Entertainment :: Culture
New England Hit List :: Jan. 18 by Sam Baltrusis
EDGE ContributorThursday Jan 17, 2008
Don’t have plans this weekend? Now you do. We’re out and about tapping into our inner drag queen with Kelly Davidson’s photography exhibit "Drag Me Out, Drag Me In," laughing out loud at Douglas Carter Beane’s "The Little Dog Laughed" and 8 other "musts" this week. Want to know what’s hot? Here’s the hit list:
DRAG ME OUT, DRAG ME IN
Boston Phoenix graphic designer and acclaimed photographer Kelly Davidson unleashes her edgy exploration of gender identity with her collection of drag photography. According to Davidson, she has "a thing for boys in makeup, girls in fishnets and any other hotties soaking up the spotlight. I’m obsessed with performers," she says. These photographs were taken between 2004 and 2007 at the American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.)’s production of Island of Slaves and at Machine in Boston’s Fenway. Davidson continues, "My camera allows me access to places and experiences of events that I would normally not have. For example, the men’s room at Machine, when it’s being used as the dressing room for a Gold Dust Orphan’s theatre piece. I love watching the process of queen to drag queen, capturing the transformation. Drag queens are more male and more female than I will ever be." Opening reception is 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17. The Paradise, 969 Commonwealth Ave. Free. www.thedise.com.
THE LITTLE DOG LAUGHED
A hilarious send-up of all things Hollywood, Douglas Carter Beane’s "The Little Dog Laughed" chronicles what happens when an up-and-coming young movie star with a "slight recurring case of homosexuality" gets emotionally entangled with a sexy young callboy and his slacker girlfriend. Working hard to keep the "closet door" shut is the actor’s tightly wound agent, a master manipulator who will stop at nothing to protect her investment in the young star’s career. 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18 until Saturday, Feb. 16. SpeakEasy @ the Wimberly Theatre, 539 Tremont St. $14-$54. 617-933-8600 or www.speakeasystage.com.
ANGELS IN AMERICA
"Part I: The Millennium Approaches" scorches the Boston Theatre Works’ Roberts Studio Theatre. Tony Kushner’s seminal modern epic is a story both intimate and grand, which follows the disintegration of two relationships against a backdrop of greed, conservatism and the discovery of AIDS. The play transports the audience to New York, Washington, the Kremlin, Salt Lake City, Antarctica and even to Heaven. His characters overflow from the American melting pot as the story weaves through fantasy and reality in a powerful exploration of politics, religion and sex that remains poignant today. Collectively, the two parts of Angels in America won the Pulitzer Prize (1993), two Tony Awards, two Drama Desk awards and over 200 other awards throughout the world. 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 18 until Sunday, Feb. 10. $25-$48. 617-933-8600 or www.bostontheatreworks.com.
BLOWING WHISTLES
On the eve of London’s Gay Pride celebration, 30-something gay couple Jamie and Nigel observe their 10th anniversary by inviting an internet hook-up over for a celebratory threesome. Pre-coital excitement precipitates coital ecstasy exploding into post-coital chaos when the harsh light of the morning after reveals a couple on the brink of collapse exacerbated by the persistent advances of their night’s trick. Matthew Todd’s Blowing Whistles, a white-hot exploration of open relationships and casual sex in this Internet age. Plaza Box Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St. $35. 617-933-8600 or www.bostontheatrescene.com.
ADRIFT IN MACAO
Set in Macao in 1952 and conceived by Christopher Durang, "Adrift in Macao" concerns a motley group of Western expatriates who have, for no apparent reason, settled there. They include Lureena, a slinky-clad nightclub singer just off the boat from the States; Mitch, a brooding American bent on clearing his name for a murder he didn’t commit; Rick Shaw, the tough owner of a nightclub, Rick’s Surf & Turf Gambling casino; and Corrina, the club’s hardened headliner (but not for long.) There’s also Tempura, the club’s piano player and resident busybody. ("I am called Tempura," he explains by way of introduction, "because I have been battered by life.") 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17 until 8 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 3. Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St. $25-$54. 617-585-5678 or www.lyricstage.com.
ANTOINE FEVAL
Directed by Weylin Symes, this one-man comedy about a mystery by Canadian comedian Chris Gibbs introduces us to Barnaby Gibbs (played by Tom Souhrada), a kind-hearted but thoroughly dim-witted and clueless young Englishman who inadvertently becomes the Dr. Watson-like sidekick to brilliant detective Antoine Feval, not realizing that his new partner is actually the master thief who’s been robbing the city blind. Good guy Barnaby eagerly recounts his adventures with "Antoine Feval" in a story full of twists, turns, and gadzooks moments that are sure to keep audiences in stitches. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17 until Sunday, Jan. 27. Stoneham Theatre, 395 Main St. $16-$32. 781-279-2200 or www.stonehmatheatre.org.
MONTY PYTHON’S SPAMALOT
Flying cows, killer rabbits, taunting Frenchmen and show-stopping musical numbers are just a few of the reasons audiences everywhere are eating up "Spamalot." Winner of the 2005 Tony Award for Best Musical, Monty Python’s Spamalot is the outrageous new musical comedy lovingly ripped off from the film classic "Monty Python and The Holy Grail." Directed by Tony Award-winner Mike Nichols, with a book by Eric Idle and music and lyrics by the Grammy Award-winning team of Idle and John Du Prez, "Spamalot" tells the tale of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table as they embark on their quest for the Holy Grail. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17 until Sunday, Jan. 27. Boston Opera House, 539 Washington Street. $27.50-$82.50. 617-931-2787 or www.broadwayacrossamerica.com.
HENRY V
The second play of Actors’ Shakespeare Project’s fourth season is currently staged with five actors playing more than 30 roles. The production recounts the growth of the formerly wayward Prince Hal into England’s King Henry V, who decides to lead his army into war, culminating in England’s incredible victory over the French at Agincourt. Throughout the play, the chorus tells theatergoers how inadequate the stage is to present the army’s glorious deeds, saying it can only be done by enlisting the imagination of the audience. ASP takes this idea to a new height by staging the play with five actors: ASP resident acting company members Ken Cheeseman, Paula Langton and Doug Lockwood, and guest artists Molly Schreiber and Seth Powers and Normi Noel. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17 until Sunday, Feb. 3. The Garage, 38 JFK Street, Cambridge. $30-$42. 866-811-4111 or www.actorshakespeareproject.com.
THIS IS OUR YOUTH
Set in 1982 on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, the wealthy, articulate pot-smoking teenagers who were small children in the ’60s have emerged as young adults in a country that has just resoundingly rejected everything they were brought up to believe in. In annoyingly agonizing detail, "This Is Our Youth" chronicles 48 hours in the lives of three very lost souls in the big city at the dawn of the Reagan Era. Funny, painful, and compassionate, "This Is Our Youth" is a living snapshot of the moment between adolescence and adulthood. 8 p.m. Jan. 10 until 3 p.m. Jan. 20. Plaza Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St. $15-$20. 617-933-8600 or www.bcaonline.com.
JANICE DICKINSON’S MODELING AGENCY
Could this show get any gayer? Last week, the diva had a pack of straight models in assless chaps doing extremely homoerotic things. Yum. All we can say is thank goodness the bitch is back. When it started out, "Janice Dickinson’s Modeling Agency" seemed like an "America’s Next Top Model" rip-off. However, in its third season and armed with a cast of hotties--including out "Survivor" castaway J.P. Calderon and two new, openly gay models--the Oxygen reality show (airing 10:30 p.m. Tuesdays on Oxygen) is poised to bitch slap Tyra Banks and her cast of "ANTM" wannabes off the reality-show catwalk.
Sam Baltrusis has worked for WHDH-TV, CW56, MTV, VH1, Seventeen, Newsweek and as a regional stringer for The New York Times. He’s currently a full-time freelance editor/writer based in Boston. Check out his blog at loadedgunboston.blogspot.com.
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