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Arts Equity presents Steve Martin's Picasso at the Lapin
Agile extended through Aug. 11. (Call for times 606 Main
St., Vancouver, Wash. $10424 from 360-695-3770.)
Back Door Theater presents 6 Short Comedies by
Christopher Durang, the gay playwright of "For Whom the
Southern Belle Tolls" and "Desire, Desire, Desire," hot
summer parodies of hot summer Tennessee Williams clas
sics, through July 28. (9 pm Thursday-Saturday 4319 SE
Hawthorne Blvd $648 from 971-275-7004.)
Broadway Rose Theatre Company presents Cole, a fresh
musical revue about the queer king of musicals, Cole
Porter, through July 29 at Deb Fennell Auditorium in Tigard.
(Call for times. 9000 SW Durham Road. $19426 from
503-620-5262.)
Broadway Rose Theatre Company presents No Way to
Treat a Lady, a musical-comedy thriller about a publicity-
crazed actor turned killer who'll go to any lengths to get
a New York Times review, Aug. 3-19 at Deb Fennell
Auditorium in Tigard. (Call for times. 9000 SW Durham
Road. $19426 from 503-620-5262.)
Conduit Dance presents Alenka Loesch’s Into the Dark
Unknown: Dream of a Blue Girl, a collaboration with queer
neo-folkie Holcombe Waller, and Michael Sakamoto's solo
work fusing Eastern and Western influences, histoneal depth,
absurd humor and intense, minimialist imagery July 28
and 29. (8 pm. 918 SW Yamhill Ave. #401. $13415.)
Conduit Dance presents the West Coast debut of Gerald
Casel Dance with The Scheme of Things, a collection of
three contemporary pieces from the award-winning former
Stephen Petronio dancer, Aug. 3 and 4. (8 pm. 918 SW
Yamhill Ave. #401. $13415 from 503-221-5857.)
Home Planet Productions presents Almost, Maine,
a "charming midwinter night’s dream" about a small,
mythical town where residents are falling in and out of love
at an alarming rate, through Aug. 12 at CoHo Theater.
(8 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. 2257 NW Raleigh
St. $10415 from 888-287-6318.)
Lakewood Theatre Company presents Noises Off,
a hilarious comedy about the backstage antics of a tour
ing theater troupe in England, through Aug. 19. (Call for
times. 368 S State St., Lake Oswego. $23425 from
503-635-3901.)
Masque Alfresco presents a free performance of The
Misanthrope. Molidre's social satire updated for modern
audiences, July 27-29 on the Beaverton Library lawn.
(6:30 pm. 12375 SW Fifth St.)
New Century Players presents Steel Magnolias, a skillfuF
ly crafted, lovingly evoked picture of eccentricity concerning
a group of gossipy Southern ladies in a small town beauty
parlor, through July 21 at Rex Putnam Blackbox Theatre in
Milwaukie. (7:30 pm Thursday-Saturday, 2 pm Saturday.
4950 SE Roethe Road. $8412 from 503-367-2620.)
New Moon Productions presents free outdoor perform
ances of The Wizard of Oz through July 28 at Washington
Park Amphitheatre. (6:30 pm Tuesday-Sunday. 400 SW
Kingston Blvd.)
Northwest Classical Theatre Company presents a free
production of William Shakespeare's As You Like It July 28-
Aug. 11 at Terry Schrunk Federal Plaza and Aug. 18 at
Willamette Park in West Linn. (3 pm Saturday. For direc
tions visit www.nwctc.org.)
Portland Actors Ensemble presents a free neo-Gothic
version of William Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Romeo
and Juliet through July 21 at Lovejoy Fountain Park. (8 pm.
For directions visit www.portlandactors.com.)
Portland Actors Ensemble presents a free production
of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew
July 28-Sept. 3 at a different park each weekend. (3 pm
Saturday and Sunday, 3 pm Sept. 3. For locations visit
www. portlandactors, com.)
Portland Center Stage presents free public readings of
new work for the stage, including queer playwright Matt
Zrebski's First Beard, during the ninth annual JAW
Playwrights Festival through July 22 in Gerding Theater at
the Armory. (128 NW 11th Ave. For a complete schedule
visit www.pcs.org.)
Portland Opera's Broadway Across America revives
Mamma Mia!— the hit musical based on the songs of
Abba—July 25-29 at Keller Auditorium. (Call for times.
222 SW Clay St. $28473 from Ticketmaster.)
Portland State University presents Waiting for Godot,
Samuel Beckett's absurdist slapstick comedy about two
tramps' existential dilemma while waiting for a mysteri
ous man who might never come, through July 29 at
Theater Theatre. (8 pm Wednesday-
Saturday, 2 pm Sunday. 3430 SE
Belmont St. $1.)
Sowelu Theater presents The Hero,
a haunting tale of a soldier's final
battle with his demons, July 26-28
at Interstate Firehouse Cultural
Center. (8 pm. 5340 N Interstate
Ave. $10412 from 503-730-9066.)
Theater Theatre presents the pre
miere of lesbian playwright (and
recent Portland State University
graduate) A.R. Jackson's Lipstick and
Other Cosmetics, a spoken word/
performance art piece that includes
songs and monologues to describe
the journey of female sexuality in
today's society, Aug. 1-4. (8 pm.
3430 SE Belmont St. $7410 from
971-235-4550.)
The Tragedies present ...And the
Horse You Rode in On! —a sketch
show that parodies everything from
serial killers and MySpace to caveman
politics and big pharmaceutical
companies—through Aug. 5 at
Crimson Theater. (8 pm Friday and
Saturday. 700 NE Dekum St. $10 from
503-367-2100.)
Myshkin s Ruby Warblers raise environmental awareness
Aug. 3 at the Aladdin.
Broadway Rose Theatre stages a musical revue about Cole Porter through July 29.
Get a Kick Out of Cole
Cole Porter was my first. Fresh out of college and green as a soybean, I left my naive farmboy past
behind to set sail into the sea of professional theater as a stagehand on a summer-stock production of this
American composer’s naughty nautical. Eight shows a week, I was pushing scenery on and off stage, help
ing chorus boys in and out of costume, and quickly coming of age: The minute 1 heard “Blow, Gabriel,
Blow,” I knew Anything Goes indeed.
Night and day, Cole’s bubbly urbanity was so easy to love. His early 20th twang was delightful, deli
cious and, yes, even de-lovely. Moreover, his craft exemplified the essence of musical theater: “Words and
music must be so inseparably wedded to each other that they are like one.”
But the maestro and I shared something else much more personal than appreciation for high Cs and
tap-dancing sailors.
For at least parts of our lives, we both were to one degree or another “openly closeted,” he in his inter
national playboy Ivy League and me in my backwater hayseed hollow. We both knew tricks for putting up
a front and dealing on the side. And 1 knew men like Cole (usually a generation my senior) who felt the
pressure to wive in order to survive. But Cole's sexual variances were more or less public knowledge even
before his glamorously guiltless marriage-of-convenience in 1919 to a socialite divorcée. From street to
elite, the low-down was that Cole was more than not on the down-low, often amusing himself with love
for sale and enough double-entendres to make everyone happy.
Will Porter’s baggage survive the trip to the 'burbs when a musical revue of his life opens at Broadway
Rose Theatre? Straight up in press release terms: “While the revue concentrates on Mr. Porter’s profes
sional life, his personal life is discussed, including his friendships and his marriage of 34 years to Linda Lee
Thomas. His homosexuality is referred to and is treated as a matter of fact.”
Which makes me personally a bit ambivalent: Surely, Cole’s music is what should be treated as
sensational, not his sexuality. But a biography that relegates this inseparable part of his life to mere
incidence diminishes its artistic relevance and leaves Cole—not unlike many artists then and now
“openly closeted.” The trick—as much now as it was then—will be to read between the lines.
Cole: A Musical Celebration of Cole Porter and His Music plays through July 29 at Tigard’s Deb Fennell
Auditorium, 9000 S.W. Durham Road. Tickets are $ 19-$26 from 503-620-5262 or www.broadwayrose.com.
■
National Artist
Auditions
Discover Paradise!
semi-finalists
i
Show runs:
July 1st • 31st, 2007
Opening reception:
Friday, July 6th, 6-9 pm
Aaron Morgan Brown
Arcadia J
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