his column might seem like nothing but a cheap attempt on my part to get free tickets from every theater group in town or for me to mention my fondness for hunky Hebrew honeys, but then again, is there anything wrong with that?
I would Have Liked It Even If They Didn't Give Me Two Free Tickets
In July, MidTangent Productions presented an extremely entertaining gay adaptation of a Shakespeare play, A Misdummer Night's Dream: A Queer Tale. And while good olde Will did include fairies, a queen of the fairies, and even a character by the name of 'Bottom' in his comedy, I think the drag queens lip synching to Cher and other pop divas were part of the 'adaptation.'
Remember, My Tiara Is Made By Stetson
At first I thought one of those lip- synched numbers was to a Celine Dion song, but I was mistaken. Let's face it, I'm far more familiar with the Dixie Chicks than Celine Dion.
Tight Ass Or Not Tight Ass? That Is The Question.
In the original play, the character of Bottom was a weaver, while Snug was a joiner. In the Queer Tale version, however, Snug was a stoned-out 'jointer', and while it is probably safe to say that the joiner was never a weaver, I assume that at one time in his life Bottom must have been 'snug.'
No Fooling
One of my favorite moments was when Puck's most famous line 'Lord, what fools these mortals be' became 'Lord, what fools these breeders be.'
A Boy Named Helena
The character of Helena was played perfectly by Aaron-Michael Adamkiewicz ( whose performance I would have liked even if he didn't have a name almost as unspellable as my own ) . One thing that made his part interesting was that his character was named 'Helena' but he was dressed as a boy. That is until one hilarious part where he was made-over into the type of comically scary drag queen that would make a suburban Republican with a wife, picket fence and 3.4 kids faint dead away.
Even Better The Second Time Around
I liked the show enough that I actually did pay to see it again the following Friday.
Crazy About Shakespeare
This fall MidTangent will present Hamlet: The Diagnosis, which is described as 'Drawing on society's obsession with diagnosing mental illness, MTP will explore the inner workings of three of Shakespeare's most famous characters in Hamlet...'
Just In Case I Haven't Earned More Free Tickets Yet
If the Hamlet show is as good as A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Queer Tale, then this group might actually rival the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus in terms of how much I look forward to their shows.
Speaking Of Free Tickets
I need to thank my friend Seth ( a CGMC member ) , who provided me with a pair of tickets for the Chorus' most recent spring show, The Ten Commandments: The Musical. The show was very amusing and at times showed enough skin that you would have thought that the costumes were designed by the Bailiwick.
They're My Chosen People
I liked the Ten Commandments: The Musical because it was well written and performed, and not just because a lot of the guys I find attractive turned out to be Jewish ( not that the cast was predominantly Jewish, because I assume it wasn't, but the subject of the show was pretty heavily Hebrew, and while I'm busy rambling, I do occasionally wonder why I don't regularly cruise Congregation Or Chadash ) .
Will And Grace United Methodist Church
Speaking of religion and places I owed a mention in my column, Grace United Methodist Church, which is sort of in the middle of gay nowhere at 3325 W. Wrightwood Ave., in Chicago, not only has a rainbow sticker on the church's main sign outside their building, but when they held two country dances they went out of their way to involve the gay country dance community ( and yes, you glow stick waving disco divas, there are actually more than a dozen-and-a-half of us out there ) .
If you're a 39-to-55 year old Jewish guy, average build, non-smoker, salt & pepper hair ( preferred ) , who is into country dancing and has a cute, boyish face, feel free to feel me… I mean 'to e-mail me at PretzelLogicDave@aol.com'
If you are a glow stick waving disco diva, Jewish or otherwise, feel free to e-mail me at editor@GlowSticksDirect.com
