Rapture, Blister, Burn

Posted by Mondschein

"Rapture, Blister, Burn" at Playwrights Horizons, May 26, 2012

Pulitzer prize nominee Gina Gionfriddo returns Off-Broadway with a sharp look at feminism, presented in a semi-scholarly love triangle.  Catherine (Amy Brennerman) has returned to take care of her mother (Beth Dixon) after a heart attack, also in the same town where her college ex-boyfriend Don (Lee Tergesen) now serves as a dean at a local liberal arts college and is married to Catherine's college roommate Gwen (Kelley Overbey). 

In college, Catherine chose a life of academia and has published several high profile books on popular culture and the role of women.  Gwen never finished her degree, taking the path of wife and mother, instead.  Don, once with great scholarly potential and a desire to teach, has fallen into the path of inertia, working only as hard as he needs to, to make ends meet.  His position as dean pays better than teaching, yet requires less mental engagement to get the job done. 

the start of the summer event season

Summer in New York City, if you can handle the heat and the humidity, has much to offer those of us without the money or access to escape to the countryside or the beaches. And sometimes much of it is free. Here's a NY Times article hinting at some of the possibilities...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/nyregion/a-guide-to-lazy-hazy-summer-days-in-new-york.html

Cast Appearance At The Will Clark Show

Meet the cast of A Letter From The Bishop on June 7th at the Ritz. The cast includes QNY's Mondschein (Jimmy Moon) as the lovable Father John!

Playwrights Horizons discount

DISCOUNT TICKETS TO RAPTURE, BLISTER, BURN for BLOG READERS:

Regular run:
May 18-June 24, Tues 7, Wed-Fri at 8, Sat at 2:30 & 8pm, Sun at 2:30 & 7:30pm
Additional Monday evening performance June 11 at 7pm.


Order by June 5 and use the code RBBLOG [note two B’s]
$40 (reg. $70) for all performances May 18-27
$50 (reg. $70) for all other performances May 29-June 24

Online:
https://www.ticketcentral.com/Online/default.asp?doWork::WScontent::loadArticle=Load&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::article_id=10613999-17A1-44C0-9B55-02D6C3534E5E&sessionlanguage=

Call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 Noon to 8PM daily
In Person: Ticket Central Box Office, 416 W. 42nd Street between 9th & 10th Avenues

A QNY Beautiful Moment

Via the West Side Rag:

At a street fair on Amsterdam Avenue today, two men broke out in an amazing dance in front of the former Blue Donkey Bar on 83rd Street to the song “MacArthur Park” by Donna Summer, who passed away last week


Not so many years ago, two men would be arrested for doing this, even privately. Today, and here on the Upper West Side, the men watching cheered and women did not shield the eyes of their children. You'll love the move at the 1 minute mark!

Blooming Today in Central Park

photo by Baad Lamb

Why Are We Giving Obama So Much Credit for So Few Empty Words?

By West Village Bill

Everyone is falling all over themselves praising President Obama for saying what we can be pretty sure he's believed all along, despite his bullshit talk about how his views are evolving on the issue: He's got no problem with gay and lesbian couples getting married.

I'm not arguing that it isn't a significant development for a sitting president to endorse gay marriage. But let's not forget the other, all-important thing he said about same-sex marriage: It should be left up to the states to decide. So even though he believes it should be allowed to happen, he's not about to impose it on states that are repulsed by the very thought of it. And he's tacitly making the argument that the U.S. Constitution doesn't grant LGBT citizens the right to marry whoever they want. I'd like to ask him why states should get to decide this matter but not whether citizens of different races should be allowed to marry. And I'm saddened that it's mostly conservative and libertarian voices who are pointing out the ridiculousness of that part of Obama's statement.

And of course, he said this a day too late to have any effect on the opinions of the people of North Carolina, who enshrined discrimination against lesbian and gay couples into their state constitution.

Ultimately, it's just empty talk in an election year. Just like this too-little-too-late election-year spin from Harry Reid on how he was wrong to let the Republicans play him for a fool.

Obama still doesn't plan to sign an executive order banning discrimination against LGBT workers at companies with government contracts. That's something he could do right now that would have a definite, positive impace on people's lives.

And we can't overlook the fact that Joe Biden's response to a question forced Obama to make a statement now. I don't buy the story that the White House was planning to endorse marriage equality sometime before the election.

And we also must not forget the all-important issue of money. Donations from deep-pocketed LGBTers were down, and he probably thought this action these words would get the checks rolling in again. And he's almost certainly right about that.

We have to demand more from this self-described fierce advocate of our community. Despite his occasional public complaints about Wall Street behavior, the banksters have gotten everything they've wanted from Obama in return for heavily donating to his first campaign. Why do we LGBT citizens happily settle for so little?

Crossposted at Hawleyblog

A Letter From The Bishop

If you plan to be in New York City on Monday June 11th, you are invited to attend the reading of A Letter From The Bishop. Free admission, but reservations are advised.

When Your Lover Comes Back As A Bird

Sy (Seymour) Lemler, who lives in Hollywood, Florida, loves the nearby nude beach at Haulover where he has been a regular for many years. In 2008, when Bobby, his partner, died, Sy, who is now 80 years old, forced himself to return to that beach alone, continuing the almost daily ritual he had shared with Bobby during their years together. On that day, Bobby came back to Sy. At the nude beach. As a pigeon.  With rare exception, Bobby has perched on Sy’s knee every day at Haulover for almost four years.

Read the rest of the story on sfgn.com

Maurice Sendak has died.

From Bensonhurst. His partner of 50 years died in 2007. From his NYTimes obituary:

But he cherished the letters that individual children sent him unbidden, which burst with the sparks that his work had ignited.

“Dear Mr. Sendak,” read one, from an 8-year-old boy. “How much does it cost to get to where the wild things are? If it is not expensive, my sister and I would like to spend the summer there.”

Listen to his voice in this interview with Terry Gross.

The Musik/Dance/Love Of Andy Kuncl

by Tony Adams

How did a boy from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who memorized Janet Jackson dance routines and learned to dub his vocal creations on a dual cassette tape boom box, who became an organic farmer because of a romantic attachment to a man, and who became a professional back-up hip-hop dancer for a San Francisco drag queen before returning to his musical roots, find himself living in the Bushwick neighborhood of New York City with a gorgeous new five song EP on his own label, 3KB Records, entitled Musik/Dance/Love that fuses the major elements of his life?

When Andy Kuncl tells you how this all came to pass, you begin to doubt his age—a mere 36. No slouch, he is also not hyper. He has a calming personality and a serenity of heart. All his energy gets fed into his art rather than the talking about his art. He is lanky, pale and with a strokably bushy red beard and merriment in his eyes. He is the kind of man that boyfriends might describe as sweet, low-maintenance and easy-going. (The Bushwick boyfriend of five years was not asked to verify this guess.)

A tour of the bare facts of his life seems colorized even in outline form. 

return to the chrysler building