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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 17, 2001)
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TCJi A DE Pager - Richard, Manager, Jazzercise, Inc. hollc@eaglehomemortgage.com Music M illen n iu m Out under the stars R e c o r d s , T a p e s and C D ’ s S in c e 1 9 6 9 G ay -tin g ed t h e a t e r m a k e s A s h la n d w o r t h t h e t r i p by East Portland NW Portland 23rd 8c NW Johnson (50 3) 248-0163 32nd & E Burnside (503)231-8926 Rock« F o lk « Jazz« C o u n t r y « S o u n d tr a c k s « Soul« G ospel« N e w A g e « W o r l d « Bluegrass« Blues« Easy Lis te n in g « O ldies« Local« C a j u n / Z y d e c o « L o u n g e « Rap« B r o a d w a y Cast« Classical a n d M u c h M o r e ! E rin B lackwell hakespeare festivals aren’t the first place most people look for gay theater, even though the Bard’s plays— originally per formed exclusively by men— feature gay characters and lots of cross-dressing. Maybe that’s because some companies do “normative Shakespeare,” in which men are men and women are wimps. But the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland does queer-friendly, racially inclusive, equal-opportunity productions— while setting a U.S. standard for aesthetic excellence. This sea son’s highlights include gay subplots in both The Mer chant o f Venice and Troilus and Cressida, a crossgender Prospero in The Tempest, a gleefully dysfunctional family in Fuddy Meets and fairies— both literal and figurative— in The Merry Wives o f Windsor. S legal claim to Antonio’s flesh. Only then do the sad old queen, the boy toy and the cross dresser settle down in uneasy domesticity. T h e performances are uniformly fabulous. DeBruno is affecting as a proud man driven mad by his second-class status. Elich is equal parts dignity and passion as a man made melancholy by unrealizable love. Cummings convinces as a “normal” guy too clueless to question the nature of Antonio’s devotion. Nordli looks equally fetching in a Victorian ball gown or a suit and tie. T roilus and Cressida, less well known and maybe less well written, is all about war and lechery. This is the dish about the Trojan War, that epic squabble started when Trojan Paris stole Greek Helen from her husband, Menelaus. Everybody in the play suffers from some form of ichael Donald Ed wards’ staging of The moral corruption. Achilles Merchant o f Venice is (Jeffrey King), most valiant the festival’s breakaway hit. of the Greeks, is perversely refusing to fight, his This story of a Jewish exploits having gone to his moneylender robbed of both head. So he’s lolling in his his daughter and his ducats by a bunch of smug Chris tent with his love, tians— considered a come Patrochlus (Christofer dy— is a hard sell for politi Bassanio (Jeff Cummings, left) Jean). Director Ken Albers cally correct sensibilities. leaves spectators in no and Antonio (Michael Elich) in Edwards’ solution is to court in T h e M erchant uf Venice doubt as to the nature of put anti-Semitism on stage their relationship. in the form of masked A very languid carousers and everyday shows of prejudice. We Patrochlus spends most of the play draped over see Shylock (Tony DeBruno) refused service in a very butch Achilles. a “Christian” cafe; in another scene, a character Unfortunately, there’s not much subtlety in he’s talking to casually knocks Shylock’s hat off the characterization, so they just sort of stand his head. around being gay, until Patrochlus is killed in The atmosphere of perpetual harassment battle. Then we’re treated to the eyesore of his thus established explains the Jew’s eventual strung-up corpse, one-armed and daubed with insistence on the “pound of (Christian] flesh” blood. due him for a debt. In the queer spectator’s Anyone who remembers Matthew Shepard mind, the parallels between religious intoler will find the sight either moving or gratuitous. ance and homophobia are quickly drawn. The opposite end of the moral universe from Against this politically charged background, Merchant, this production seems to wallow in, the Antonio-Bassanio-Portia love triangle is rather than transcend, the sordidness of the played out. Rich merchant Antonio (Michael play’s subject. W e’re repulsed by the characters Elich) dotes on penniless noble Bassanio (Jeff but gain no real insight into the relationship of Cummings), who needs money to court rich lechery— gay or straight— to war. heiress Portia (Robin Goodrin Nordli). Winning his lady love, Bassanio puts his he third Shakespeare play showing in the rich male admirer at risk. So Portia rises to the l ,200-seat Elizabethan Theatre, The Merry occasion, in male drag, and defeats Shylock’s Wives o f Windsor is a comedy starring Falstaff, M WINNER! TONY AWARD musical , rmm ^ *•* Dane» to ft on RCXVfcTO R COVeaftMtt«« isfif bkoaim - av ^ September 4-9 ssti*c,:rr Call (503) 241-1802 M-F 9 a - 5 P or (503) 790-ARTS ADeI( ~ K l <1 T ic k e t s ava ilab le at all t i c n a f m a s f o r lo catio n s in clud in g P o rtlan d O p era G r o u p s (20 or m ore): (503) 241-1407 • w w w portlan d o pera org • w w w b ro a d w a y s e r ie a co m T
