It's enough to strike fear into the heart of any red-blooded gay man: they call it All the Women You Want, and it's an Andersonville weekend marathon of female performers, comediennes, monologists, burlesquers and more. The Oct. 21-23 marathon at Las Manos Gallery ( 5220 N. Clark ) is a benefit for Beyondmedia Education. Vicki Quade, Beth Nugent, Toots L'Amour, Nicole Hollander, members of The Second City and the Neo-Futurists, the Lickety Split Radicals and Stephanie Shaw are just a few of the dozens of broads, chicks, babes, femmes and assorted Womyn who have joined the line-up. Friday evening is billed as A Night of Comedy, Saturday evening as A Night of Sex and Flirtation and Sunday afternoon as Confronting the Truth. Tickets ( $7-$12 ) are available at Los Manos and at Women and Children First across the street.
Another woman, of sorts, strikes fear of laughter into the hearts of just about anyone. Yes, possums, Dame Edna is returning to Chicago in a new extravaganza of music, dancing and FABulous gowns. Dame Edna: Back with a Vengeance will play the LaSalle Bank Theatre ( the Shubert ) March 14-26 only. Believe your Jonny, dear readers, you do NOT want to miss the therapeutically funny ( meaning you'll laugh until you cry ) Dame Edna.
One of Chicago's kinder and gentler theater pleasures, the AFTRA/SAG Radio Players, will take to the stage Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Claudia Cassidy Theater in the Chicago Cultural Center. Several times a year, these veteran performers gather to present episodes from old time radio programs, just as they would have been broadcast live in the 1930's and 1940's. Many of the hit radio shows made the transition to TV, such as Gunsmoke, which will be featured as part of the Nov. 9 show along with an episode of the less-famous Life with Luigi, about the life of an Italian-American family in Chicago.
Of course, not all the radio stars were suitable for television. On radio, tall-in-the-saddle lawman Matt Dillon was played by stocky William Conrad, not by TV's James Arness. Radio Players performances are FREE, but seating is on a first-come basis. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
About Face Theatre has taken its hit musical, Winesburg, Ohio, on the road: it's playing at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia even as you read this, running through Nov. 6. Winner of several Joseph Jefferson Awards, it's a musical version of the early 20th Century novel by Sherwood Anderson that chronicles small town lives including that of one possibly closeted man. About Face Theatre in association with Steppenwolf Theatre Company originally presented Winesburg, Ohio in June 2004. The novel was adapted by About Face artistic director Eric Rosen ( book and lyrics ) , with music and additional lyrics by Andre Pluess and Ben Collins-Sussman. Several members of the original About Face cast are in the Philly production.
Those of us old enough to remember—ahem—the late 1950s and 1960s will tell you that no dreamier dreamboat every peered down from a movie screen than blond, blue-eyed, built beautiful Tab Hunter. Well, he still looks damn good at 74, having survived a heart attack, a stroke and love scenes with Divine, and he's written an autobiography about all those things and more. Tab Hunter: Confidential, now in bookstores, will be reviewed by Jonny in the near future, Jonny actually having worked with Fab Tab. In the meantime you might want to pick up a copy of your own to see several dozen photos of the star in his bare-chested glory, among them a revealing shot of Hunter and Rudolph Nureyev in bathing suits that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination. Tab Hunter himself will be signing copies of his book Nov. 10 at Borders, State at Randolph, at 5:30 p.m.
You think you have something to say and the talent to say it? Then Acts of Pride 2005 Showcase may want YOU. The Showcase seeks diverse LGBT speakers and performers from the Chicagoland area to audition, in effect, for possible bookings at area colleges and universities. The Showcase is Saturday, Nov. 5, 2005, at DePaul University. There's no pay, but, hey, it's an opportunity to strut your stuff. Advanced registration by Oct. 28 is required. No walk-in talented is allowed. Each speaker and performer will have 8-10 minutes. Afterwards, representatives from the academic institutions and student organizations will network with the speakers and performers to encourage contracting and scheduling. For more information, e-mail Liz Thomson at actsofpride05@yahoo.com or visit www.geocities.com/actsofpride05.
Musical drag queen ( is there any other kind? ) Micah McCain, celebrated globally as Bridgette of Madison County, will deconstruct himself in Unshaven, his new one-person show, at Bailiwick, Nov. 2-13 only. Jonny is careful to say him rather than her, for McCain will appear without make-up, female attire or boobs to reveal the man behind the heavily applied pancake. As McCain himself says, Unshaven is a case of 'good drag gone bad.'
