October 12, 2007
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Last night was opening night of Joe Mantello's revival of his pal Terrence McNally's chestnut farce, "The Ritz" starring Rosie Perez, Kevin Chamberlin, and featuring an appearance by Ryan Idol. (Don't pretend you don't know who he is.)
OK, so all of this begs a lot of questions and let me just give you some answers:
Is the play an uproarious farce set in a bathhouse in the '70's? YES! Did I laugh? YES! Is Rosie Perez hilar? YES! Are Joe Mantello and Terrence McNally now a classic dynamic duo of the theater? YES, Joe has directed Terrence's "Love! Valour! Compassion!" and "Corpus Christi" and I think with this third play they are indeed a dynamic duo! Did Joe pump Donna Summer as the background to much of the play? YES! Was it historic to hear Donna blaring at Studio 54? YES! Did Joe play Diana Ross' "The Boss" right after the curtain call? YES! Did I absolutely Freak and sing said song for the rest of the night? Well, YES! Did all this make me want to go in a time capsule to the '70's? YES. Does everyone in the universe ultimately have bad breath? YES!!
On that last question - after doing much research, it is sadly true that no matter how famous, dainty, or fancy, each one of us is on very intimate terms with Halle Tosis. She lives among us and within us and I guess she's just inescapable and I guess that I have horrible breath too because everyone else does and everyone else wants to breath all over me.
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Comments
Mike wrote:
Andy:
I loved the original movie. It was my first gay movie, at a time where I was just figuring out the psychology behind my urges. I caught it as a teenager on the late, late, late movie. I am now surprised that it even played at all as I grew up in a very small town, literally hundreds of miles from any sizeable city (Minneapolis was closest and over 4 hours by car).
I remember watching under a blanket with the sounds turned down really low. Rita Moreno was hilarious! I also got squishy over Treat Williams, although the voice he used added to my fears of what I would "become". I can laugh now, bt it was a surreal event in my life.
Thanks for letting me share.
posted on October 12, 2007 at 2:40 PM
Dan wrote:
Great story. I must see it. You never did say how
Ryan Idol was? I know he is older now. The question is... has he aged well?
Must have been a blast hearing Donna Summer sing once again in Studio 54. What a legendary place.
posted on October 12, 2007 at 9:28 PM
jc wrote:
You still have not explained WHY you love Diana Ross so much. Why of all the gay icons -- Madonda, Babs, Bette, etc. -- is SHE the one you seem to adore the most?
posted on October 13, 2007 at 4:26 AM
randi wrote:
Andy-what was up with the "oh big time" t-shirt at the top chef reunion? i watched each top chef episode at least 2x, and never noticed his quote until the montage. i would have liked a t-shirt that said "my monkey could do it" (Hung) or any one of Dale's hilarious quotes (cowboys, light switch, etc.)
posted on October 13, 2007 at 12:48 PM
ciaobella wrote:
Andy,
I get all my news from you. Please give your take on the bee movie.
ciao
posted on October 15, 2007 at 7:57 AM
Sharon wrote:
Nice good blog!
posted on September 25, 2008 at 12:32 PM