So it’s Josh K.’s birthday week and, as such, we decided to celebrate by
going to a couple shows this week, topping it off with a birthday dinner in the Village this weekend.
Yesterday we headed over to the Helen Hayes Theater on West 44th Street to see our first show. We settled into our (great) seats and flipped through the Playbill. We were both a little skeptical (um, a musical based on a monumental cinematic flop?), but we were both game.
We were so wrong to be skeptical. Lord forgive us, we knew not what we did. We hadn’t known the pleasures of . . . Xanadu!
What Douglas Carter Beane (The Little Dog Laughed) and Jeff Lynne did is brilliant. They took a maligned box office disaster and played up all the jokes about it and spun it into Broadway gold, a truly delicious musical comedy. Honestly, this is the funniest musical we’ve ever seen on Broadway. (We saw Spelling Bee on Adult Night, which came close, but Xanadu still kinda won.) The audience giggled, guffawed, chortled, and plain old screamed laughter through the whole 90-minute non-stop show.
The plot is deliciously ridiculous: A Greek goddess appears in Venice Beach, California, in the 1980s to inspire a sidewalk chalk artist to greater things—like starting a roller disco in an abandoned building!—while the Greek goddess’s six sisters (two of whom are male) lurk and plot and schtick around on the sidelines. Oh, and most of the show is performed while on roller skates. Score! It's oh so wrong that it's oh so right. And, yes, there’s a dance number in a telephone booth and a Greek goddess riding a merry-go-round horse high in the air while belting a pop rock number.
And it’s all wonderful. Perfect. Hilarious. Great voices, fantastic deadpan humor, an Australian accent that will leave you incontinent, and great dance performances. There are even songs I want to download on iTunes from the show. How many musicals have you seen lately that you can say that about, right?
Kerry Butler as Kira, the Greek goddess, is amazing. (If Nicole Kidman and Sarah Michelle Gellar had a love child, it would be Kerry Butler.) She’s hilarious, she can sing, she’s gorgeous, and she plays the material perfectly.
Cheyenne Jackson, from the moment he got on stage, had us drooling. And then, of course, there’s the gorgeous voice and deadpan comedic delivery that go with the jaw-dropping gams, chiseled face, and big soap opera smile. (He wears daisy dukes and short shorts most of the show. If you weren’t reaching for Ticketmaster already, you should be now.)
Kira’s sister goddesses, including those played by Mary Testa and Jackie Hoffman, are really the cherries on top of a great show.
Basically, if we could go out on the town with any cast on Broadway, it would be the cast of Xanadu. (We eliminated Spring Awakening because they’re all, oh, five or six years younger than us, and if we wanted to play high school, we’d go out with the cast of The Hills. You know?)
We can’t say enough good stuff about the show. Josh and I were yelling out one-liners all the way down the street after we left the show. Ten minutes later, over slices of pizza, we were still laughing.
Xanadu. Seriously.
Tonight, continuing our JK Birthday Week Celebrations, we’re seeing Charles Busch’s Die Mommie Die at the New World Stages. We saw the hilarious film of the same name, starring Busch (natch!), and we can’t wait to see it all live. Long live Angela Arden!
The Movie To See This Weekend: Michael Clayton
So little needs to be said other than, “Go see this damn movie this weekend.”
Dylan and I saw the movie over the weekend and loved it. (Um, people, it’s George Clooney and Tilda Swinton. Hello!) George plays a law firm fixer who’s in a heap of trouble in his own life and then finds himself in more when he gets involved with a case involving a weed killer that’s killing people and weeds, a product and company defended by the amazing Ms. Swinton (Orlando, The Deep End).
It's smart, it's entertaining, it keeps you guessing and intrigued, and we actually get to know our well-drawn main characters and what makes them tick. It makes the final ten minutes of the movie—the ultimate booyah!—even more amazing.
Also (drum roll, please!) today is NATIONAL COMING OUT DAY!
Are you a big ol’ happy homo, an ever-so-lovely fruit fly (the positive form of “fag hag”, obvs), or a great big ally of the community?
If so, time to come out! Feel free to do so in the comments, y’all.
Yep. Definitely gay homosexuals. And you?
Posted by: Josh & Josh | October 11, 2007 at 12:18 PM
I am so gay... Theriously, I am.
Posted by: Andrew | October 11, 2007 at 12:25 PM
Fruit fly! Oh Please!
In my gay boys world. . my term is Fairy Princess thank you. :)
Posted by: Shannon | October 11, 2007 at 01:12 PM
Gay as the day is long!!!!!!
Posted by: Ben | October 11, 2007 at 03:02 PM
Gay here, too. Now if my mom just knew I've been living with a handsome hunk of a man for the past year ...
Posted by: Zack | October 11, 2007 at 03:06 PM
long time reader, firsttime commenter. TOTAL FRUIT FLY!
Love that you guys are doing this. Also love Cheyenne. Do you know if he has a boyfriend?
At leaest I still have George Clooney.
Posted by: Marisa | October 11, 2007 at 03:07 PM
gay.
gay.
gay.
and more gay.
but i don't think anyone knows? well, maybe my boyfriend. and my BGF. and my BFF. and my second BFF.....
oh, I could go on...but I'll wait for Anderson Cooper and Wentworth Miller and Matthew Broderick, who I'm sure are readers, to come out here...
keep up the great writing. And, happy Josh K's birthday week.
Posted by: Erik | October 11, 2007 at 03:15 PM
Like I don't know?!? A mother always knows...
Posted by: Zack's Mom. | October 11, 2007 at 03:17 PM
Out and Proud circa 1999!!
Posted by: Ruben | October 11, 2007 at 03:55 PM
oh and... HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHIE!!!!
Posted by: Ruben | October 11, 2007 at 03:59 PM
You know me, I'll even come out as 'fag hag' if needs be, I'm all yours! All of yous :)
Posted by: scholiast | October 11, 2007 at 05:12 PM
happy as a clam
Posted by: Tom | October 11, 2007 at 09:31 PM
oh yeah i forgot to mention, i'm back for a...year long hiatus on commenting. you might remember me as the tom with a xanga who used to comment a long time ago.
Posted by: Tom | October 12, 2007 at 12:36 AM
Happy Birthday, Josh!
Excellent choice on the birthday shows. Will and I have seen Xanadu twice now (go back and sit on the stage, that's too fun!), and we're thinking about seeing Die Mommie Die for Will's birthday next month.
Posted by: Jeff | October 12, 2007 at 05:01 AM
Yup. Definitely gay. Speaking of gay ... Happy Bday Josh k. P.S. I agree on Michael Clayton. Excellent movie. It should be required viewing for all law students (and those of you smart enough to have skipped out on the whole law school thing, which I, alas, was not :-)).
Posted by: John | October 12, 2007 at 09:39 AM
happy birthday! and im glad. glad. glad to be gay.
Posted by: chris | October 12, 2007 at 11:41 AM
Happy Birthday, Josh K!
Posted by: B | October 12, 2007 at 01:05 PM
Ahhhhhh birthday weeks are the best! Enjoy every bit of it. Here is to many more fab birthdays ahead. xo.
Posted by: Dashus | October 12, 2007 at 09:02 PM
Tom: Welcome back!
Jeff: Congrats on ten years with Will!
Everyone else: THANKS FOR COMIN' OUT! I continue to believe that coming out is very important. I've seen first hand over the last decade (nearly) since I first came out how much of a difference it really does make for the people around me. Coming out is one of the greatest tools we have for acceptance. When people see that we're gay folks and basically like everyone else it's an amazing step. It's much easier to hate or fear something you don't know than it is to hate or fear the guy sitting in the next cube or the desk next to you or across the table at Thanksgiving. Until next year! <3
Posted by: Josh H. | October 14, 2007 at 10:26 AM
Hey, guys! Long-time reader, first-time commenter!
I'll be doing the Die Mommie Die! thing when I hit NYC in two weeks. I'm curious to know what you thought of it! Spill, please! :)
Posted by: Brian 5 | October 18, 2007 at 10:06 PM
Yeah, so I just noticed that someone else already used that "first-time commenter" thing. This is worse than that time Tom Cruise and I showed up at the same party wearing the same beard.
Posted by: Brian 5 | October 18, 2007 at 10:08 PM
In high school I made these stickers (in the style of California license plates) which said OK2BGAY and plastered all over the school the day of the 11th, along with other stickers with a shot from the lovely, saccharine gay UK teen movie Get Real, proclaiming "come out, come out, wherever you are!"
The stickers wouldn't come off the glass doors of the school. Oops! :)
Posted by: mama joey | October 24, 2007 at 09:48 PM
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www.mycryptogram.blogspot.com
my e-mail, roadssd@yahoo.com
Thanxx, SDRoads
Posted by: SDRoads | April 02, 2008 at 07:47 PM
Oh yeah, Happy Birthday, Josh 1 of Josh & Josh! Wink -SD
Posted by: SDRoads | April 02, 2008 at 07:49 PM