Author: Randy Slovacek

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Hungary Bans Same-Sex Marriage In New Constitution

Hungarian lawmakers approved a new constitution Monday that was blasted by rights groups and the political opposition for measures considered extremely conservative. Some of the changes to the current constitution include: * Ban on same-sex marriage * Protects the life of a fetus from conception opening the possibility to future ban or restriction on abortion * Ban on discrimination does not include age or sexual orientation * Tax and pension law changes require a two-thirds majority “We’ve just participated in a historical moment,” parliamentary speaker Laszlo Kover said moments after the bill was approved 262-44. “The new constitution is built upon our past and traditions, but seeks and contains answers to current problems while keeping an eye on the future.” Hungary’s current constitution dates from 1949, near the start of the communist regime but it was almost fully rewritten during the 1989 transition to democracy. Hungary assumed the six-month rotating presidency of the EU in January.

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Elton John returns to Las Vegas!

Elton John is returning to the Las Vegas Strip for a three-year run at Caesars Palace.

The five-time Grammy winner announced Monday he’ll return with his “Million Dollar Piano” show to The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas starting in September.
Tickets for the first 16 shows go on sale April 25.

John completed his first run at Caesars Palace in April 2009. “The Red Piano” was originally slated to run for three years, but was extended to a five-year run because of audience demand.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.
(via AP)

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Recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll results

In a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll of 1,000 Americans, it appears GOP lawmakers may be reading the wrong tea leaves in their approach to cutting spending and deficit reduction

67% said it was either “Totally” or “Somewhat” Unacceptable to cut Medicaid as a way to reduce the federal deficit.

76% said it was either “Totally” or “Somewhat” Unacceptable to cut Medicare as a way to reduce the federal deficit.

76% said it was either “Totally” or “Somewhat” Acceptable to raise taxes on those making more than $1,000,000 a year as a way to reduce the federal deficit.

74% said it was either “Totally” or “Somewhat” Acceptable to eliminate tax credits for oil and gas companies as a way to reduce the federal deficit.

68% said it was either “Totally” or “Somewhat” Acceptable to eliminate the Bush Tax cuts for making over $250K a year as a way to reduce the federal deficit.

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Question 1: Marriage Equality Documentary

“Question 1” is a new documentary shot during Maine’s successful “Yes on 1” campaign to repeal the state’s marriage equality law, utilizing interviews from both sides leading players and volunteers. In the documentary, Yes On 1 chairman Marc Mutty expresses regret for his role. Mutty also acknowledges that his campaign’s claim that “same-sex marriage will be taught in schools” was untrue.

The Portland Press Herald reports that the take-away in this documentary, which was filmed during the campaign on the condition that it not be screened before the election, is the regret expressed by the leader of the anti-gay initiative.

Says Marc Mutty, public affairs director for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Maine, and chair of the “Yes on 1” campaign in the film’s trailer:

“This has been a f**kin’ son of a bitch. This has been awful. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it…I fear I’ll be remembered for the work I did on this campaign…[I’m asking…] for forgiveness for the ways in which I might have betrayed my own self in this endeavor.”

Make sure you go see it.

Watching the trailer is almost too difficult for me. This issue has become such an over-riding issue for me I can barely watch the bigots. I read posted somewhere recently:

“What does the word of God say about collecting a dead spouse’s social security? What does the word of God say about spousal privilege in legal cases? What does the word of God say about the tax code for married couples? CIVIL marriage has nothing to do with some people’s particular interpretation of what they think is the word of God. CIVIL marriage isn’t religious marriage.”

And that pretty much sums it all up for me. I’m tired of the “religious” – who aren’t that religious – using the Bible and the “word of God” to protect themselves from the label “bigot” – which is exactly what they are. I’m really done with it.

Equal is equal. No one wants to (here come the buzz words and catch phrases and talking points – pay attention) “redefine marriage.” All anyone wants is to have the SAME rights as everyone else. That’s why America is the great country it’s supposed to be. Not special rights – equal rights.

Stepping off the soapbox now. Go see the movie.

And vote.

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LGB teen suicide rates increase in conservative environments

A study published today in Pediatrics reveals that lesbian, gay, and bisexual teens are more likely to attempt suicide when they live in a community that is less supportive of their identities. A more supportive social environment was significantly associated with fewer suicide attempts. LGB youth were significantly more likely to attempt suicide in the previous 12 months, compared with heterosexuals (21.5% vs 4.2%).

It’s documented fact that LGB youth already attempt suicide at higher rates than their heterosexual peers, but the rates are even higher when there is less visibility of same-sex couples, a higher proportion of registered Republicans/conservatives, and fewer school gay-straight alliances and nondiscrimination policies:

Gay, lesbian and bisexual teens living in counties with the lowest social index scores were 20 percent more likely to have attempted suicide than gays in counties with the highest index scores. Overall, about 25 percent of gay teens in low-scoring counties had attempted suicide, versus 20 percent of gay teens in high-scoring counties.

Strikingly, the study also found that heterosexual youth were more likely (9%) to attempt suicide in the less supportive environment, demonstrating the importance of LGBT education for all young people. Moreover, the data demonstrate that it is environmental factors that contribute to the increased rates, not the individuals’ actual identities.

This is not the first study to show such results in terms of environment and disapproval. A 2009 study by the Family Acceptance Project showed that LGB young adults were 8.4 times more likely to attempt suicide if they were rejected by their family. A 2004 National Research Council study found that rates of suicide completion are much higher in rural areas.

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Santorum “had nothing to do” with his campaign slogan

Rick Santorum’s Thursday announcement that he will build his presidential campaign war chest under the slogan “Fighting to Make America America Again” hit a snag when ThinkProgress pointed out it bears more than a striking resemblance to a poem by Langston Hughes.

During a Friday afternoon New Hampshire appearance, Santorum was asked by the site’s Lee Fang whether he was aware that the slogan was lifted from the Harlem Renaissance poet’s “Let America Be America Again.” A gay rights advocate, Hughes’ work includes “Café: 3 a.m.,” which criticizes a police raid on a gay establishment.

The antigay pol replied that he had “nothing to do” with the slogan.

“I didn’t know that. The folks who worked on that slogan for me didn’t inform me that that’s where it came from, if in fact it came from that,” Santorum said.

Nice to know “Man-on-dog” Santorum has no idea how or by whom major campaign components are coming together.   Sounds like a born leader to me.
(via Advocate.com)

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Repubs begin defense of anti-gay DOMA

NPR has a terrific article outlining the issues involved in the House Republicans decision to defend DOMA on their own.

House Speaker John Boehner told reporters at a news conference this month that President Obama’s turnaround on the anti-gay marriage law left Republicans with few options. “I don’t think the House had any choice but to take the position that we were going to defend the work of the Congress. And only the courts are in the position of determining the constitutionality of any bill,” Boehner said.

However, the constitutionality of the bill is exactly what will be determined – and sooner than later, I predict. Recent polls show that fair-minded, commonsense Americans have stated that federal legal recognition of lesbian and gay marriage is the right thing to do.

House Speaker John Boehner said he intends to divert funding from the Justice Department to the U.S. House so Congress can defend the federal law that bars recognition of same-sex marriage. An estimate on court costs was not given.

A prime example of how DOMA is unfair: the case of Edie Windsor, who spent more than 40 years with her female partner, Thea Spyer.

They got married in 2007, but the federal government didn’t recognize the marriage. And when Spyer died, Windsor got an estate tax bill of more than $360,000 on the money Spyer had left her.

Carlos Ball, a professor at Rutgers School of Law in Newark, N.J., told Congress that’s not fair. “There is no rational reason to impose a huge tax obligation on Edie that is not imposed on other New York widows,” Ball said. “And that is just one example of why DOMA is unconstitutional.”

Says ‎Congressman Jerrold Nadler: “There is no redeeming moral value to a law whose sole goal and sole effect is to persecute a group of people for no reason and no benefit to anyone else.”

Read the entire NPR article.

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CATS Reunion – 25 years later…

Memory.

A 25 year-old gift.

I often joke, and get a lot of mileage, out of my line that “I did CATS back when it was a good credit.”

I don’t mean to demean anyone who performs in the show today, but to be honest, it’s true. In 1986, I was fortunate to be cast as “the Magical Mr. Mistoffelees” in a brand new National Touring company of CATS that traveled all over the country. It was the hottest show on Broadway at the time.

For many major cities, we were the first company of CATS anyone ever saw. It was a very heady experience. I was 22 when I was cast in a principal role in this major, multi-million dollar production. Everywhere we went, we were news. We were the major theatrical production many cities would see that year. It’s just what it was. And I was blessed to be there. To be a part of it.

I had been in NYC for a year, and after audition after audition, I couldn’t get arrested. Not summer stock theater, not dinner theater, not off-Broadway, not Broadway – nothing. I would get to the “final cut” over and over but never get the job.  I remember at the time my grandmother telling me on the phone “you just need to tell someone to give you a chance.” Bless her heart – as if that would do it.

I remember going to my first audition for the show in early January of 1986. A replacement understudy was needed for the Broadway company of the show. This was back when, as an unemployed actor you got up every day and just went to whatever audition there was that day. I went to the audition and did not get the job. But two days later, I got a call from the casting office saying they didn’t get my picture and resume and they would like to “put me on file – would I send them that to them?” OMG! I ran to the mailbox with my requested materials with extra postage on the envelope to ensure it wouldn’t get lost in the mail.

Three months later, a casting call went out for a new National touring company of CATS. Open call. Anyone can come! I never got the call from the casting office saying “we’re holding auditions, please attend.” I guess it got lost in the mail or something. But I didn’t leave anything to chance. I got up the day of the audition, headed down to the call and waited in line at the Cort Theater on Broadway.  There were over two hundred guys there that day alone.

20 at a time, we lined up onstage, where we were asked to step forward, say our name and do a double pirouette. Some were cut, some were kept. I was kept.

Next we were taught a dance combination I later would learn was called “Copeland” from the end of Act One long ass dance number “The Jellicle Ball.” Some were cut, some were kept. I was kept.

As we finished that cut, the creative team asked “those who tumble – and Randy Slovacek” to please stay. The dance supervisor asked that I come back on stage after the gymnasts and do “turns in second.” I had no idea what he meant.

I had been dancing for five or six years at that time, but ballet was not my strongest point. Color me blond, but I was at a loss.

Now here’s a cool fact of history. In 1984, I got my Equity card, while still in college, at Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera doing the amazingly classic “West Side Story” with a cast that was incredible. That cast included today’s Tony Award winners Kathleen Marshall and Rob Ashford in the ensemble. We would become good friends years later.

Anyway, I bring this up because in a moment of incredible generosity Rob – an amazing dancer – reached out to me. Downstairs, under the stage, as we listened to the gymnasts tumbling over our heads, Rob was getting dressed as he had inexplicably been cut. (A beautiful and exciting dancer, it was incomprehensible that he was not kept for consideration. Later I would find out the role the directors felt he was right for was being cut from this new company). As I stood in a corner trying to figure out what on earth was about to be expected of me, Rob stopped to speak to me on his way out the door.

“Fifth position, then second, then fourth position, do a double pirouette then turn with your leg out in second position. Use your plie. USE YOUR PLIE.” If you’re not a dancer, just understand he told me what the hell was at least the approach of what the most important powers that be were about to expect of me. And is something experienced dancers take years to learn.

I’ve never forgotten Rob’s incredible generosity. To this day I call him a friend, and I celebrate that Broadway has embraced his brilliance.

I headed upstairs to the stage. Alone, on the bare Cort Theater stage on Broadway, with just the creative and casting staff in the middle of the audience, I was asked to do technical things I had no history of doing. Sometimes, sheer will power and hope can achieve amazing things.

Over the next two and a half months I was called back five times. Over and over I would dance material from the show, do “turns in second” on an empty Broadway stage – alone. Sweat, dream and pray.

At one point in the auditions, the dance supervisor asked if I was “in class” every day. Chagrined, I paused then told him the truth – I couldn’t afford dance classes. He said “then we’ll pay for them. Go to class everyday.” And they did. And I did. Still with no real indication that I would get the job.

I would go to dance class every day in the hot NYC summer. Between classes, I would stop by the restaurant where Carlye waited tables. Her manager, who took a liking to me, would order food to feed me between classes since I had no money to eat in the city.

It’s amazing that people can appear with kindness sometimes right in the moment when you really need it.

In early July, sitting on the floor of the apartment in Jersey City I shared with Carlye – the closest person I to this day call actual family – I got a call.

We had no furniture. We were “gifted” a sleeper/love seat from which we pulled the 3 inch foam mattress out and laid on the floor to sleep on. We had four plastic laundry baskets that we put socks and underwear in one, t-shirts in another, jeans in another and anything else in the last one. We had practically nothing. We slept on the floor, ate on the floor, lived on the floor.

Andy Zerman, from Johnson/Liff casting called at about 4pm. Sitting on the floor of our empty apartment, I heard Andy tell me on the other end of the phone “you got it.”

No words. None. Tears filled my eyes and I looked up at Carlye. Two seconds passed – and standing above me, from the look in my eyes, Carlye knew. One second later she began screaming. I cried. The next hour is a blank in my memory. I hope everyone at some point in their lives blanks out like I did in that moment.

A young lifetime of hopes and dreams had just come true in a two minute phone call.

What followed was an incredible adventure – rehearsals, costume fittings, tech rehearsals, an amazing opening night in Atlanta, and dozens of opening nights across the country for two years. We were well-taken care of by the best company managers in the business – Brian Liddicoat and Jeff Capitola, whom I would later learn to appreciate for going above and beyond, with amazing compassion and professionalism at a time when I didn’t even know it.

I was reviewed as a “principal” in a major show across the country. In many cities, I got good reviews. For some reason the critic in Cincinnati just hated me. Twice. Go figure.

A very heady experience for a 22 year old dreamer.

I met one of my very best friends – Matt Zarley – who today I call my brother.

I fell in love for the first time in my young life; I learned heartbreak for the first time in my young life. And I learned to take responsibility for the relationship that didn’t make it, forgive, move on, and be friends with my first love. It’s what we do at that age.

I learned every night of a two year run how to own my performance and “live in the moment” onstage.

I learned.

These are things that shape us for the rest of our lives.

Last night, I attended the 25th reunion of my company of CATS. I love these people. We learned together, grew together and over the years have supported each other as our individual pursuits took us in new and different directions.

In addition to my writing career, I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy a life creating theater as a director and choreographer.  I met the love of my life and we’ve been together for almost 17 years.  I got cancer and beat it.

Matt is a celebrated recording artist. Leslie Ellis, our amazing ‘Grizabella’ has a successful recording and songwriting career as well.  I could go on and on. Mark Agnes is now an Emmy Award winning costumer. Aja Kane, Christine Toy Johnson, Beth Swearingen, Randy Clements, Joann Hunter, Tony Bova, Joanna Beck, Kari Nicolaisen, all of them – on and on and on I can go.

I’m so proud of this family that was formed and shaped and molded and given to me 25 years ago.

It’s equally emotional and humbling to be able to look back and know the value of a “moment.” An audition on an April day on an empty Broadway stage that would forever shape who and what I would be and become.

Just like 25 years ago on that hot July afternoon when a momentous call came, tears come to my eyes. I get to do that. I’ve earned it. I lived this life and got to here.

As I headed to the reunion last night, I couldn’t help but sing to myself:

“Jellicle cats come out tonight, Jellicle cats come one, come all. The Jellicle moon is shining bright. Jellicles come to the Jellicle ball….”

It was a ball kids. A Jellicle ball.

No fear.

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Blogging from Starbucks


Blogging from a NYC midtown Starbucks is a big change of pace from my usual “Bruno in lap, quiet of my office” kind of experience.

And every single Starbucks has a bus load of people in line who don’t seem to think about what they want to order until they get to the front of the line.

And then they seem surprised they haven’t thought about how to pay for their purchase, so thus begins the hunt for a wallet or pennies in the purse.

Coffee. Now. Faster. Please.

– Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone