Tag: guest post

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World AIDS Day 2019: Attention Must Be Paid

December 1 is recognized around the globe as World AIDS Day

December 1 is recognized around the globe as World AIDS Day By Lawrence Pfeil, Jr Every year as World AIDS Day approaches, I struggle with what to write about a subject so deeply woven into the fabric of our community, but this year the story was unfortunately clear. Three decades after “the first-ever world health day” was declared by the World Health Organization as “an opportunity for people worldwide to unite in the fight against HIV; show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died,” World AIDS Day is largely forgotten. In New York City, the epicenter of the AIDS crisis, home of GMHC, BroadwayCares/EquityFightsAIDS, ACTUP, and openly HIV-positive City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, the Empire State Building won’t be lit red in recognition again this year. The last time was in 2015 when I noticed World AIDS Day wasn’t on the lighting schedule and submitted the request as a private New Yorker living with HIV/AIDS.  (Requests are usually made by a major organization/corporation.)  When I made the same request the following year, it was denied even though nothing else was scheduled. The Empire State Building hasn’t recognized World AIDS Day since.

Empire State Building
World AIDS Day isn’t important enough to get the attention of mainstream media. It even goes largely ignored by our own LGBTQ media. The argument is, HIV/AIDS is not a “serious” problem, but the facts* are:

  • 9 million people across the globe with HIV/AIDS in 2018.
  • 2 million were adults and 1.7 million were children
  • 7 million were newly infected
  • 770,000 died

And there is still no cure and no vaccine. What they’re really saying is HIV/AIDS isn’t killing enough people anymore; it’s not the “disease of the month;” and/or it won’t get enough “clicks” for their advertisers. Here are the results of that attitude and the stories not getting told. Current retroviral medications that are allowing people like me to live healthy full lives and PrEP – which is helping prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS – are lifesaving, but only if you have access to them. Many people in our community, especially people of color, don’t have the same access to treatment let alone afford the medication’s $1800/month price tag.  Moreover, only 79% of people with HIV know their status.  The 21% who don’t is due in great part to a lack of access to testing. A recent article on The Randy Report published the data from a study on the attitudes and behaviors of the youngest generations towards people with HIV and the results were horrifying.

  • 28% of HIV-negative millennials said they have avoided hugging or interacting with HIV-positive people.
  • 41% of Gen Z respondents were either somewhat informed or not at all informed about HIV, compared to 23% of millennials.

*via HIV.gov  Even in our own community, there is a shocking lack of knowledge about HIV transmission which has fostered a campaign to educate, “Undetectable = Untransmittable.” Still, the stigma of HIV/AIDS continues, not so much out of fear as before but out of sheer ignorance. At the other end of the spectrum are the long-term survivors of the AIDS epidemic which even fewer are talking about.  I know many with severe health issues caused by the ravages of early drug treatments like AZT which are only now catching up with them.  Coupled with growing older in a Community obsessed with youth who are oblivious to the basic facts of HIV/AIDS, it’s yet another bitter pill to swallow. Finally, an original purpose of World AIDS Day was to commemorate those lost in the plague, and those people still deserve to be remembered especially by our Community.  The health care providers, researchers, activists, fundraisers, caregivers who fought for them (and continue to fight) expect nothing less. If we don’t care about their lives who will?  Their stories are part of Our Story. World AIDS Day – attention must be paid because lives depend on it.

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Theatre Review: ‘The Inheritance’ The Gay Epic Housing Many Stories

By Lawrence Pfeil, Jr. On a white platform resting like a blank sheet of paper just above the bare stage, a diverse group of gay men gathers with pencils and paper, laptops, and tablets.  They write their stories — or try to begin. The story germinating inside the youngest to be nurtured by his mentor will grow round them blossoming into an epic reflective of a community continually grappling with its own story.  This is The Inheritance, Matthew Lopez’s two-part play which has opened on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Structured on, Howard’s End, Lopez reimagines E.M Forster’s masterpiece as New York City’s 21st century, “gay society.”  In the process, he trades the original’s examination of social mores, ridged conduct, and reputation for issues of intergenerational relationships, interpersonal responsibility, and community. Bridging the two is Forster himself aka “Morgan” offering a masterclass to his writing protégé and creating the story within a story framework, not unlike the stage around the central “writing platform.”  Following Forster’s roadmap, The Inheritance is a journey of revelation to find lost connections, that while occasionally veering off path, arrives with an emotional impact like few other plays in recent years.

The cast of The Inheritance (all production photos: Matthew Murphy)
Though the trend on Broadway is sadly towards the “100 minute, no intermission, in’n’out” format or spectaculars, one-ton puppets, and wizarding magic shows, The Inheritance triumphs doing the exact opposite. For six-and-half hours, over two performances, it grips an audience so tightly one can hear petals drop and does it on a virtually bare stage.  The story of lives as they lose connection to each other, their community, and themselves doesn’t need gimmicks to entertain.  It has a common humanity transcending sexuality, age, gender, or race, to profoundly engage. The Inheritance erupts with unvarnished honesty, overwhelming insight, and a kind of brilliance that’s shaking audiences. In particular, the description of living through the AIDS crisis by one character to another who wasn’t there is so visceral, he “gets it” in no uncertain terms because those of us who were, are there again. Additionally, Lopez has a great gift for the extended monologue.  At a time, when people barely listen to each other, holding anyone’s attention with thoughtful, introspective speeches longer than 240 characters is a talent to be treasured.
Jordan Barbour, Darryl Gene Daughtry Jr., Kyle Soller, Arturo Luís Soria and Kyle Harris in The Inheritance
So, it seems odd The Inheritance’s flaws are in conversational “everyday scenes.” It’s been reported, the play is “drawn largely from Lopez’s personal experiences.” Ironically, the familiar scenes involving the close-knit, circle of friends often feel superficial and didactic, if not unnecessary.  Even so, the action never drags due to Stephen Daldry’s flawless direction and superlative staging. With essentially a platform, a few costume changes, and various props from a cast that almost never leaves the stage, Daldry creates the absorbing world of The Inheritance. He instinctively focuses on what theatre is fundamentally about, great storytelling, fearlessly trusting the material and a stellar cast. Leading The Inheritance’s impeccable ensemble are Andrew Burnap as Toby Darling, John Benjamin Hickey as Henry Wilcox, Paul Hilton as Morgan/Walter Poole, Samuel H. Levine as Adam/Leo and Kyle Soller as Eric Glass all of whom are reprising the West End roles they originated. Expect to see those names again come award season as they each give outstanding and magnetic performances.  Hilton’s superbly nuanced sage and mentor; Levine’s coming of age search for belonging; Hickey’s effortless inhumanity; Burnap’s addiction to his persona; and at the center, Glass fighting for his own humanity make The Inheritance an embarrassment of performance riches.  Paul Hilton alone is not to be missed.
Samuel H. Levine, Kyle Soller and Andrew Burnap in The Inheritance
Most often, an inheritance has a significant monetary value and/or sometimes sentimental.  The historic house in The Inheritance may have both, but its intrinsic value is beyond either of those measures. It’s the stories passed down by and about those who came before which for generations made the house, a home. Such is the inherent value of stories to a community. They bind it together in shared solidarity and guide it by passing down wisdom and experience.  The Inheritance demonstrates the immeasurable gift our predecessors gave us; the invaluable legacy our stories are for future generations; and the power of great storytelling in the theatre.

“If we can’t have a conversation with our past, what will our future be? Who are we? And more importantly: Who will we become?” – Matthew Lopez

The Inheritance By Matthew Lopez PART 1: 3 hours 15 minutes, with two intermissions PART 2: 3 hours 20 mins, with one intermission and 5 min pause The Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City, Open End Run More information, performance schedule, and tickets click here. Lawrence Pfeil, Jr., is a freelance writer/playwright who has reviewed film and theatre, both on and off-Broadway, for media outlets including The Randy Report, the New York Blade, and Edge Publications.    

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Theatre Review: Three Cheers For Harvey Fierstein’s New Play ‘Bella Bella’

Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein in his new play, Bella Bella
By Lawrence Pfeil, Jr. Before AOC, before Nancy Pelosi, there was Bella, Bella Abzug. Known as “Battling Bella,” she was a graduate of Columbia Law School who became a civil rights attorney, social activist, leader of the women’s movement, member of the House of Representatives, and famously wore hats because “as a young lawyer it helped me to establish my professional identity. Before that, whenever I was at a meeting, someone would ask me to get coffee.”
Bella Abzug
Bella Abzug’s brilliant, often biting words and crusading work are the genesis of Harvey Fierstein’s enthralling, tour de force, new play Bella Bella which opened last night at Manhattan Theatre Club’s City Center Stage I.  Awaiting the fateful results of the 1976 New York Democratic Senatorial primary, Bella holds up in the bathroom of her campaign suite reflecting on her life’s work; and for 90 minutes Mr. Fierstein holds an audience captive with her hilarious, heroic, and often heartbreaking story as few other performers could. Billed as “written and performed by Harvey Fierstein from the words and works of Bella Abzug” it’s difficult to know where Abzug stops and Fierstein begins without being her scholar.  But Bella Abzug knew how to make her point in no uncertain terms and Harvey Fierstein knows how to weave a story for maximum impact.   Together, Bella Bella is a stunningly relevant and eye-opening call to action for a country that doesn’t seem to have progressed much beyond the America outside the window of her john in 1976.
Harvey Fierstein in Bella Bella (photo: Jeremy Daniel)
Bella’s opening diatribe on equality, sexist elections, and how women, who are a 2% differential in the electorate yet 1% of the House, (still only 30%) vote against themselves, is immediately passionate and gripping. Ringing so familiar, one wonders whether she’s been transported to the present or if we’ve been taken back to her, and so it is throughout Bella Bella. Her fight for civil rights and equality fifty years ago mirrors the very challenges still facing America today. Most widely known for her leadership of the women’s movement and the ERA, Abzug was also a pioneer of Federal Gay Rights.  Representing the Lower East Side of Manhattan and Greenwich Village, she embraced her LGBT constituency, even campaigning at the Continental Baths.  In 1974 she introduced in Congress the first Gay civil rights bill, the “Equality Act” which would have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation.  It failed to pass but succeeded in getting Gay rights into the national conversation. In 1970 when Bella Abzug was elected to Congress, Harvey Fierstein was in Brooklyn already writing and performing in drag.  Fifty years and four Tony Awards later he has brought them together on one stage in what can only be described as the perfect pairing of subject and performer.  With her words, he has written a smart, insightful, and impassioned portrait of a woman, a Jewish woman, who recognized the discrimination in her path; but walked it anyway because she believed in equality and had the hutzpah to fight for it.  With his command of the stage, he creates a Bella that is anything but a drag.
Harvey Fierstein in Bella Bella (photo: Jeremy Daniel)
Fierstein gives a vibrant, passionate, and powerful performance with no want of makeup or an Abzug ensemble, apart from her iconic hat.  In plain black rehearsal clothes, Fierstein is at the top of his prowess as the fierce firebrand wisecracking one minute, outraged the next, inspiring throughout. Some works are a labor of love, done for the joy, not the reward. Still, there are a few others, like Mr. Fierstein’s triumphant Bella Bella which are even more. To those lucky enough to hear what she “thinks about in the bathroom,” this is clearly his labor of passion, created and performed because it had to be done and done now, much like work of Bella Abzug herself. Bella Bella Written and Performed by Harvey Fierstein From the words and works of Bella Abzug 90 minutes No intermission Now through December 1st Manhattan Theatre Club at City Center Stage I More Information and Tickets HERE https://bellabellaplay.com/ Lawrence Pfeil, Jr., is a freelance writer/playwright who has reviewed film and theatre, both on and off-Broadway, for media outlets including The Randy Report, the New York Blade, and Edge Publications

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Review: ‘JUDY’ At The End Of The Rainbow Desperate For A Pot Of Gold

By Lawrence Pfeil, Jr. “There’s no place like home,” Judy Garland’s most iconic line of her storied career came at the beginning. So, finding the “world’s greatest entertainer” homeless with Lorna and Joey in tow as JUDY begins thirty years later is, to say the least ironically heartbreaking. Arriving on the doorstep of her third husband, Sid Luft takes his children in but demands custody to give them a permanent home all to Garland’s absolute objections.  Broke and with few options, she books five weeks of concerts in London during the winter of 1968, even though it means being separated from her children. Focusing on these few months during the last year of her life, the new biopic JUDY is not the story of an “impossible” diva chasing her big comeback one might expect.   Rather it finds at its heart, a mother desperate for the means of providing a stable and loving home for her children, something she never had herself.

“I was born at the age of twelve on an MGM lot.”  – Judy Garland

The film’s harrowing prologue shows an innocent teenage Garland making her pact with MGM’s devil, Louis B. Mayer whose menacing and emotional manipulation could only be called child abuse.  Throughout JUDY, flashbacks expose how Garland’s story was completely staged for the cameras.  From phony picturesque dates with co-star Mickey Rooney to her 16th Birthday party shot on a fake poolside set with hired guests and prop cake, it was for the Garland image.  Resistance was futile as the scope of the mogul’s grip on his young starlet grew from mental trauma to physical control of her diet, regiments of amphetamines and barbiturates, and eventual fondling.

“In our house, the word of Louis B. Mayer became the law.” – Judy Garland

Catching the last twinkles of a once brilliant star about to burn out, Renée Zellweger sparkles in an uncanny portrayal of the Hollywood icon.  Her much anticipated first song as the legendary performer doesn’t come until well into the film, but when it does, it smashes like a farmhouse landing in Oz.  As with other leading actors in recent music biopics, Zellweger does her own singing; but in JUDY, her songs were performed and recorded live on camera.  While the litmus test for portraying Garland is arguably vocal performance, Zellweger most shines in the smaller more intimate moments of the film.  It’s Garland as a loving mother, a kind and caring woman, an addict in pain, and not “performer” where she is the brightest. Finn Wittrock is charmingly smarmy as Mickey Deans, Garland’s predatory, opportunistic, fifth husband.  From the moment he lays eyes on her at a party to leaving her curled up with anxiety on the bathroom floor, it’s clear Deans, like the other men in her life, only view her as a commodity. Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland and Finn Wittrock as Mickey Deans Jessica Buckley as Rosalyn Wilder, Garland’s personal assistant assigned by her London concert producer is the woman caught in the middle.  She sees the lonely, addicted, terrified woman off stage but responsible for getting a living legend on stage.  Yet as compelling as that is, screenwriter, Tom Edge gives Buckley little to work with.  In fact, he gives so little attention to the supporting characters in JUDY they have the depth of soundstage cutouts.

“There have been a lot of stories written about me, some of them fantastically distorted.” – Judy Garland

More than shallow characters, Edge’s screenplay (based stage play “End of the Rainbow” by Peter Quilter) is inauthentic and unabashedly fraudulent for a biopic. Accounts of Garland’s London concert meltdowns and her behavior offstage are almost as notorious as she is legendary.  Three decades of drug addiction and alcoholism were reaching their apex fueling her stage fright and terror of losing her children and vice versa. Rather than depicting the reality of a woman literally on the brink who would succumb to her demons in six months, Edge’s screenplay is a watered-down, dramatically washed out story with little pathos, emotional connection, or impact.  Sadly, the moments that do strike a chord are completely made up. (Spoiler alert) Admittedly, one of the most touching scenes in JUDY is her late-night dinner with an adoring gay couple at their London flat.  The problem is, it never happened. Of course, biopics dramatize events in the lives of their characters, but fabricating significant events with absolutely no basis, in fact, is wrong.  What’s more, if the same fictional gay couple is in the audience and helps Garland when she can’t get through “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” then obviously that didn’t happen either, but neither did the entire treacly final scene for that matter. Those scenes are phony and staged ala Louis B Mayer and MGM solely for the JUDY image. To have a film call out studio manipulation and deception only to do the exact same thing is hypocritical, disingenuous, adding more insult to Garland’s already injured truth.  She never got redemption, an exit with head held high, her Hollywood ending. It’s tragic but, it’s the truth.  It’s part what makes Judy Garland, Judy Garland, endearingly vulnerable, immensely talent, cripplingly flawed, and gone too soon. At the end of her rainbow, as the pot of gold she desperately needed grew ever more elusive, Garland was terrified she’d never be able to give her children a home. Given Renée Zellweger’s stellar performance, it’s a shame the people behind the curtain of JUDY, didn’t have the brains, heart, and courage to tell her story with more truth and honesty.

“Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” – Judy Garland

JUDY Renée Zellweger as Judy Garland Darci Shaw as young Judy Garland Finn Wittrock as Mickey Deans Rufus Sewell as Sidney Luft Jessie Buckley as Rosalyn Wilder Directed by Rupert Goold Screenplay by Tom Edge Based on the stage play “End of the Rainbow” by Peter Quilter BBC Films  Pathé  Calamity Films Roadside Attractions 118 minutes (photo credit for all images: David Hindley) Lawrence Pfeil, Jr., is a freelance writer/playwright who has reviewed film and theatre, both on and off-Broadway, for media outlets including The Randy Report, the New York Blade and Edge Publications.

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With Twin Mass Shootings, Playing for Change Asks “What’s Going On?”


 Guest post by Lawrence Pfeil, Jr.

This year in America, there have been 251 mass shootings as of day 215; three of them in the past week.

While the motive of the Dayton shooter is still TBD, the shooters in Gilroy, CA and El Paso, TX were both motivated by racist hate with the goal of slaughtering men, women, and children of color.

This is the sickening truth that Americans woke up to today and must live with.

How do any of us cope with the ceaseless crisis of gun violence and our leader’s complacency and willful inaction? How do we stem the growing tide of racism, xenophobia, and public displays of hate? How did we get here? What’s going on?

Nearly fifty years ago, the great Marvin Gaye asked the same question after an act of police brutality. His chart-topping, “What’s Going On?” is a ballad of grief, yearning, and most of all hope.

It became an instant classic and has brought people together in the darkest of times reminding us of common humanity when we are in most need of healing.

Playing For Change, an artist collective created to inspire and connect the world through music recently released a cover of Gaye’s hit that shines a special light of hope today.

From their official website:

“Playing For Change is a movement created to inspire and connect the world through music, born from the shared belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people.

“Our primary focus is to record and film musicians performing in their natural environments and combine their talents and cultural power in innovative videos we call Songs Around The World.

“Through these efforts, we aim to create hope and inspiration for the future of our planet.”

(screen capture)

Founded in 2002, Playing For Change released its first album in 2009, “Songs from Around the World,” featuring 100 musicians from 21 countries.

From its liner notes:

“For seven years our small film crew traveled the world with recording equipment and cameras in search of inspiration — we traveled from streets and subways to native Indian reservations, through African towns and villages, up to the Himalayan Mountains and beyond.

“Throughout the journey, we created a movement connecting the world through music. This album is a collective statement from over 100 musicians spanning five countries. Many of them have never met in person, but through their different cultures, these songs demonstrate a profound human connection and willingness to unite.

“Through music, we can understand our differences and create a better world.”

Playing For Change’s debut music video, a cover of the Ben E. King classic, “Stand By Me,” showcases their inspirational and remarkable journey.

Their latest music video of Imagine Dragon’s “Love” was recently released and its message could not be more relevant or important. Featuring musicians from across six continents, “Love” reminds us we are all one in the human choir inviting us to share in the song,

“All around the world, we are one …” and let’s share the love with everyone we meet.”

More about Playing For Change:

Support their work by becoming a member HERE.

Follow their inspirational work on social media:

Facebook: @PlayingForChange
Instagram: @playing4changefoundation
Twitter: @playing4change

You can follow guest contributor Lawrence Pfeil Jr. at his website, TheOUTFront.com

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World Pride Closing: At The Crossroads Of The World

World Pride Closing
Melissa Etheridge kicked off the festivities (photos: Lawrence Pfeil Jr)

By Lawrence Pfeil, Jr.

There could not have been a more ideal setting for World Pride Closing Ceremonies than Times Square at the “crossroads of the world.”
As twilight fell across New York City and Pride marched on down in the Village, thousands gathered for a star-studded finale to Pride Month for one last official celebration of the LGBT+ Community where it all began.
 It was electric, fabulous, fierce, funny, emotional, and PROUD.
Grammy Award winner, Melissa Etheridge took to the stage opening the evening with her brand of ferocious acoustic music which has inspired both the LGBT+ community as well as cancer survivors for decades.

Melissa Etheridge

Comedian Margret Cho brilliantly hosted the evening with hilarious observations on gay men.

Cho said she “prefers being a ‘Bear Hag’ because she knows there’s going to be food, with “twinks there’s no regularly scheduled meals.” She also pointed out that “twinks are having so much work done, they look like a “queer caught in headlights.”
Later, Cho did a full discussion of her “fat pussy” with surprisingly detailed descriptions of different kinds, ie Keto, sandwich, etc. Watching the muscle-stud ASL interpreter sign her graphic descriptions was hilariously horrifying.

Hunky sign language guy

 

More of hunky sign language guy I think Lawrence was trying to tell me something 😉

Broadway’s The Prom stopped by strutting their stuff in a celebration of Love is Love with the entire cast thrilling the audience with the show’s finale, “It’s Time to Dance.”

Mel C – ‘Sporty Spice’ – of the Spice Girls

Big electrifying numbers from MNEK, Spice Girl Melanie C with Sink the Pink, and Jake Shears wowed the capacity audience, but it was an unexpected small moment that spoke to the occasion.

Accompanied only by a guitar closing out his set, Shears sang:

Why are there so many

 

Songs about rainbows
And what’s on the other side
Rainbows are visions
They’re only illusions
And rainbows have nothing to hide
So we’ve been told and some chose to
Believe it
But I know they’re wrong wait and see
Someday we’ll find it
The Rainbow Connection
The lovers, the dreamers and me

 

Jake Shears

Those who came together last night as a global community united in pride were not prepared for what happened next.

In a flowing white gown, Deborah Cox took the stage like a twister hitting Dorothy’s farmhouse with “Absolutely Not,” and from her Broadway debut in Aida at the Palace Theatre across the street, “Easy as Life.”

Cox talked about spending 18 months touring in The Bodyguard the Musical in Whitney Houston’s iconic role. On the giant video screen, a rainbow ribbon could be seen on her dress.

She explained, it wasn’t just a rainbow ribbon but an “Orlando Ribbon,” given to her by a survivor of the Pulse Nightclub massacre. Dedicated to their memory she sang, “I Will Always Love You” as tears streamed our cheeks.

I don’t know if at Pride Island they could hear what was happening in Times Square; but if they did, what they heard was, “Madonna, go home and try again.” Deborah “Nobody’s Supposed to be Here” Cox Threw. It. Down. and blew it up! Taking a crowd from emotional heartbreak to ecstatic joyous dance party like it’s nothin but a thing takes a fierce dancefloor diva. It was a feat not many performers could pull off. Deborah Cox didn’t just drop the mic, she dropped it, buried it, never to be seen again.

 

Empire State Building lit up in rainbow for Pride

 

Special thanks to Lawrence Pfeil Jr. for his awesome work this weekend as special World Pride correspondent for The Randy Report!
 
Make sure you click over to his own site, theOUTfront.com, for more of his uplifting pride and prose.

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The World Comes Home For Pride

For the first time in its twenty year history, World Pride is being celebrated in the United States, as part of the Stonewall 50 celebration in the birthplace of Pride, New York City.
Cyndi Lauper performs at Opening Ceremony of WorldPride NYC

By Lawrence Pfeil, Jr.

For the first time in its twenty year history, World Pride is being celebrated in the United States, as part of the Stonewall 50 celebration in the birthplace of Pride, New York City.

Last night, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center played host to the Opening Ceremonies of World Pride with enough high NRG, glitter, and sequins to be seen across the East River on Christopher St.

Hosted by fierce, long time, LGBT advocate Whoopi Goldberg, the three- hour plus extravaganza showcased entertainment, tributes to the people who fought for equality, and highlighted organizations insuring another fifty years of Pride.

The festivities began with Cyndi Lauper rising from a sparkling globe singing, “True Colors.”

What could have easily been a treacly, cliched, ‘been there done that’ moment, turned into an extemporaneous singalong. The Barclays Center awash in a dazzling rainbow, thousands of strangers gathered from around the world, were singing in one voice, as a united community.

After the opening, Whoopi took to the stage and took the house to church asking New Yorkers to welcome the “tourist next to them.” She went on telling, “everybody hold somebody’s hand as we remember those who for many different reasons are not alive and with us today,” a moment bringing unexpected silence to the arena.

Tony Award winner, and TV actress, Sara Ramirez, paid tribute to the 2019 Pride Luminaries on stage with a soaring rendition of “Somewhere over the Rainbow.” Throughout the night Pride March Grand Marshals, the cast of FX’s POSE, Phyll Opoku-Gyimah of UK Black Pride, Gay Liberation Front, The Trevor Project, and Monica Helms were recognized and honored for their work.

Drag queens were in the house and werked it in a mega-production number. Each queen took her turn on the runway for moment in the spotlight, including Bob the Drag Queen. Her lip-sync of Julia “The Terminator” Sugarbaker’s speech, recounting “The Night the Lights went out in Georgia” complete with baton twirler.

Inside the Barclay Center (photo: Lawrence Pfeil Jr.)

Proceeds from World Pride Opening Ceremonies benefit three organizations:

• SAGE (www.sageusa.org) the world’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) older people.

• Immigration Equality (immigrationequality.org) the nation’s leading LGBTQ immigrant rights organization, representing and advocating for people from around the world fleeing violence, abuse and persecution because of their sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status.

• The Ali Forney Center (aliforneycenter.org) the nation’s largest and most comprehensive agency dedicated to LGBTQ homeless youths

These organizations do lifesaving work every day of the year for the Community and were introduced to audience by video and with stirring remarks.

Most notable were those by Ali Forney Center’s founder and Executive Director, Carl Sicilano. He spoke of the homeless queer street kids at the time of the Stonewall Uprising who were thought of as trash by well-off people. Those kids found their own community and a solidarity amongst themselves, when “an attack on one was seen as an attack on all.

Sicilano implored those present last night to adopt that same solidarity from 50 years ago in today’s Community.

The Grand Finale was none other than the force of nature and pride himself, Mr. Billy Porter who blessed the house with an encore of his heartbreak performance of “Home” from Season 1 of the acclaimed FX series, Pose.

Porter then raised the roof old school, gospel-style, with his new single, “Love Yourself” in a glitter fabulous, rainbow Pride spectacular before sending his children off to make the world a better place.

Check out more via Instagram:

View this post on Instagram

SWIPE TO WATCH! Look at how far we’ve come in 50 years. The room last night was pure magic bursting with #lgbtq pride. Thank you @nycpride for having me at @barclayscenter for the opening of #worldpride2019 hosted by #EGOT diva @whoopigoldberg and for putting together such a fierce show full of legends. It was a dream to perform my single “Love Yourself” backed by the magnificent @bivoices choir wearing custom @theblondsny covered in 50k @preciosacomponents crystals which reflected all of the colors of pride. We’ve got to love each other and most certainly love ourselves. Happy Pride hunties. #pride 🌈 📸 by @santiagraphy Creative Direction and Styling by @sammyratelle for @rrrcreative Agency Grooming by @lasonyagunter Wearing @theblondsnyA post shared by Billy Porter (@theebillyporter) on Jun 27, 2019 at 7:32pm PDT

I am often times very hard on myself and rarely find moments when I feel genuinely proud of myself.. lastnight I made a surprise appearance at the opening ceremony of World Pride in New York City with some of my favorite queens from @rupaulsdragrace While I’m performing, I’m usually in the zone and sort of black out for a bit. When @juniortorezani showed me this video lastnight, I was mind blown and was able to take it all in. Something that started in my small studio apartment as a fun outlet for me turned into this.. I felt proud, proud for the space, the freedom, and the permission I gave myself to express and create freely in the way my heart desired. I never could’ve imagined it would have led to all of this. I am SO grateful I am able to share my heart, my passion, and my joy with the world! Thank you for embracing, accepting, and supporting me through this fun, rainbow-filled journey! Happy Pride my beautiful friends!!! 🤗❤️🌈 (Also, not sure where the wigs ended up but whoever got them, have fun with my babies! I’m expecting dance videos in them! 😆❤️🌈) #pride #loveislove #lgbtq #pridemonth #pride🌈 #worldpride #wig #cuttothefeelingfriday #rainbow
A post shared by Mark Kanemura (@mkik808) on Jun 27, 2019 at 11:15am PDT
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Movie Review: ‘Rocketman Soars’

Taron Egerton as Elton John in ‘Rocketman’

My buddy over at theOUTfront.com, Lawrence Pfeil, Jr., shares his review of the new Elton John ‘musical fantasy biopic,’ Rocketman, which opens in theaters nationwide today.

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Elton John entering rehab as a winged demon is more than intentional, so are the heart shaped glasses through which his life has been spent looking to “be loved, properly.” If those images aren’t symbolic enough, the next one raises goosebumps and that’s only the first two minutes of the enthusiastically anticipated, Reginald Dwight, musical biopic, ROCKETMAN.

With a flamboyant and heightened sense of reality equal to Elton John himself, it’s difficult to imagine his life being told any other way than a movie musical. What’s difficult to achieve is repurposing his songs in a successful way that tell the story, not merely are the story. In Rocketman, both genre and material are stunningly reimagined into the life of a man adored by millions the world over, but never so alone.

It is rapturous and heartbreaking.

As the iconic Captain Fantastic, Taron Egerton delivers a sparkling and faceted performance to rival Sir Elton’s diamond stud earring. Every note sung, is Egerton possessing a vocal quality most like the mega-star mid-career. While embodying every chameleon change demanded by Elton John’s fans, he never loses Reggie’s human need for love. When success transforms the musician into a monster, Egerton finds the pain feeding it and the pathos giving it breath.

Traced the trajectory of Rocketman is a singular partnership in the music industry between the musician and equally brilliant lyricist, Bernie Taupin, played with unconditional compassion by Jaime Bell. Millions of record sales and countless awards and accolades aside, the flamboyant extrovert composer and notoriously private lyricist’s greatest claim to fame is never having had a fight, ever.

John and Taupin have an innate chemistry and understanding of one another, personally and professionally, which Egerton and Bell instinctively capture on screen. When their first hit “Your Song” comes to life, it’s like witnessing the wonder of creative genius in person. And those moments of revelation keep coming throughout the film.

Directed by Dexter Fletcher, whose prior film credits are surprisingly short (but include finishing Bohemian Rhapsody), Rocketman is stunning visual poetry start to finish. With brilliant attention to detail ala Baz Luhrmann, Fletcher makes Elton John’s most personal, private, and iconic moments vibrant and visceral. Musical production numbers leap off the screen to grab the audience and pull them into the rawest, heart wrenching moments of Reggie’s life.

Every choice made in telling this story was a risk, any one of which could have easily caused Rocketman to be a catastrophic disaster upon liftoff. But fortune favors the bold, and if Elton John is anything, it’s bold.

 Most people tell their story from the top, so it takes a kind of courage, acceptance, and self-deprecation to tell Rocketman from the rock bottom of rehab. But, as anyone who’s been their knows, hitting rock bottom is necessary to relaunch. A constellation of superb performances, super nova production numbers, and unexpected moments like meteors out the darkness of space make Rocketman stellar.

ROCKETMAN

Starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell, Richard Madden, and Bryce Dallas Howard

121 minutes

Directed by Dexter Fletcher

Screenplay by Lee Hall

New Republic Pictures and Paramount Pictures

Lawrence Pfeil, Jr., is a freelance writer/playwright and has reviewed film and theatre, both on and off Broadway, for media outlets including the New York Blade and Edge Publications.