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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (July 7, 2000)
N A 7.2000 laiEiiïssii ................. P O R TLA N D GAY MEN'S CHORUS PO R TLAN D L E S B IA N CHOIR Presents BRIDGES VO CAL EN S EM B LE The great not-so-white-hot way A Portland theater director reviews the current Broadway season by Three Great Choruses! S One Great Concert! Don't miss the show as Portland's three premier gay choruses come together in a concert of pride and musical accomplishment! N A T I O N A L ENDOW MENT F O R THE A R T S Sat., July 15, 2000 • 8:00 p.m. R t g tonal A r t s & Cultura Council Sun., July 16, 2000 • 7:00 p.m. ;ftn. American Airtnes PCC Sylvania Performing Arts Center 12000 SW 49th Avenue, Portland Financial Advisors Tickets $20/$15/$12 FA S7IX X 224-T 1 arc WWW.PDXGMC.ORG A cast of two v dozen radiant, ■. p h y s ic a lly g o rg e o u s dancers brilliantly tap into both the joy and the winking naughtiness of FO S S E ...so h o t so sensual." ORIGINAL 8ROAOWAY CAST RECORDING AVAILABLE ON R C X V f c T O R P h o to C atherine A s h m o re -Hedy Weiss Chicago Sun-Times ummertime, and the New York theater sea son is exciting and exhilaratingly sultry. For more than 20 years, one of the highlights of my year has always been my annual trip to London and New York, soaking up as much theater, dance and music as humanly possible. These trips are very special and invalu able to me as a source of artistic inspiration and renewal. While some seasons are better than others, it never ceases to amaze me how varied and stimulating the arts scene is in these two culturally rich cities. The current New York theater scene is a bit low-key and disappointing, but then the glorious highs of last sea son are hard acts to follow. Last year’s return of drama to Broadway generated a power ful current that electrified the entire community. Any Jon Kretzu takes a busman’s holiday season offering the multiple thrills of Warren Leight’s splendid family drama Side Man, Connor a moving study of the town and citizens of MacPherson’s haunting play The Weir, Brian Laramie, Wyo., and how their lives were Dennehey and Elizabeth Franz in Death of a touched and altered by the Matthew Shepard Salesman, Kevin Spacey and company in The tragedy. Kaufman and his fine acting ensemble Iceman Cometh and Dame Judi Dench in Amy's spent nearly two years interviewing the people View — plus the sheer adrenaline rush provided of the town, getting to know them in such inti by the original casts of the revivals Fosse, mate detail that what emerges is a work of uni Cabaret and Chicago — is a unique theatrical versal relevance. The work’s quiet impact event. comes from its exploration of how a single, This year’s Broadway drama season is dismal horrific act of violence can both tear a town indeed, with the highlights few and far apart while also bringing a community together between. Claudia Shear’s salute to Mae West, in both shared strength and pride. Dirty Blonde, is a tough ticket (1 couldn’t man As we get to know the citizens of this little age it), as is Michael Frayn’s Tony-winning town and watch their prismatic reactions to Copenhagen, a play whose esoteric charms elud this unthinkable crime and its aftermath, we ed me when I saw it in London last year. There get caught up in the play’s powerful exploration also were well-received revivals of O ’Neill’s A of basic human truths such as hate and human Moon for the Misbegotten and Tom Stoppard’s ity, death and renewal, chaos The Real Thing, which I also saw in London and community. Lovingly per and found to be chilly and formed by the multitalented emotionally distant. ensemble who created it, The Laramie Project is an Our Town he off-Broadway for our time. drama season is sparked by Donald s has often been the Marguilies’ clever and case in recent years, undeniably engrossing things are somewhat Pulitzer Prize-winner brighter on the Broadway Dinner with Friends, musical front, even if there which is so well-written is no end in sight to the that it almost disguises the past decade’s dearth of fact that its just a really exciting new musicals. good episode of Thirty - This season brought us something onstage. the chamber-sized deli Another highlight of the cacy of James Joyce’s current off-Broadway season The Dead, two compet is The Laramie Project, a ing versions of the powerful new play by Moises mordant 1920s epic Kaufman and the Tectonic poem The Wild Party, Theatre Project, who created and Marie Christine, a the highly successful Gross Inde New Orleans voodoo cency: The Three Trials O f Oscar version of Medea. None of these Wilde. new works lasted out the season, and, based on Rather than simply being a docudrama re their original cast recordings and critical enactment of the events, The Laramie Project is reports, few deserved to. T 1999 Tony A w a rd W in n e r! B e s t M u s ic a l 1 its. Fred Meyer JULY 18-23 bycS (503)241-1802 Tickets available at ail KELLER AUDITORIUM FORMERLY CIVIC AUDITORIUM or (503)790-ARTS outlets including Gl Joe s Meier & Frank Lamb's Thriftway PCPA & Portland Opera Groups of 20 or more SA VE' '503' 321 -525 'honruu J o n K retzu . V A * portlan dooera. 3 ' g • A * * n r o a 3 . v 3 o e f!es com • >b,vw ticKetmaster com orego" A
