Grace O’ Keefe and I have something in common. We both wrote to the musical theatre giant Stephen Sondheim – and we both got replies.
But Grace, along with Jordana Belaiche, decided to put that incident at the heart of their hour-long tongue-in-cheek tribute to the late maestro.
Feeling his loss as we all do, they decided to summon him back via a seance. And it just so happens that West End star Jordana knows the very person.
Scurrying off stage she quickly reappears as Chanelle Marie, a clairvoyant, with a high-pitched irritating voice and where every other word is “ok?”.
Try as she might, and with audience participation, she fails totally – managing however to summon a Demi-God of MT, Lin Manuel Miranda instead. But he’s quickly sent packing.
In between narration about Sondheim and his shows, we get snatches of his songs, parodies of them and a full-on rendition of Broadway Baby.
Grace has the stronger voice and personality, but Jordana corners the comic wit. The chemistry between them is brilliantly timed, not missing a laugh, or an obscure reference to Sondheim’s lyrics – it really helps if you know his works backwards- and the audience clearly did.
In the end it’s clear that these two aspiring writers don’t need the presence of the great man to inspire them – they can create their own art, to quote SS, and “they are not alone”.
Most touching moment is the playback of a Sondheim interview, where he’s asked if he regrets not having children.
His reply? “Art is the other way of having children.” And to prove it they sing his wonderful song Children And Art.
Wow what an evening – the show is still under development en route for Edinburgh Fringe, and they can tighten it slightly, not talking over each other and being more aware where bits of improv start and finish – but these are little things.
I predict this show will be knocking the socks off audiences for some time to come.
Summoning Sondheim was part of Brighton Fringe at Bar Broadway.
Rob Cattanach is a gay archaeology student on a mission – to find a boyfriend or failing that, just a friend.
With Rob at a mic on a stand this short piece at Brighton Fringe looks and feels like stand-up. But it’s not. Between each excruciating narrative chapter, Rob turns upstage and coming back to face us, his expression reveals what is about to happen next.
It’s a gripping and funny monologue of one man’s failure to connect, to be part of the gay community, and to find happiness.
At times Rob’s delivery is frenetic – well probably desperate – but recognisably true to life. He’s very good at the mental panic of what to post as a reply on Grindr, what to use as an opening line of conversation when he meets a guy, and what to reveal or keep secret about his virginity.
In its 35-minute outing, Rob takes us on a roller coaster ride of emotions, hopes and desires.
And it ends just when it gets really interesting – is there a future with fellow student Charlie? I guess we will have to wait for a sequel – and I’m sure there’ll be one.
Where Do All The Quiet Gays Go? was at the Actors as part of Brighton Fringe
In order to keep gay actors in the closet and their sex life out of the headlines, for decades Hollywood studio bosses said the same thing: “remember what happened to William Haines”.
And what did happen is the subject of Claudio Macor’s passionate and searingly honest play The Tailor-Made Man – the first play to be staged at the new Stage Door Theatre in London’s Drury Lane.
Director Robert McWhir has chosen a traverse staging, with the audience at tables and chairs on either side and very, very close to the action.
Billy Haines was a screen idol in the silent era and the advent of the talkies, raking in millions for MGM studio boss Louis B Mayer. But he had a secret life – well not so secret to those in the know. In the guesthouse next to his luxurious LA house was his lifelong partner Jimmie Shields.
Ironically, for a time, Jimmie became Billy’s stand-in on the film set. PR boss Howard Strickling knew it all and covered it up. But when Billy got caught in bed with a sailor at the YMCA, his world came tumbling down.
The studio bosses had even devised a plan for a sham marriage between Billy and failing ex-silent star actress Pola Negri.
Hugo Pilcher, on his West End debut, is a chunky beef cake of a man, initially shy but soon arrogant, reckless and out of control – seemingly bringing about his own downfall.
Gwithian Evans is the long-suffering Jimmie, exuding frustration, but deeply in love with the damaged star. The chemistry between the two actors is palpable and is the at the core of the play’s storyline. Being so close to the audience, there’s no room for faking, and their performances are genuine, honest and believable.
Peter Rae doubles as the oily, ever loyal Strickling, and the camp English screenwriter Victor Darro, who forges a bond with the two male lovers.
Dereck Walker blasts his way through the story as Louis B Mayer – loud, perfunctory, intolerant yet protective of his stars as long as they are big box office.
Olivia Ruggiero gives us contrasting roles as the cartoonish Negri – whose thick accent killed her career when the talkies arrived, and the champagne swilling beauty Carole Lombard.
And Shelley Rivers is pitch perfect as the not very convincing actress Marion Davies who is in movies because her lover, newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst, is bankrolling the pictures.
Traverse staging presents its own problems and Richard Lambert’s lighting overcomes all of them, aided by David Shields’ sparse setting, moving us effortlessly from movie set to bedroom and office. Aaron’s Clingham’s music has a true Hollywood feel to it and helps the cinematic effect, augmented by scene titles being projected on a screen.
And spoiler alert – there’s a happy ending of sorts, which is also full of irony.
A great five-star debut for this new venue, where you can also have dinner in situ.
You can catch the play on various dates in June and July. Tickets HERE
At a time when small theatre spaces are struggling to keep afloat, it’s a brave team who open a new venue – especially in London’s ‘Theatreland’.
But Robert McWhir and Richard Lambert have a lifetime’s experience of getting a gallon of theatre out of a pint pot of space.
Robert ran the wonderfully innovative and compact Landor Theatre in Clapham for 16 years, and Richard, through Lambco Productions, has triumphed with pop-up theatres, a pub garden and spaces above bars to create magic productions.
In 2023 Lambco had four LGBTQ+-themed shows running at the Edinburgh Fringe, after a season at the Drayton Arms pub theatre in West London.
Now Robert and Richard are the creative force behind Stage Door Theatre, in a function room and bar above the Prince of Wales pub in Drury Lane, cheek by jowl with London’s West End.
It could be regarded as risky but both sounded confident when I spoke to them about their new venture, a theatre where you can have dinner in situ before the performance, and stay on afterwards.
Robert McWhir
Robert said: “I like the idea of dinner theatre – it’s a US and South African thing, but not much in the UK. Dinner is normally associated with cabaret, but the King’s Head started that way.”
The theatre opened its doors in January and its first show was the two-hander Sondheim compilation show, Marry Me A Little, which gave an intimate view by a gay composer of the difficulty of relationships – fitting into the venue’s rule of six. This means that a play can have up to six actors but a musical can only have a total of six performers including musicians – it’s a space and cost thing clearly.
Its next three productions all have a gay theme – currently playing on selected dates is Claudio Macor’s The Tailor-Made Man, which is the true story of Hollywood legend Billy Haines who was fired by MGM for being gay and refusing to give up his lifelong partner Jimmie and marry silent movie actress Pola Negri.
Thief by Liam Rudden is not a gay play as such, though it’s about Sailor, a man who has sex with men for money. But he’s much more – he thrives in bars, dives and doss houses of squalid ports and lives for rent, theft and betrayal.
Sauna Boy by Dan Ireland-Reeves is a semi-autobiographical journey into a south coast gay sauna, with revelations about what goes on behind its closed doors.
But the venue is not an exclusively LGBTQ+ house and Robert has some amazing coups up his sleeve, yet to be revealed.
Richard Lambert
Richard told me: “Having created pop-up theatre previously, and working in fringe theatre and the Edinburgh Fringe, you learn to look at a venue as something other than a traditional theatre space.
“You work with the building and get a feel for what it could be using imagination, creativity and careful selection of the technology.
“Small venues can only pay their way if people buy tickets and come to see the show. It’s really a fine line between a production losing a lot of money or managing to cover the production costs. I don’t think the general public realise how precarious this business is.
“I’m absolutely loving the fact that dinner is an optional add-on to the show ticket. The Prince of Wales has recently enhanced their menu and now offer a choice of eight main meals and four dessert options. The food is really good. This is a night with your friends that isn’t going to break the bank.”
Production companies can apply to use the space when there isn’t a home-grown show on. “What we offer has to sell tickets and be high quality,” Robert said. He might also have added that shows have to be capable of being set up and dismantled very quickly as the room is sometimes used by the pub.
“We’re still in our infancy – we’ll see how the programming goes as time goes by. Every show is a challenge for different reasons, but it’s exciting to see how things fit into the space. I always say to actors they’re here for a reason – because they’re brilliant.”
To potential audiences, he says: “come early and eat, stay where you are and catch the show- it’s a great deal for the West End.”
In my second article on LGBTQ+ shows at this year’s Brighton Fringe, I look at a gay prince, the best short queer films around, and a gay choir’s Eurovision tribute.
Laugh Till It Hurtsis billed as a BDSM comedy show. It’s one man’s voyage into fetish and kink. Get tied up in its net of humour at the Actors, 6-8 May.
Katherine and Pierre will appear at the Rotunda from 14-16 May in a genre-defying adventure from queer-led theatre company Talksmall.
Iris On The Movepresents the best of the bunch of short LGBTQ+ films as featured in the annual film festival. On 5 / 6 May you can catch three collections of films at the Actors. You can watch a Voguing footballer, polyamorous mice, gay romance in a Chinese school choir and the rules of open relationships among many more.
He/He/He at the Actors on 9/10 May. everyone is invited to Indy Nile’s 25-year-late gender reveal party: spoiler- it’s a boy!
Happy Ever Poofter is also at the Actors on 23/24 May. Join Prince Henry, the only gay in the kingdom, on his quest for true love.
Flying The Flag is presented by Brighton Gay Men’s Chorus as their tribute to the best of Eurovision. It’s at St George’s Church on 3/4 May.
Five Straight Men plays at the Arcobaleno from 12 May – 2 June. What does non-binary sound like? Theatre makers explore what it means to be trans and non-binary today.
Dyke Cabaret, at the Actors on 1 June, is an electrifying premiere, and the clue’s in the title.
Sharpen your pencils for Drag and Draw at Bee’s Mouth from 3-5 May. An art class with a difference – it’s life drawing with drag artists as models.
Crudi Dench – Someone Help Her at Bar Broadway on 26 May is work in progress from an award-winning bearded lady.
Cameron Sinclair Harris – Planets is also a work in progress. At the Rotunda from 28-30 May, this one queer deviant plays all eight planets in the solar system.
Cabaret of Queeriosities, on 31 May at Club Revenge, is billed as an amazing night of queer fun.
Big Lez Is Back, on 11/12 May at the Actors, stars Lily Starr aka Big Lez – Sydney’s hottest lesbian – and she’s back to make you laugh till you cry.
Beat Inflation with Sue The Cleaner at the Actors on 1/2 June, with queer tips to get you through the cost of living crisis.
Babs For Life is at the Three Jolly Butchers from 29-31 May. It’s a drag character comedy satirising UK politics.
Two Queers in Tears is at the Lantern Theatre from 16-24 May. Not your regular love story – Billy and Elliott disagree about whether their play is fit for public view.
Where Do All The Quiet Gays Go? on 18/19 May at the Actors. What do you do when you’re gay but you don’t really think all the sex and partying is for you ?
The Great ’80s and ’90s One Hit Wonder Songbook is probably the longest show title at this year’s Fringe. The amazing, often outrageous, Paul Diello plays The Brunswick from 23-25 May with his camp and colourful cruise through two decades of hit songs.
Spit It Out, 22-26 May at the Rotunda, is a new queer comedy about Emily, navigating the challenges of coming out as trans to her family, friends and at her workplace.
Queer History Tourwill travel round central Brighton from 18-25 May, and is a short walking tour exploring some sites with connections to queer histories, people and places.
And finally, Queer A F Comedy is at the Laughing Horse @ the Walrus. Taking place on 2 June, it’s a comedy show celebrating LGBTQ+ humour and talent.
Many more shows and ticket information at brightonfringe.org
Broadway and West End star Frances Ruffelle will head the cast in a new production of the iconic queer musical Closer To Heaven, Scene can exclusively reveal.
The show, written by gay icons Jonathan Harvey and the Pet Shop Boys, will run at Battersea’s Turbine Theatre from 31 May – 30 June.
Frances, who won a Tony for her role as Éponine in the original 1987 production of Les Misérables, is also remembered for representing the UK at Eurovision in 1994 with Lonely Symphony (We Will Be Free).
Frances told me: “I haven’t seen Closer To Heaven, but I love the Pet Shop Boys and the simplicity of their lyrics, and their thoughtfulness, and I also love Jonathan Harvey.
“I said yes please, when the producer asked me to play the role. My life is all about fun – this is a challenge: Frances Barber made the part of Billie Trix iconic. There’s something about Billie in all of us – I feel her in my bones. Her song Friendly Fire is an absolute anthem.”
Closer to Heaven is set at the Millennium and opened in 2001. The Turbine will be transformed into Vic’s gay club, and seating allocated on arrival – pretty much like a club would.
The story is narrated by retired rock icon and actress, Billie Trix. The plot revolves round Vic, the gay club owner, and the complications that arise when Vic’s daughter meets barman Dave. No more spoilers!
Frances Ruffelle – Closer To Heaven. Photo credit – Mark Senior
Frances’ mother Sylvia had a seminal influence on her. “When I was young she did amateur dramatics and I saw her and got into the theatre that way.”
At this point I should say that Sylvia was and is Sylvia Young, creator of one of the most successful theatre schools in the UK.
“I don’t know who influenced who – because I went into the professional theatre and my mother didn’t. She didn’t think to stop me, but she didn’t know how difficult it would be.”
But Frances under-sells herself for sure. She had a highly successful career in commercials and movies and her West End debut was opposite Omar Sharif in Terence Rattigan’s The Sleeping Prince.
But she leapt to fame as Dinah in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express – as she put it to me: “my dream came true, not as a cat but as a train.” And soon after she was chosen as the first Éponine in Les Misérables, going with the show to Broadway and winning a Tony.
Frances Ruffelle as Éponine in Les Misérables
Many shows have followed, including Children of Eden, Piaf and Chicago. She told me with a large laugh that she still has nightmares about being asked to go on as Dinah with no preparation.
Her philosophy on life and work now is: “you have to keep being busy. A job leads to a job.”
She describes Billie to me: “she’s got a performance on stage and off it. In Friendly Fire we see the real Billie – her vulnerability and inside energy – being stronger about being herself.”
And there’s more to come after Closer to Heaven. Frances is off to Edinburgh Fringe with her boyfriend to perform The Scot and the Showgirl, and in September she’s running a two-week workshop of a show she’s written with another gay icon, Alan Cumming, and actor Sally George.
She wouldn’t tell me much about it but its working title is I Can Die Too. Watch this space.
Andrew Pepper’s one-man cabaret House Of Pepper is a chaotic, whirlwind of high camp, some low singing notes and just tons and tons of fun.
His opening is a mishmash of fast paced dialogue and snatches of songs, and as he tells us in one of many innuendos: “It’s 30 days since I sniffed around your parts.”
Let The Good Times Roll and Let Me Entertain You get a short airing and then it’s ballad time, with touching lyrics like: “There must be one sort of decent guy out there,” although he subverts the pathos by having a gloved false hand on a stick for the audience to shake.
There’s more or less continuous piano accompaniment under his dialogue and the lead into songs, and it make the experience a fluid, carefully structured performance where everything, however crazy or left field, has a purpose.
He renders the Adele ballad When We Were Young with tenderness and real emotion – it’s a showstopper for me.
There’s plenty of Jacques Brel for aficionados, but Pepper can switch in an instant from soft lyrical sound to full-on operatic.
He reminded me in style and delivery of both Marc Almond and Charles Aznavour, and just when you think you’ve got the measure of his crazy antics, he gives us Padam Padam as, he tells us, Kylie gave it to him.
But the stunningly powerful, quick witted, fiendishly fast Brel song Carousel is where Pepper truly shines. It’s amazing stuff.
And as we whirl round on Andrew’s crazy carousel – I for one didn’t want to get off.
There’s great accompaniment from Alex Maynard (piano) and Tristan Butler (drums), who miraculously maintain Pepper’s mad momentum.
House of Pepper is at Crazy Coqs on 19 May, 16 June, 21 July and 8 September. Tickets HERE
An interview with a camp vamp, a harrowing story of post-war Germany, revelations of being gay in the South African army, and a look back at Eurovision hits tells us just how varied the current queer theatre scene is.
But first, after 12 years performing as both himself and his alter ego damaged cabaret star Miss Hope Springs, Ty Jeffries is calling it a day as a regular performer with two shows in London. As himself, he will play at the Crazy Coqs cabaret room in Piccadilly’s Brasserie Zedel on 27 April (tickets), and then at the prestigious Wigmore Hall on 7 June (tickets).
Hear historic hits live and vote for your favourite at Tim McArthur’s totally camp creation Eurovision – Your Decision, which returns at the King’s Head, London from 29 April – 11 May.
The Camden Fringe comes to the King’s Head too this summer. The Pink Listis set in 1957 West Germany. The battle against the Nazis may have ended 12 years ago, but the war against injustice goes on. While most laws have been de-nazified, the law persecuting homosexuals remains in force. Karl is a gay concentration camp survivor, who goes on trial for the ‘crime’ of loving another man. It runs on 16 June, 5 August and 11 & 12 August.
Sell-out queer comedy cabaret night Comedy Fit For A King is hosted at the same venue by Pedro Leandro on 5 & 25 May with acts including Katie Norris, Rohan Sharma, Mudfish, Liv Ello and Lil Wenker.
Daddy, which runs from 17 – 19 May, is a new show where Brent Thorpe – described as the biggest poof in Australia – takes us on a wild ride to discover what life is like as a Daddy and to see how much fun getting older is.
Klub Obskura returns on 1 June as a showcase for alternative drag and cabaret artists who struggle to find a venue.
Rounding off at the King’s Head is Two Come Home from 14-18 August. Ten years after a crime tore them apart, two lovers re-unite at the worst time. Guilt, rage and love collide in this new play featuring a live band. It explores being gay in an impoverished rural community. Tickets for all King’s Head shows HERE
Riverside Studios presents Moffie – a stage adaptation of Andre Carl Van De Merwe’s autobiographical novel about his time as a conscript in South Africa’s apartheid-era military.
It’s staged as a monologue by rising star Kai Luke Brummer. We’re in 1979 and the play tells of Nicholas a recruit who is terrified of being outed and labelled as a ‘moffie’ – a derogatory term for being gay. It runs 5-30 June. Tickets HERE
And finally in this selection: international cabaret star and lyricist Dr Adam Perchard and Oliver-winning composer Richard Thomas (Jerry Springer: The Opera!), perform Interview With The Vampat the Soho Theatre from 10-13 July.
Adam is an old vamp, with one hell of a back story and Richard is here to get the scoop. Adam is billed as an icon of the East London queer scene, so there’s bound to be fun in store for its audience. Tickets HERE
Joe DiPietro’s F*cking Men ends with an ensemble line: “you’ll meet someone else,” and that’s the theme of this electrifying 90 mins of erotic, thoughtful, challenging theatre.
It’s a modern version of the classic 19th century play La Ronde. Four actors play 10 gay men and each scene involves two of the characters. As the original title suggests, this is a circular storyline and we end where we began, more or less.
As each scene is a micro drama, the attraction is guessing who will be with who next and what will happen. We’re never disappointed.
First off is straight-ish marine Steve (Jason Eddy), who has his first queer encounter with buff street sex worker John (Rory Connolly). It’s a tense opener. With violence, shame and regret, but we kinda know the marine will be back.
Scene two is some while later and the marine gets off with an almost silent guy in the gym sauna. Marco (Joe Bishop) is a tutor who confides that he can only now have sex with his boyfriend by imagining the partner is someone else.
Moving on we see Marco trying to give a spoilt little rich boy Kyle, (Rory Connolly again), a lesson of some kind. Bishop is great as the tight-lipped, tight-arsed teacher who fears Kyle may be under 18. “ Wanna see my passport?” Asks Kyle, – “ well, yes, if it’s handy,” Marco replies.
Turns out Marco and boyfriend fool around but don’t talk about it. And so the sexual merry go round continues, and the question we get is: “are we meant to have sex with the same person all our life, over and over?”
David Michaels doubles as a rich financier and a top-rated TV interviewer. Rory Connolly returns as a super confident porn star, and Joe Bishop is a delightfully camp but ultimately badly treated playwright who tries to publicly shame Jason Eddy’s new role as an English Oscar-nominated and closeted film star.
I may even have got some of that wrong as the play proceeds at a dizzying pace!
All four actors brilliantly delineate the different characters by costume, voice and physicality – not a single weak link here.
It’s a morality play about lies, deceit, monogamy, love and romance, and its heart-rending final scene will make you cry with its honesty, truth and happiness.
Steven Kunis directs with tautness, good taste and a good deal of wry humour, and Cara Evans’ set is a clever joy to behold – six perspex panels that double as swinging doors to bedroom, sauna, apartment, and a circular bed where all the erotic action takes place.
There is nudity galore and lots of simulated sex, but it never seems gratuitous.
It’s five-stars entertainment. Catch it if you can. It plays at Waterloo East Theatre until 26 May. Tickets HERE
Comedian Terry has got about as low as he can get in his career. He’s the compère for strippers with a second act spot to tell jokes before the band takes over.
And so, over 55 minutes he tells us his back story, cutting in and out of gags from famous comics and revealing bit by bit his terrible, violent past life at home.
The dark secret is introduced almost casually, the butt of a joke or two but finally it’s all too much for Terry. Andrew Kay’s monodrama Punchline has a double entendre title – it’s the pay-off of a gag and a tag for Terry’s home life.
It’s stunning, poignant and perfectly pitched by Brian Capron alias ex-Corrie serial killer Richard Hillman. Rupert Charmak’s direction is subtly understated, with beautiful touches like Terry’s obsession with physical details, like the position of his unsmoked cigs, his carefully folded trousers, the literal application of spit and polish to his stage shows.
Brian plays it all low-key, which makes the tragedy of his past seem almost mundane. During the show we meet a panoply of Terry’s comic heroes – Max Miller, Tommy Cooper, Jim Davidson, Les Dawson, and Terry has their voices off pat.
What Andrew, Rupert and Brian create for us is a masterclass in portraying the sad clown, and it all seems spontaneous, honest, viscerally real and now.
Terry is a gentle, damaged soul, but ultimately a survivor, and re-telling his story to us or to himself – as 50 of us can’t be in his workingmen’s club dressing room – seems a cathartic experience.
And if all that sounds heavy, it’s not played that way. We get some classic jokes like “I still enjoy sex at 74 – well I live at 75 so it’s not far to go”.
Rumour has it that the team plan further venues and even a tour for the show. I’ll keep you posted – it’s a little gem of theatre.
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