --- I never said I wanted to have sex with him. It stunned me when, after the Diane Sawyer interview, they did a focus group and it said 60% of people didn't know, but I don't believe that. I believe they knew.
 
I disagree. As long as you didn't say it, they didn't have to know. I guess.
I remember having these discussions with Lily Tomlin. She didn't think she had to come out. She thought she was out. Well, maybe in her world ---
 
It's not just my world. It was with everyone: interns on my show. I felt that I never compromised my integrity or my place in the gay community, ever.
 
How did you see your place in the community before you came out?
 
What I think the gay community needs to realize is that all the members are in our dugout. Some are playing on the field, but everybody's in uniform. And the person who's pitching is not of more value than the person in the dugout waiting for his turn to bat. I waited until I knew it was my turn to bat. And these men, [Steve] Lofton and [Roger] Croteau --- they were a gift from God: what they have lived and the injustice of this law. I heard in my head, This is the time.
 
Well, it would still have been a big deal if it had just been about you.
 
But I didn't want it to be about me. Because it's not about me. In the same way, when they try to give me the Mother of the Year award, I don't want to take it. I'm a multimillionaire. I have assistants and help. The woman who's trying to put sneakers on her three kids and working three jobs deserves Mother of the Year. Not me.
 
But certainly, coming out has changed you.
 
I will say this: Since doing it, I'm shocked at the change: Everyone had told me this [would happen] --- from my brother to Ellen [DeGeneres]. Everybody who knows me knows that the main focus of my life is the rights of kids. The biggest thing I ever had to get over in my life was my childhood --- not my sexuality. I mean, the things that the gay community has harped on me about, I find odd. Like?
 
When Kathy Kinney came on my show and outed Richard Simmons, I didn't try to "in" Richard Simmons. The gay community accused me of in-ing Richard Simmons, like I was trying to make people think that he was straight. I will tell you this: If Richard Simmons ever wants to discuss his private life with me on national TV, he's welcome to do so. It is not anyone else's right to do that before he decides it's time. That's the reason I said to Kathy Kinney, "We'll be right back with a commercial." I'm simply saying that that right belongs to him. [Loudly] And no matter what community you feel he's a part of or what he represents to you, it is not as relevant as his own truth.
Don't get mad at me! The Advocate doesn't out people.
 
Well, that's how I always talk --- this is why people think I'm maniacal. This is how I talk. I should've been a lawyer.
 
[Laughing] It's not too late. Look, if someone isn't ready ---
 
But I also think it's not fair to judge the person as not ready when they may be living a life that is just as out as yours.
 
Wait --- I'm talking about being ready to climb up on the cover of The Advocate and say, "Here's my life."
 
Correct. Got it, got it. Yeah. Right.
 
What's important is that you're out and that you did it in a way that is going to help change the world. That's why you're the Person of the Year for The Advocate.
 
I am? I didn't know. They didn't tell me. That's a huge honor, and I think it's wonderful.
 
And we don't give this honor to people who don't deserve it.
 
[Quietly] No, I dont think that of you.
 
Why did you do a talk show?
 
Well, here's what happened. Before my talk show, I was a comedian. When you're a comedian, you have free rein to say anything you want. I had a blank canvas, and I painted all the time, all over the country, in Vegas and everywhere. I loved it.
 
I know you were rowdier back then.
 
Then I got this job that required one thing: It was a specific kind of canvas. It was afternoon TV. It was Merv Griffin or Mike Douglas. It was noncontroversial. It was happy, fun, light, mothers-at-home, and "Relate to them, Rosie, in the best way that you can." To me, it didn't mean hiding my sexuality, but it also did not mean flaunting my sexuality. I never once said, "Well, my boyfriend and I went last night to the premiere." I would sit at the Emmys next to Kelli. I just lived as though everyone knew it.
 
In addition to Lofton and Croteau, I've always felt that something very personal kicked in and made you say, "I can't do this anymore. I want out. It's my turn at bat."
 
I turned 40. I outlived my mother.
 
Ah, OK¡K
 
My mother died at 39. At 39, I was in the hospital with a staph infection. They were going to amputate my finger or my wrist. It¡¦s the middle finger; I'm the middle of five children. I don't think it's by accident. And I felt that God was saying to me, I gave you what you thought you wanted, and I've shown you what you need. Where will you go? Toward what I need, or toward what I think I wanted?
 
And?
 
Well, what I thought I wanted was salvation for free, because Barbra Streisand made me feel emotional and alive, and Bette Midler too. As a young person I would listen to them and the emotions sung in Pippin and the feelings from West Side Story, and that was the only outlet I had to express all the stuff inside me. And I thought that by becoming like them I would feel what they made me feel as a child, constantly.
 
But it didn't work, did it?
 
No, that was a misunderstanding on my part. It was a 20-year journey. It took a life-threatening injury; it took Kelli sleeping on the floor in ICU. The fame took a toll on my friends and family, on those relationships that are most valuable and most important. Finally I had a shift in perspective, and I'm grateful for that. But when you let go of something, you make space for something else to be there. And what I have found I've been given as a result of the letting go --- not just of the show but the magazine and the coming-out --- are rewards that I can't even begin to explain.
 
Try.
 
When I went to opening night at Hairspray and I heard those words and I saw those performances, I was sobbing like I couldn't believe. Because everything came together for me at once.
 
Because you're out? More vulnerable? Why were you sobbing?
 
It had nothing to do with coming out. The sobbing had to do with the fact that this was the origin of my artistic essence: musical theater. It was the reason I became a performer. It was always Oklahoma! and West Side Story and every musical my mother loved that we would sit and watch on TV together. It was musicals that made me become a performer, and when I saw Barbra onstage, I thought to myself, Well, I love her, and look what she's giving me! But I don't know where you go to do that. Hollywood was a vague and elusive concept. When I came to see Clams on the Half Shell in 1974, I stood at the stage door and watched the woman I had just seen perform miracles [Bette Midler] walk out of the door sweating with a towel on her head, stopping to sign my autograph --- I was 11 years old. I knew there was a place to go where I could do what I felt inside of me. And that was Broadway.
 
So you came full circle?
 
Yes, to be there that night, to have let go of everything, to have it be my first public appearance after my press conference with the magazine, to have that be the first thing that I did. I felt that, again, nothing happens by chance.
 
So many changes! You were the "Queen of Nice," and now you've become ---
 
The devil incarnate. Right, but here's the thing: If you agree to being sanctified, you need to agree to be vilified.
 
But did you agree to being this television goody-goody?
 
I never thought I was the "Queen of Nice." In fact, when that came out I remember saying "You know what? Next year it's gonna be the 'Queen of Lice' and then the 'Queen of Fried Rice.'" But at the time that I came on the air, the number 1 show was Jerry Springer. People were beating each other up; guests were killing each other. Compared to that, I was the "Queen of Nice." But in actuality, watch my HBO special. My art form is not based in kindness; it's based in rage.
 
I'm glad to hear this from you. I always got that from your comedy.
 
But you have to find a way to translate that in your art, as every artist does, so that the message is heard.
 
What about AIDS activism?
 
Now I understand the rage in ACT UP; I understand it was righteous anger. When your hand is forced, you don't have a choice. But I don't think that going into St. Patrick's Cathedral --- those kinds of overt acts of hostility --- are going to be productive for anyone.
 
Was it frustrating for you when certain huge incidents happened to the gay community, like Matthew Shepard or Brandon Teena being murdered, and you couldn't join the protests?
 
Well, I know all of those stories because of your magazine. But I'll tell you why I didn't feel the need to attend the vigils for Matthew Shepard --- his death was horrific; it is the worst in us, but that doesn't mean gay people should only stand up when it's a gay person murdered. It also means when a man is dragged to death because he's black in Texas --- it means all injustices.
 
Of course, but the problem with hate-crime laws is that while they cover James Byrd's atrocious death, most states refuse to add gays to their list of those protected by law from hate crimes.
 
Oh, true, I agree.
 
Did people ask you to come to any of the vigils or marches?
 
When Ellen [DeGeneres] called me and said, did I want to go to the vigil --- and I love Ellen, and I've known her many, many, many years --- I said no. And she said, "Why?" and I said, "because you didn't call me to go to James Byrd's. And if you had called me to go to James Byrd's, I might've gone with you to Matthew Shepard's.¡¨ That's my philosophy.
 
Judy Shepard told me she had spoken to you about Matthew early on.
 
I was in an elevator with Judy Shepard right before I hosted the Grammys four years ago. I got on an elevator with her, and she looked familiar, and I said, "Are you Ryan White's mother?"
 
Close...
 
She was in my Filofax somewhere. And she said, "No, I'm Matthew Shepard's mother." And I was like [gasps], "Could you come with me to my room? I would love to talk to you." And she said yes, and I talked to her and I told her about myself being gay and what a horrible thing had happened to her son and how I felt the presence of God in her husband's speech. That speech changed the world because he came from compassion and love. He said that his son would not want the boys to die. And there are moments like when I heard his speech on the radio, where I have to pull off the road because I am crying too much to drive the car. And what I say in those moments is "Thank you, God." We need this compassion and godliness in each other.
 
Don't people treat you with compassion?
 
The gay community needs to stop pointing fingers at their brothers and sisters and saying "Not gay enough." It¡¦s not as though gay people didn't know I was gay; it was the people in Iowa.
 
Yes, but the people in Iowa need to know.
 
But look, I'm sitting on a plane and the flight attendant goes, "Hi, Rosie --- oh, my God, my partner's name is Frank, and I just love you, love your show." I'm sitting next to Kelli, and we both wear matching rings --- it's pretty obvious to everyone who's gay.
 
Yes, of course a gay flight attendant would know, Rosie.
 
OK, OK.
 
Everything has changed for you now, Rosie.
 
And it's like being on the space shuttle. I was in intense fame for six years. When astronauts come down from being in space, they have to go to a decompression chamber. They need to have therapy and hear someone say "I know you keep saying, 'Oh, my God, I walked on the moon.' But you're back on Earth now --- shift!" They have professionals to help them do that.
 
Don't you?
 
There's no one to help you do that when you let go of fame the way I did. Also, society likes to think what I thought, which is, It's better over there. And when somebody "over there" says "You know what? It isn't, and I'm coming back to where you are," it changes everyone's belief system. It forces them to look again at their own values in life.
 
Just like you had to?
 
Yes, and that's a gift. It's a gift that I got by being sick enough and trusting enough and having the most amazing, heart-opening experience with the children in my life. These kids came in and broke the cement around my heart and made a space for Kelli to enter. And what has grown as a result is an unbelievably beautiful garden. And the stuff that I won¡¦t do anymore is pretend.
 
You were pretending before?
 
It's part of why the magazine situation came apart. I finally said no. I can't pretend. I didn't [tell G+J I would] want it to be a militant magazine --- I just wanted it to be me. If I tell Christopher Reeve "You're on the cover," he should end up on the cover. He shouldn't get cut down to a book excerpt. His life shouldn't get reduced to the headline "My Adventures in Scientology" because Scientology will sell. That is not all right with me.
 
I can't believe this happened to you too. I had to cancel an Advocate cover with Christopher Reeve when he directed In the Gloaming. Someone above me thought our readers would think we were equating homosexuality with disabilities.
 
A-a-ahhh! So you know what I'm saying! It was just ridiculous. I was on a roller-coaster ride and I kept thinking, It's gonna get real soon. And when I got off the ride, I said to the ticket guy, "Oh, my God, you're not gonna believe what just happened to me." And he said, "Yeah, I know, everybody says that when they get off."
 
So it's a big relief after being bound up...
 
The best part about coming out was the weekend after. I went to the mall, and people nodded at me, they winked at me and gave me the thumbs-up, but they did not come over to me when I was with my children. That is a profound change. It was as if by saying "I am gay too --- I am what you believe and also this," it forced them to see me as a real, full person; three-dimensional. When they see me with Kelli, they know: "Wow, that is who she has chosen. She loves that person." When they see me with my children, they say, "There's a mother with her children," and that moment is more real than the image of Rosie. And it took me a long time to find it out.
 
The gay community --- whatever that is --- has been...?
 
Right --- on the whole, aside from those few I call the gay Nazis --- has been unbelievably supportive of me.
 
I think I remember that when Ellen DeGeneres came out, you were critical of the circus that went on around her [and Anne Heche].
 
Well, I knew she was gonna come out because she had told me for a long time. She came on my show, and we did the "Lebanese thing"; I wanted to go there because I wanted people who were smart enough to get it to hear what I was saying: I'm one of you. That's why I did that.
 
Yes, and the people who knew about both of you, knew. And those watching the show who didn't know, still didn't know.
 
I've been friends with Ellen for 15 years. I like her a lot. I've known Ellen through many partners, and she has known me through many partners. When you think you find the person for your whole life and you're gonna announce it to the world, you'd better be sure.
 
Well, that was a pretty devastating event for her. For everyone. For everyone.
 
And the fact that Melissa and Julie blew up at the same time was unbelievable.
 
Right.
 
But again, now that this media circus has happened to you, do you feel more understanding ---
 
Empathy, yes. But I don't think the same thing happened to me that happened to Ellen. I made a decision to speak up against an unjust law in Florida because I was victimized by that law. Now, all of this stuff that's happened to Rosie the magazine, that's something else. They decided it was no longer gonna have my personality --- it was gonna have someone else's. All the huge media came over that. I don't think it's because of the gay thing.
 
How can you separate any of it?
 
Let me tell you why: We didn't lose one corporate sponsor when I came out on my TV show. We didn't lose one page of advertising in the magazine. It was only after the magazine, people started saying, "She's crazy --- look at her, she's changed."
 
Have you changed?
 
I had a meeting with Warner Bros. eight years ago, at the age of 32, before starting the show, and said, "Before you invest money in the show, I want you to know I'm gay, and I want you to be OK with the fact that I'm gay. Because what would be really bad for me would be if the show is successful and I become tabloid fodder like Oprah, and they put that I'm gay on a tabloid cover and you are horrified --- then I don't wanna take this job. So I want to be up-front in the beginning." I said the same thing at G+J. "You realize I am doing the ACLU lawsuit with the Loftons? You realize I am a lesbian and letting go of my show? You realize I want social issues? You realize I am not about beauty and facade? Do you realize this?" "Yes, we realize this."
 
When did you say this?
 
At the very beginning. Before we signed the contract. That's why I said to them, "Do you realize that if you do this, I will quit the magazine? It will cost you millions of dollars and will drag your name through the mud. You cannot have my name --- I worked 20 years to find it. You do not get to say what it means."
 
Your name is all you've got.
 
Yeah! So I don't believe what happened to Ellen is what happened to me. I think if I went to the White House like she did, a press dinner at the middle of this blitz with my arm around Kelli, maybe. I think if I had met Kelli three weeks before and then had a big announcement that we'd be together for our whole life, maybe.
 
Well, she was madly in love.
 
Look, Judy, I was sure when I made this announcement about my family. I was sure this was my family forever. Maybe Ellen was sure of that too, but it felt to me a little haphazard to stand up for such a big issue so soon... I mean, you better be sure. I know that Ellen thought she was sure, and I know that Ellen is a good person.
 
You are a much bigger tabloid fave than Ellen's ever been.
 
I have a great tabloid story; I haven't told it anywhere else. I take my son to the mall; bad timing for me, tabloidwise --- the kid can now read. We're at Target, we're getting stuff, and Parker says, "Mommy, you're 300 'libs.'" I go, "Where do you see that?" "Right there --- you're 300 'libs.'" I go, "Oh, honey, that means 'pounds.' Here's the thing --- these magazines by the cash register, they've got a little bit of truth and a lot of lies. Let me explain it to you: Mommy is 200 'libs.' Some people think women should only be 100 'libs' and men should be 200 'libs' and nobody should be 300 'libs.'"
 
The next week we go back: "Mommy, are you gonna become a man?" "No. Mommy got a haircut, and some people think that people with short hair look like boys and people with long hair look like girls. I don't want to be a boy; I never wanted to be a boy. And there are some people who are born feeling that they were born in the wrong body and they want to change their body."
 
The next week he says, "Mommy, is our family breaking up?" I say, "No. That one, Parker, is a pure lie, and Mommy's going to call the man who wrote it and give him one chance to fix it and tell everyone the truth about our family." So on the cover of the Enquirer, there was a photo that I provided of me and Kelli and a story that says they lied and they made up the whole thing.
 
The psychology of the tabloids fascinates me. I guess it's a window into our society.
 
I think America or society, myself included, likes to build people up and then see their falls --- look what's happening to Martha Stewart; it's a sin.
 
You're supportive of her.
 
It has nothing to do with anything other than the fact that she's a woman. And the fact that other women are standing in line to take her down is horrifically offensive to me.
 
With all the recent corporate scandals involving men ---
 
Not only do men do it, they screw their employees out of their life savings. It's a sin what they're doing to Martha. If she is guilty of anything, it's answering a phone call from her broker. You know what the difference was between the day before that phone call and the day after? $42,000. [Yelling] She is worth billions.
 
Why don't you tell me how you really feel, Rosie.
 
[Laughing] I have been muzzled for three months from the press. This is very freeing.
 
What is all this paint on your clothes?
 
All of my clothes are covered with paint. You know why? For three months they've been telling me, "Don't talk to anyone." For three months the only outlet I have had artistically has been canvas. My studio has probably 3,000 canvases.
 
You paint?
 
Yes. Because Kelli's been smart, saying to me, "Get in your craft room, honey." She won't let me read one piece of press. They rip up newspapers and magazines so I don't see the articles. Kelli said that if I read them, I would go ballistic. I would have a press conference that day and scream and yell.
 
Which you are trying not to do?
 
Again, that anger is not the way to go.
 
Kelli just gave birth to a girl, Vivienne Rose, on November 29. We've done a lot of articles with lesbian mothers and their partners. What was it like for you not to be pregnant?
 
I never wanted physically to have a baby. I don't know why; I never did. Any baby you hand me today will be mine in three minutes. I feel totally like Vivienne Rose is my baby when I feel her and I talk to her. I'll tell you this: Kelly has made me promise this will be our last child.
 
Is that what you want too?
 
If it was up to me, I would have 10. I love it. I love the chaos of it; I love the insanity of finding a sneaker under the bed; I love them arguing over who's gonna get the prize out of a cereal box. And I never in my life --- when I had my son and then my daughter --- thought I would ever give up any part of that total ownership of their lives to anyone else. I was doing this by myself --- regardless of who I was dating or sleeping with.
 
This was Parker and Chelsea?
 
Yes. I was like, Your name's on nothing, whoever you are --- no way, this is just me! This is my baby. Well, when I fell in love with her, I was like, Oh, my God, I cannot believe I am about to do this. We adopted a baby boy, Blake, together, and when she said she wanted to have a baby, I said, "Excellent." Kelli's an amazing parent; I totally coparent with her; I could not parent without her. She provides stability in a way that I don't.
 
Like how?
 
Parker gets his first-grade homework: "There's a cow, a dog, a fish, and a chicken. Their names are Binky, Buddy, Sam, and Sue. The chicken likes Binky; Sue is the bunny" --- what are the other two names? Now, I literally sat there with him for 20 minutes. And my brain --- I never got loaded with that software --- blanked, and I finally had to say, "OK, Parker, you're gonna have to wait until Kelli Mommy comes home, because I cannot solve this, even though it's a problem for 7-year-olds. Mommy Kelli's brain can do this in five seconds." But when he lost his first tooth, I helped him make a Lego tooth fairy bridge that the tooth fairy could climb up. I can do that.
 
Do you anticipate a difference in your family dynamic with your new baby?
 
I do ask Kelli, "Do you think you are gonna feel different because you gave birth to this baby?" Kelli says she doesn't think so, but we'll know when it happens.
 
That's honest.
 
All I know is that children are a blessing, always. And our job is to make them walk through life "with the grace of having once been cherished." That's a line I stole from Anne Rice. I realized, that is what we need to do to our children --- cherish them. Children, to me, are the biggest lesson and gift you can get about yourself.
 
What do you think your biggest mistake has been?
 
Not telling the people I love the most that I love them.
 
Why didn't you?
 
Because I didn't grow up in a family that did. And my children and the people that I cherish the most are the ones I have to work hardest at expressing it to. You have to be carefully taught. My children have been taught. And that is my biggest accomplishment and also my biggest regret.
 
What's the regret?
 
That I didn't get to live that as a child. I wasn't cherished.
 
What else besides children helps to heal you around all this?
 
I feel like I've been in the spotlight, famewise, and what I would love to do is to frame other people's work. Tennessee Williams wrote an amazing essay called "The Catastrophe of Success." He wrote it after he wrote The Glass Menagerie, about how his life was ruined by the success of that play. He finally realized that he had to check out of the Four Seasons hotel and to go back to Mexico and live amongst real people. Then he'd be able to write his next play. So I kind of felt like, he went to Mexico, I went to Nyack.
 
I heard you're selling all your properties. Will you stay in New York?
 
I plan on staying here --- we're selling all our other residences that I had.
 
Kelli told me that her parents have become a close part of the family.
 
Kelli was less open about her sexuality than I was --- and I was on TV. When I met her, she said, "My mother and father won't ever accept this; they're very religious." When I knew that she was going to be the person for my whole life, I sat down with her mother and father: "I love her and this is my life partner, and I hope that you can get on board with it, because I would like for you to be part of our family." And Kelli was like, "You didn't say that to them!"
 
I bet they were relieved.
 
You know what? I think so too, and they're here every month. They were in the hospital when I almost died last year. They have been parents and family to me unlike I have ever known. I didn't grow up in a traditional family. I didn't have a mom; I had a dad who was not really available to parent in many ways. And so now I'm seeing what that's like, and it's really, unbelievably soothing to me.
 
I know you're good friends with Madonna. I've always thought that you and Madonna are the same person...
 
[Laughing] Yes, I think so too.
 
With different outsides. What do you think would happen if Rosie had Madonna's outside?
 
I recognize that in her, and she me. When we first met --- at a time when we were both on the roller coaster, looking for salvation --- I was blessed to get to work with her, because I think God went, "Are you sure you want this [fame]? Take a look at what it does!" Madonna and I would walk down the street and people would run and scream at her; she has a thousand people outside her house right now. How can you live in that kind of distorted reality?
 
Can anyone, really?
 
Well, she has found a way to do it. She has love from her family that is authentic and a spirituality that grounds her. And I have loved the chance to get to the level of intimacy that we now have, which is based in truth and reality and not in the fact that we both ran away from painful childhoods and dead mothers, the way we thought joy was found.
 
And yet that's the wound that will always be healing.
 
She came into A League of Their Own, and everybody was so nervous when she arrived. I had seen Truth or Dare two days before --- totally by chance. The first thing I said to her was: "My mother died when I was a kid, and I too am named after her. And on her gravestone is my name, and I saw your movie yesterday." And that was it. And there was no bullshit from that moment on. The way that we relate is different from the way I relate to anyone else. I have nothing but awe for the way that she's been able to get through what, few people know, is a tidal wave. It might seem like it's a nice, smooth ocean, but can I tell you somethin'? It's a tidal wave! And you've gotta fight just to keep your head above the surface.
 
I know you're bringing Boy George's musical Taboo to America...
 
Yes. Boy George plays Leigh Bowery. I grew up loving George. He was one of the bravest gay entertainers there ever was. At the time he started I knew I was gay. He was 20, and I'm a year younger. As a young gay girl I remember him on talk shows answering the question "You're homosexual?" with "Well, I rarely have sex at home."
 
How do you get on with him?
 
He is talented beyond words and, as a result, not easy. Not meaning mean --- he's a kindhearted man --- but I call him and he's like [imitating George¡¦s British accent], "Hello, darling, I'm in Shanghai!" "Great --- listen, George, can you get on a plane and come to The Tonight Show with me?" "Oh, darling, I can't possibly fly east! I can only fly west until February, but much love to Kelli and the children."
 
Someone has to be the diva.
 
He's in his own reality, which is why he's able to be as brilliant as he is. What I want to do as a producer of Taboo --- along with Adam Kenwright --- is make a beautiful frame and put the greatest light on it and go, "Everybody, come here. Don't be distracted by me --- look there." I want to step back. That's why no one can find me right now, because I've had enough of me.
 
Are you aware of what your coming-out means to people?
 
I see it in the eyes of people who have stopped me since I came out, and I get it. I have seen gay people come over to me and cry and tell me how proud they are of me that I was now a part of them. And what I always say is "Thank you --- and just so you know, I was always a part of you." They knew.
 
No, they didn't.
 
I guess they didn't. But Judy, to me, I thought, Of course they do.
 
Well, I can't argue with what you thought.
 
Here's another thing, just to tell you a little bit about me. I was on a plane with Kelli, and I had my iPod on. They make that announcement: "Please turn off your electronic devices because they can interfere..." But I don't hear it because I have my iPod on. Kelli looks at me, and I'm grooving out to something. Later we get to the hotel, and she goes, "You know what? Honey, that was really rude." I said, "What was rude?" She said, "You didn't turn off your iPod." I said, "Why?" "Because they announced that it was interfering and because all those other people sitting on the plane within your vicinity thought you didn't care about them and that maybe the plane was gonna crash because you were too ignorant and self-obsessed to turn off your headphones."
 
Oh, dear!
 
I felt horrified. I said, "In a million years I never would've thought that anybody was thinking that. What I thought was, Oh, my God, an iPod isn't gonna take down a 747." So of course I'm gonna keep on listening to my iPod. I didn't realize what other people were thinking.
 
It's the same with the gay thing. I mean, come on --- I'm adopting kids, I never pretended to have a husband and/or a boyfriend. So I didn't understand that people really didn't know.
 
All those people across America who didn't want to know colluded with your silence.
 
You know, there's a quote that says that society will be measured not only by the noise of the bad but by the silence of the good. And only recently did I realize, My silence was complacency. My silence did equal death in some ways. I only know now, having jumped off the bridge, what people are talking about. Because I was on the bridge with my headphones on, going [yelling], "What're you talking about? Kelli, why are you being mean to me? I wasn't being rude!¡¨ It's the same kind of thing. Now I go to her and say: "You have to know, honey, that I didn't know." She goes, "I know you didn't know --- that's why I'm telling you. Wake up!" And I kept telling her, "I'm awake! I'm awake!" Well, you know what? I'm not.

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