GAYLETTER

American Realness is a wonderful festival that takes place at the Abrons Art Center. It’s pretty much what it sounds like, it’s a series of “new performance, dance, and art events that repurposes “realness” for a newly growing subset of American and international art.” Curated by Ben Pryor it’s well worth attending. Miguel Giuterrez’s is a choreographer who’s created work for the festival. It’s actually part 2 of the performance he did from last year. It’s all about beauty and decay, and what it’s like to age as a dancer. I’m not a dancer, but I’ve dated a couple, and I know how tough a life it is. You are literally beholden to your body. A big injury can derail your career. I know that is true of lots of jobs, but how many of them are you forced to tempt fate constantly by putting so much strain on the instrument so vital to your success? Yadda, yadda, yadda. It’s an interesting topic to tackle and Miguel does it well. The show runs till the 18th. Don’t miss it. Click here for tickets.  —tom

We had quite a night on Saturday at the Paramount Hotel near Times Square. We’d been to the basement many times (PrettyUgly is held in it’s underground ballroom) but wanted to check out the Queen of The Night show that’s held there beforehand. It’s an “immersive theatre” experience. It’s kind of a cross between Sleep No More and Cirque De Soleil, with a Game of Thrones like feast of roasted pig, lobster and beef ribs served during it. There’s even an open bar where you can order whatever you like...which we did! After a couple of Negroni’s we kind of lost track of the story line, not that that mattered, it’s full of impressive acrobatics, magic and dance which don’t really rely on a plot. At the end of it they ask everyone to head to the floor for a romantic slow dance. They then spoon feed the whole audience this incredible chocolate cake. The ticket for Queen is not that much more than your average Broadway show ($140) but not only do you get a brilliant show, you also get the aforementioned open bar and a pretty wonderful dinner. You can also hang out afterwards and dance the night away at PrettyUgly. Just go easy on the drinks, Abi and I hit the bottle hard and things got pretty...I’ll save that story for another day. ;) Use the promo code 'GAYLETTER' for a special offer.  —Abi

Start the new year off with some cerebral performance art. “LOOSE is an autobiographical examination of how gender expression, and racial identity affect each other when we navigate public space. Conversations with other gender non-conforming people of color are captured and turned into a live documentary performance that blends the practices of DJ remixing techniques and live video mixing. LOOSE is designed to be improvisational. No two performances are the same.” The unique performance is created by D’hana Perry a Brooklyn based DJ, documentary filmmaker and video artist. He studied at Wesleyan and Emerson and is way smarter than me. Perry has been a part of the NY queer nightlife scene for sometime while also working with the artist collective, KUNQ. It’s hard for me to say whether this show is going to be good or not, because I haven’t seen it yet, but from the company Perry keeps (Mykki Blanco, Jubilee, JD Samson, Kim Ann Foxman) we have a feeling it will be well worth your time.  —tom

Did you know that male ballet dancers don’t wear point shoes, ever? I did, but don’t tell that to the all male troupe Le Ballet Trockadero de Monte Carlo now performing at The Joyce Theatre cuz ALL the dancers are on point, pretty pink satin point shoes en pointe! Founded in 1974 for the purpose of “Presenting a playful and entertaining view of traditional classical ballet in parody form and en travesti Le Ballet Trockadero first performed in late late shows in off off Broadway lofts.” Well now the ladies of The Trocks (as they are affectionately known) have established themselves as a major dance phenomenon throughout the world. Abi and I were joyfully entertained, fueled by the $4 glasses of red and 50 cent cheese sticks we got during two welcomed intermissions the night we attended. Those heavy male bodies were delicately balanced on toes to perfection as the men danced excerpts from the likes of Swan Lake, Don Quixote and La Naiade de le Pecheur that premiered in London in 1843. Please take this opportunity to get your new year started off on the right foot and come see The Trocks twirl, spin, lift and pirouette you into a frenzy of delight.  —Gayletter

I was reading the description for this show, it starts like this, “America’s most celebrated Hollywood legend, Nicholas Gorham, returns this year with a brand new television special live from Egypt!” My first reaction was “really? mmmkay,” but then seconds later, I realized that they were not really serious — I love crazy shit like this... I am not saying that Nicholas couldn’t host a live show from Egypt, in fact, I can tell you that the boy is very talented and we have loved his nice ass since we first saw him perform, but it’s unlikely. When Tom first saw him, he was like, he’s so good, “I want to have sex with him...” Anyways, I went to Facebook chat and tracked down Nicholas to ask him more about this. “The whole show is crazy,” I was right! “The play’s premise is that we are in Egypt doing a U.S.O tour and are forced to rethink our misconceptions about the Muslim world. I always write a Christmas play that is more about our society and the collective issues...I’ve found that this time of year is when, as an outsider, all of America’s insanity becomes its most epic, so I feel as though it’s the perfect time to showcase how ridiculous we all are about things.” Nicholas will be joined by other performers (and members of the cast) including Enid Ellen, Cynthia Bastidas and David Commander. Click here for tickets!  —Abi

Let me set the stage — we’re in Joan Crawford’s living room in Hollywood and famed gossip columnist Hedda Hopper is there to do a live Christmas broadcast with Joan and her children... then the shit hits the fan. Gary Cooper lives next door and there’s a steady stream of guest’s ringing the doorbell thinking they’re going to Cooper’s party that continually interrupt the broadcast. Joan is played by none other than Joey Arias, who delivers a beyond stellar performance, Chris March (yes the Project Runway former contestant) plays the beloved daughter Christina, Connie Champagne is Judy Garland, Flotilla DeBarge is Hattie McDaniel, and a flawless Sherry Vine plays Hopper and cinema’s Baby Jane Hudson. There’s a parade of other Hollywood luminaries that stop by including Carmen Miranda, Liberace, Ethel Merman, The Andrew Sisters and a hilarious Gloria Swanson. It’s really a technicolor wonder beautifully staged and performed with the perfect ironic dose of holiday cheer. Come one, come all, just make sure you come! Get tickets!    —Gayletter

The Australian choreographer Luke George was in New York City in the summer teaching the What is Queer Performance workshop, which we covered in our newsletter and on our site. Luke is back again to premier his first New York show titled ‘Not About Face’ at The Chocolate Factory Theater, from November 19-22. The artist tell us that it’s a very queer piece “where the performers (Hilary Clark and myself) and the audience are all dressed in sheets and spend about an hour in pseudo-spiritual/cult like interactive group experiences.” If you go see his show be prepared to join the performance, not to worry if you are shy, they’ll cover you in a robe and everything will be anonymous. Performance art is always so hard to explain, but when you experience it you always leave with a better understanding. of it. Just go with an open mind. I’ll leave you with a deep quote from the press release: “We will come together. We will become anonymous. We will fake belief or believe in faking it.” Sure thing!  —Abi

I feel like we haven’t seen Penny Arcade in ages, it was nice to get an email from her earlier this month telling us about her new show ‘Longing Lasts Longer’ that she’s been working on with Steve Zehentner. They both designed and directed the show and Penny tells me that she has been completely immersed in it. The show is a “rumination on love, longing and the loss of New York’s cultural identity.” They shot a lot of video and they are hoping to develop this into a full length theatre performance piece containing video, music and songs — Penny adds “I’m returning to my 1980’s work with live music and songs.” Yes Penny! There are only a few performances left. It’s very hard for me to fully explain what this show is about, but if you know Penny then you should just go... you’ll always learn a thing or two from Mama Arcade!  —Abi