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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (April 21, 2000)
apri 21. 2000 W omen in the W oods ’2000 J uly 20-23 • Join with 100-»- lesbians for a magical women-only weekend at Breitenbush Hot Spnngs resort in Central Oregon, 2 hours drive from Portland • Cozy heated cabins and 3 delicious vegetanan meals daily • Hot springs pools (open meadow and tiled tubs) and lithium sauna • Hiking trails through O regon's old growth forest • Swimming hole with crystal dear cold water • M assage available • W orkshops/discussion groups on anything 2 or more people want to talk about • craftswomen space • amazing talent show • drumming circle • dancing 4 days/3 nights - $240 per person 3 days/2 nights - $160 per person Registration deadline is July 1, 2000. Fees must be paid in full at that time. Call 503-284-0722 for registration form. • nr is spent detailing the effect of Vilanch s gay identity on his work, and that any other openly gay performers, except Nathan Lane, are glar ingly absent from the film. Also annoying is ith his curly blond mop of hair, brightly the fact that almost no one is ever identified colored glasses, portly physique and catty on-screen. Even a jaded veteran Hollywood jokes, Bruce Vilanch is a living, breath writer like myself (no, not really jaded) kept ing, talking Muppet. Best known to television asking “W ho’s that?” when some lesser star audiences as the outrageous gay guy on Holly- came on to laud Vilanch s talents. uood Squares— a sort of contemporary Paul Overall, G et Bruce! is an amusing look at a Lynde— Vilanch is better known behind the very untraditional humorist. Bruce Vilanch scenes in Tinseltown as the man who makes shows humor and heart in his work and keeps the funniest comedians even funnier. When his own distinct voice even as he helps other they need a joke Hollywood insiders shout, comedians develop their personas. Maybe this “Get Bruce!” live-action Muppet can really be considered a That’s also the title of a newly released puppeteer? — Andy Mangels video documentary chronicling the career and quips of Vilanch. Get Bruce! takes viewers on a A legría whirlwind backstage tour to examine how a Frank Langella nice Jewish boy went from performing on the stage in college to writing for the Chicago Tri he phantasmagorical phenomenon that is bune to his current role as muse to the stars. Cirque du Soleil is coming to Portland on Although his credits include such memo May 11, hut if you can’t wait until then, rable jobs as head writer for The Brady Bunch the troupes first feature film, Alegría, is now Variety Hour and The Donny & Marie Show out on video. Unlike Saltimbanco— the show (agonizingly awful clips are included), Vilanch’s that’s coming our way and has been featured on work on the Academy Awards, the Emmy PBS— this film combines a narrative love story Awards and the Tonys is given more footage. with the on- and offstage action of the circus. Extensive interviews with Whoopi Gold This is not your father’s berg, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams and Bette Midler circus, with elephants and 30 show how necessary Vilanch clowns oozing out of a kiddie the writer is to each per car. And this movie is not for formers stage presence. In the young kids. Its a very dark video, we get to see Goldberg story with many disturbing and Vilanch take a critical scenes of child slavery and drubbing for the ill-fated 1993 abuse. T he surreal film con Ted Danson blackface tribute trasts a bleak urban world of at a Friar’s Club roast; hear enforced labor, where captive the lyrics and jokes that censors wouldn’t let urchins sell flowers on the streets of a depress Crystal use on the Oscar telecasts; and watch ing metropolis, with the wildly colorful and Robin Williams repeatedly talk about his exotic illusory world of the circus. penis.. .again. We also get to hear how and As in every circus story ever told, someone why Vilanch turned down a job with diva Bar will he inspired to run away and join up. In this bra Streisand and watch the man himself at case it’s Franc, a mysterious street person who work doing standup for a host of AIDS bene already wears a clown’s whiteface, though he fits. insists it’s really stardust. His sidekick is Momo, My complaints about the film are a young boy desperate to escape his night that not enough time marish life. So desperate that he tries to join Franc in committing suicide. They are both saved by the beautiful star of the circus, Giulietta. A classic romance ensues, with all the obstacles to he overcome. Though the word alegría does mean joy, and the film does eventually arrive at an upbeat resolution, it’s a very dark jour ney to get there. Clowns in full costume keep wandering through the scenes emoting like a latter-day Greek chorus. Frank Langella is superb as the ring master, father of Giulietta and father figure to the entire circus troupe. The complex father-daughter relationship is explored with more sensitivity and depth than might be expected from this type of film. The ringmaster also instructs his players in the philosophy of perfor mance: “We do the show for the people in the dark. They need us. You know life is very tough, life is very hard, its very cruel.... You have a certain responsibility to the people in the dark. For two hours every night you’re not allowed to let life in." — O riana Green G et B ruce ! Bruce Vilanch nosAv EÀYII ! > F a ^ W Films trip dust Out reviews two films just released on video ■ ■ ■ ' - J I á 'fe f * W fflm M m . ' fp fr ..... 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Yt/u can write to him at AM angelsSW @aol. com.
