Hollywood Divine by Steve Weinstein
One of the pleasanter aspects of living in the city is discovering a hidden treasure, be it food, entertainment or fun. In this case, it’s theater, specifically TOSOS, a revived company dedicated to edgy gay plays.
Movie Lover consists of three one-acts revolving around Hollywood.
Mark Finley’s How Do We Get Her in the Water, the first and longest, concerns a German swimmer (like Esther Williams) who can’t act (like ice skater Sonja Henie) but is leggy and blonde and beautiful (like Marlene Dietrich). Three screenwriters — a vaudevillian sketch writer (Scott Sowers as a Ben Hecht type), a serious Broadway playwright (Jamie Heinlein in a hilarious Lillian Hellman turn; her big hit is Denial of Spring) and a flamboyant musical lyricist (Robert Locke as a camp-spouting Arthur Freed) struggle with the title’s dilemma.
Each one contributes a seemingly devious film plot guaranteed to flop. Of course, just the opposite happens, and the star becomes bigger than ever. The broad strokes come as the very canny swimmer recounts her brilliant career.
Everyone in this play overacts deliciously, with hilarious delirium. It helps that gorgeous, lanky blonde Garet Scott certainly could pass as a bona fide Hollywood screen goddess. The action arcs from the Golden Age during the war into the TV era.
I won’t reveal the overarching frame, which actually puts the play within a "meta" context. But it makes sense of all the ridiculous fun. Even more, it puts an arch spin on the entire enterprise of Hollywood-spun dreams. That’s the real point of the piece, which the swimmer so beautifully embodies — in every sense.
Kevin Brofsky’s Dancing Straight is the only truly "gay play" in the series, a meditation on closeted talent in the ‘50s. A Jewish Broadway playwright (Scott Phillips, who may or may not be Jewish but channels dark Semitic good looks very nicely) suggests to his live-in lover, an up-and-coming leading man (Ryan Duncan as a Robert Taylor type) that he buy a separate house for appearance sake.
The arrival in town of a Broadway hoofer (Michael Edwin Stuart) who has tricked with both men adds to the tension when he announces that, to further his career, he is going to go straight. Although the dialogue bounces briskly along with great one-liners and bitchy rejoinders that sting, the ending left me a little dissatisfied.
Are we supposed to think that three great-looking men late at a night won’t end up in a ménage a trois?
[Chris Weikel’s] Speaking Parts isn’t gay at all, but that doesn’t stop it from being a tiny jewel, a tiny incident that mirrors society at large.
In the early ‘60s, a new cinematic Tarzan (Mark Ruggiero, whose bod puts Johnny Weismuller to shame) gets a lesson in acting from a medicine man (Dudley Findlay, Jr.) from South Africa who, in turn, gets some lessons in how to "act African."
Joe DeFeo plays a nasty assistant director. The action takes place in "real time" as Tarzan shows how Ann Margaret does the watusi. The African, meanwhile, explains to the former cabana boy that good acting comes from the inside, not from Shakespearean lines.
So the black man teaches the white his trade, while the white man does the same for the African. If it sounds trite, it plays beautifully.
The direction for all three plays is flawless. Even the set change (Bob Cruz & Mary Louise Mooney) is seamlessly interwoven into the context of the two plays it bridges.
Doric Wilson, the founder of TOSOS, is a legend in New York gay theater, dating back to the legendary days of the 1960s in the Village. It’s nice to see him still so active. It’s even better to see him involved in a production and a company that is managing to give New Yorkers of all stripes such stellar entertainment.
The three plays presented here are consistently hilarious, insightful and a total joy. For $15, this may be the best bargain in town. With a limited run, run to this one, which is only playing Thursday through Saturday in April. [April 09, 2004 - The New York Blade]
The latest project from gay theater leaders TOSOS II, Movie Lover, is an evening of one-acts about gays in Hollywood in several different eras. Mark Finley’s How Do We Get Her in the Water? follows a trio of screenwriters in 1938, one of whom is obviously gay, another closeted, who are assigned to figuring out how to write vehicles for a Teutonic "svimming" beauty. Kevin Brofsky’s Dancing Straight details the travails of a writer and two actors in late ‘40s Hollywood, all having trouble negotiating how to live a straight public life while being true to themselves in their private lives. In Chris Weikel’s Speaking Parts a hunky Tarzan gets acting tips from an actual African playing a tribesman, while Tarzan gives the African tips on dancing like Ann-Margaret. All three are comic treasures, with Brofsky’s play skewing slightly more serious. As usual, TOSOS II’s strongest suit is its "they should all be stars" acting company. I can pick out for praise Robert Locke as Water’s flamer Bryce, Ryan Duncan as Dancing’s darling would-be leading man Forrest and Mark Ruggiero as Parts’ Tarzan (Ruggiero really gets to show his acting chops here, where previous roles tended to emphasize his admittedly admirable musculature). While these three totally wowed me, I’m most moved by the fact that TOSOS II’s uniformly brilliant acting company as a group have totally committed to the idea of "gay theater." That’s major. [Jonathan Warman, HX Magazine, April 16, 2004]
TOSOS II (The Other Side of Silence), the tenacious gay theatre company resurrected by original founder Doric Wilson along with Mark Finley and Barry Childs, struck gold with their recent trio of one-acts. Entitled Movie Lover, the evening was comprised of Finley's How Do We Get Her In The Water directed by Kevin Thomsen and Kevin Brofsky's Dancing Straight and Chris Weikel's Speaking Parts, both directed by Finley. All three pieces were smartly written, well directed and beautifully performed by a first-rate company of actors. Indeed, this was off-off-Broadway at its finest setting a high standard for all future TOSOS II productions. (David Hurst, May 20, 2004, NEXT Magazine)
oobr
You oughta be in pitchers
Some sharp and wonderful comic acting brightened up two of the three short plays that made up TOSOS II's Movie Lover, a triple feature. Even when tone falters, or if an obvious point is made a second or third time, Garet Scott and Dudley Findlay, Jr. were fresh, spirited, focused and funny. Too bad they didn't share the stage -- class, your assignment is to put these two fine actors together.
First up was Mark Finley's How Do We Get Her in the Water?, a comic examination of three writers, always at the bottom of the pecking order in Hollywood, upon whom is foisted Verouka Schmidt (Scott), a German athlete, with instructions to make her a star. Verouka is an Olympic swimmer, something of a conglomeration of Sonja Henie and Esther Williams, and Scott played her with the panache of Marlene Dietrich and the comic precision of Madeline Kahn doing Marlene Dietrich. But she's so sharp that she's funny even without knowing the references. When she delivers a monolog about her life that takes her from her first experience swimming through the Olympics, with the writers (Jamie Heinlein, Robert Locke, and Scott Sowers) acting it out comically behind her, Scott was still in complete control, and impossible not to watch. The plot gimmick has the writers continually coming back to the question of the title, but at the same time they loathe her so much they do everything they can to sabotage her. There isn't much schtick that's beneath them, and they fit into neat categories -- the bitter playwright, the fag, the pro -- but it's great to see them bested at every turn by Verouka. There's deception, blackmail, and vicious swipes at Betty Hutton (hard to argue against that one), but just when it should reach heights of bitchiness, the play compromises itself by revealing that ... well, it's an easy out, and somewhat disappointing. But director Kevin Thomsen staged it all with appropriate freneticism, and a terrific underwater effect (lighting by Aaron David Blank). Heinlein, Locke and Sowers were quite funny too, but it was Garet Scott's show all the way.
Kevin Brofsky's Dancing Straight (directed by Mark Finley) takes a more somber tone, with Arnie, a successful writer (Scott D. Phillips) and his boyfriend, Forrest, who stars in his movies (Ryan Duncan), disagreeing on how to be gay and successful in '40s Hollywood. Forrest's fellow Broadway dancer Jarvis (Michael Edwin Stuart) comes to Hollywood to do the movie version of his smash show, but he's determined to play the straight game -- to him success is more important than happiness. The plot and resolution are more wishful thinking than realistic, but it was sweetly played, with Finley's low-key direction keeping the mood. And for a short play, it was extremely well set (design by Michael Muccio) and costumed (Chris Weikel), even down to period underwear.
Chris Weikel's Speaking Parts (directed by Mark Finley) began after a great segue -- it's not easy to shift scenes, decades, and between plays without a loud thunk, but the furniture rearranging didn't stray far from the earlier mood even as Alex, as Tarzan (Mark Ruggiero), and Ben (Findlay), an African witch doctor, talk between filming scenes. The gimmick here isn't terribly original—Alex is offended by the dumbing down of the character and resents being treated like meat, and the only dancing Ben can do is ballroom. In between interruptions by the bitchy/funny Joe DeFeo reminding them what they've signed up for, each teaches the other what he needs—Tarzan teaches the black man rhythm, the witch doctor teaches Tarzan how to act for a camera. But the real selling point was Findlay, who was extraordinarily dignified and slyly funny even as he was doing Ann-Margret moves in his ridiculous costume. His educated South African accent (was it real? who knows?) added the final formal touch. It was a gem of a performance that shone even brighter for being underplayed. Director Finley hit the right tone here too. So class, have you got something for Scott and Findlay yet? ( David Mackler - oobr - April 16, 2004)
Interview
A company fills a need for edgy queer plays
Considering that New York is arguably the largest gay market in the country — San Francisco and Washington may beat us in percentages, but we’ve got far bigger total numbers — you’d think there’d be a gay theater company on every corner. Sure, there are gay characters treading the boards on Broadway and off, but that’s not what I’m talking about here.
We need environments where gay actors, playwrights and directors can explore queer themes in safe spaces, push the creative envelope in exploring images of ourselves, create work geared toward a specifically gay audience, and provide a proving ground for younger artists. This can’t happen within the confines of the commercial theater, where producers are reluctant to put enormous sums in jeopardy over risky material or unproven artists.
Theater is universal, so I’m not suggesting that audiences be segregated by orientation; but, there are aspects of our collective experience that straight audiences don’t, or may not care to, understand.
In all fairness, a few such companies do operate here, most notably Fourth Unity, SourceWorks Theatre, the Native-Aliens Theater Collective and the Wings Theatre. Of those, however, only Wings seems to have current offerings and a regular season schedule. The others present work sporadically, mostly coales-cing around the production of a single play.
Another place in New York where gay audiences can turn for unapologetically queer theater is TOSOS II, the second incarnation of The Other Side ofSilence. The original TOSOS, founded in 1974, was New York’s first professional gay theater com-pany. I spoke recently with the company’s artistic director, Mark Finley, about their next production.
Movie Lover, a triple bill of one-act plays around the theme of popular films and the people who create them, came about when Finley and two of his colleagues found they had all written short plays about Hollywood. The trio decided to combine the plays into a single evening.
It’s interesting when we put them all together, they all fit," he says. "One deals very directly with being gay and being in the film industry. The other two each have gay characters in them, but they’re not necessarily about those characters. But I thought it was interesting how a gay perspective informs the entire thing."
Is there a message here about being gay and working in Hollywood?
"I’m fascinated how gay people fit into the movie industry," Finley offers. "We’re all over it, but we’re looked through, like an open secret." He believes that the contributions of gay artists are an integral part of the business, but that Hollywood doesn’t give us much back in return.
"The industry should give us more recognition," he complains. "Name one out American movie star or one male power couple. That’s an important message for the audience to take away as well." (Ettore Toppi - New York Blade, April 02, 2004)