Show And Tell: 5 Powerful And Provocative New Broadway Plays

From: NewNowNext

Indecent

Lesbian playwright Paula Vogel and director Rebecca Taichman’s haunting backstage drama exhilaratingly explores the true trajectory of Yiddish play God of Vengeance, which featured Broadway’s first lesbian kiss and was subsequently denounced as obscene in 1923. Katrina Lenk and Adina Verson genuinely shine as lovers among the passionate group of artists who ultimately risked everything to bring the controversial play to life.

Cort Theatre, open-ended

Show And Tell: 5 Must-See New Musicals In NYC

From: NewNowNext

Sunday in the Park With George

As anguished artist Georges Seurat and his muse, an intensely committed Jake Gyllenhaal—oh, that voice!—and the luminous Annaleigh Ashford slap a fresh coat of paint on Stephen Sondheim’s 1984 masterpiece, a heady study in creative passion and emotional restraint. Sarna Lapine’s spare staging is colored in by Seurat’s vibrant subjects, including a handsome pair of soldiers who “have become very close.”

Hudson Theatre - Closed April 23

Jack Windsor and Dan Broughton

Straight boy, gay boy when will they learn to play nicely!
From: Guys Love Guys

 English Lads says: Dan Broughton is trying quite hard to push Jack Windsor more and in the end Jack ends up dumping his load all over Dan; who promptly cums on Jack’s leg.

7 Reasons We Wish We Were Christine Baranski

From: NewNowNext

6

She’s the consummate scene-stealer

Whether it’s hamming it up as Leonard’s mother on Big Bang Theory, crushing it as Mary Sunshine in Chicago or giving Meryl a run for her money in Mamma Mia, no one steals focus quite like Christine Baranski.

Cosmo Centrefold Hall of Fame

From: Cosmo UK

Andy Scott-Lee

Welsh Singer

Andy Scott-Lee (born Robert Andrew Jason Scott-Lee; 29 March 1980) is a Welsh singer and the brother of Steps singer Lisa Scott-Lee.

Is This The Heir To The Kennedy Throne We've Been Waiting For?

From: Instinct

Congressman Joe Kennedy III waving at a parade in 2012.
Martin Grondin, Creative Commons

We've heard stories of Camelot and we know how quickly it was taken away from us on November 22, 1963. The hopes and aspirations of a long Kennedy presidency are still mentioned to this day and how different the nation would be. Since then, the nation has pined for someone to pick up the promises of and return us to Camelot.

There have been exceptional Kennedys in the past that have given us hope as well as a great many years of service.  Edward "Ted" Kennedy served Massachusetts and the nation for nearly 47 years until his death in 2009.  Even his son Patrick was a US Representative for the state of Rhode Island until 2011 when he chose not to seek re-election.

Enter Joe. Taking over the Representative seat from our retired influential friend Barney Frank, Joseph Kennedy III was sworn into the role of US Representative from Massachusetts in January of 2013.  Many wondered if he would shine as his Kennedy forefathers did.  We think he's doing just fine.

On March 2, 2017, US Rep. Joe Kennedy III read the names of the known transgender women killed in the United States up to that point in 2017, followed with a personal pledge to fight for LGBTQ rights.

Pointing to the seven transgender women who were reportedly killed in the first two months of 2017, U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Brookline, pledged Thursday to lead the fight against policies and "hate-inspired violence" that threaten the LGBTQ community.

Kennedy, who will chair the Congressional LGBT Equality Caucus' newly relaunched Transgender Equality Task Force, acknowledged that while the panel has "a rocky road ahead," the reported killings and recent actions by President Donald Trump's administration make its work more critical than ever.

"We will fight back against a Justice and an Education Department that turns a blind eye to discrimination in our schools," he said, referencing the recent rollback of protections for transgender students in schools during a Capitol Hill news conference. - masslive.com

One act that truly fulfilled this pledge was his vehement opposition to Trump's attempt to replace Obama’s openly gay nominee Eric Fanning as the new Army Secretary with the anti-gay Tennessee Republican, Mark Green. Kennedy has a portion of his website dedicated to EQUALITY.  One of the items in there is as follows:

KENNEDY: ARMY SECRETARY NOMINEE UNFIT FOR OFFICE

Apr 27, 2017 Press Release

Washington, D.C. – In a letter to Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ), Congressman Joe Kennedy III today urged the Senate to reject the nomination of Tennessee State Senator Mark Green as Secretary of the Army. In addition to claiming that being transgender is a ‘disease,’ Green has referred to the transgender community as ‘evil’ and likened them to ISIS terrorists. - kennedy.house.gov/on-the-issues/equality

 Firey politics indeed, but this is what we are seeing Kennedy define himself as, someone who does care for the LGBT community.

When someone uses your own words against you, do you have a leg to stand on? Mark Green said in a statement Friday that “false and misleading attacks” against him had turned his nomination into a distraction.

“Tragically, my life of public service and my Christian beliefs have been mischaracterized and attacked by a few on the other side of the aisle for political gain.”

Green is the second Trump nominee for Army secretary to withdraw. We don't feel bad.  Did Kennedy's words have something to do with it?

Joe Kennedy III is a member of the House of Representatives, the government body that just voted in the positive to repeal the Affordable Care Act / Obamacare. We know Joe did not vote in the positive for this because of his words below. They weren't just words about the ACA itself, but what this ACA repeal means and how it represents the wishes of the current presidency. Have a listen.

His speech was on Thursday, before the vote to repeal occurred. But the beauty of video is it can be viewed again and again. It can be viewed by constituents like us as well as the Senators that have the ability to stop the repeal before it becomes law.

Video, it's how most of us learned about President John F. Kennedy and his time in office, his hopes for the future, his beliefs. We have a feeling that we will be seeing more of Joseph P. Kennedy III. We want to see more of Joseph P. Kennedy III. Keep up the great work Joe!

365 Groovy Books Worth Reading

From: Deep Dish

50

Happiness is a Sad Song 

by 

Charles M. Schulz

1967

"Happiness is being too sick to go to school, but not too sick to watch TV" is one of the featured tidbits of wisdom from the Peanuts gang.

Is a Grand Jury Looking into Donald Trump and Russia?

From: Towleroad

Is a Grand Jury currently investigating links between Donald Trump and Russia? Plenty of evidence points to exactly that, according to Keith Olbermann, including statements from FBI Director James Comey in last week’s hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

HHS televisions tuned into Fox News

From: Politico

A security guard looks out of the headquarters of News Corp.,
which owns the Fox News Channel,  in Midtown Manhattan on April 19.
  AP Photo

The televisions in public areas at the Health and Human Services Department headquarters in Washington have been switched to Fox News. Now the same change appears to have applied to other HHS buildings, including Food and Drug Administration buildings in Maryland.

According to two people who work at the agency, the televisions at the Hubert Humphrey building had previously rotated among the three main cable channels every three days or so. But since shortly after the Trump administration took over, the televisions have been on Fox News.

One of the sources suggested that the information came from "high up" in the agency. (Our colleague Dan Diamond first pointed out in January that the televisions were tuned to Fox.) Now, a new internal email that appears to be from the agency's White Oak campus in Silver Spring, posted to Twitter by several reporters, says current administration officials ordered the change.

The email states in part: “The reason for the change is that a decision from the current administration administrative officials (sic) has requested that all monitors, under our control, on the White Oak Campus, display Fox News.”

BuzzFeed and The Wall Street Journal report that some of the televisions have since been turned off or switched back to other networks.

A spokesperson at FDA denied that such a directive was sent.

"There was no directive or memorandum from the Administration that went out to employees about broadcast news channels displaying on monitors in common areas throughout the FDA’s White Oak campus," the spokesperson said.

The change in televisions does not seem to be widespread across other agencies. Sources at the Departments of Labor and Agriculture have said in recent weeks that their televisions are not restricted to one channel. Spokespeople for Health and Human Services did not respond to specific questions about the televisions at the HHS headquarters.

Harvey Fierstein is Back, and A Queer Renaissance is Making Broadway Fabulous Again

From: Queerty

Neil Patrick Harris proclaimed Broadway is “Not Just For Gays Anymore,” the delightful opening song of the 2011 Tony Awards. Gone were the days of theater as the exclusive domain of tap dancing in 42nd Street and jazz hands in A Chorus Line. Audiences have flocked to the theater to see safe, pleasant productions like Grease and Jersey Boys, and of course the American consciousness is currently obsessed with the hip-hop score of Hamilton.

But good old-fashioned glamorous theater, with self-indulgent drama and big dance sequences, is popular again, perhaps led by the success of Kinky Boots, in its fourth year on Broadway of educating audiences about drag queens and fetish footwear. Gaggles of gay men are once again reclaiming their theatrical turf, converging from across America and descending upon Broadway theaters to see shows rife with high camp, over-the-top costumes and toe-tapping tunes.

Theatrical power players have certainly noticed the gentle shift, and are on the hunt for musicals and plays that serve up a heavy dose of drama while remembering to still leave audiences smiling. Tina Fey’s musical version of Mean Girls is opening in Washington, D.C. on October 31 for its pre-Broadway trial, and Elton John is working on his musical adaptation of The Devil Wears Prada. Cate Blanchett, fresh off her Broadway run in a play called The Present, is booked to star in a stage production of All About Eve in London opening in 2018, and that play is going to be so delicious it is almost impossible to comprehend.

 Gently Down The Stream

The Plot

Two gay men from different generations negotiate the ups and downs of developing a relationship, amidst the social and historical implications of LGBTQ equality. It sounds serious, but it’s charming and funny.

Why The Gays Are Going

The show itself is quite good, but the draw here is the lead actor, Harvey Fierstein. As an openly gay man, he was one of the first artists to bring the LGBTQ experience to the public with his plays, musicals, and movies, causing quite a ruckus when he started in the 1980’s–long before Ellen Degeneres made her coming out announcement on her show. He has a long list of awards for his work both as a writer and an actor, including two Tonys, one for writing and one for Best Actor, in the astounding AIDS-era drama Torch Song Trilogy (fun fact: he shared the stage with Estelle Getty, a.k.a. Sophia Petrillo in The Golden Girls). Younger generations of theater fans may know him as Edna Turnblad, the mom in Hairspray, for which he won a Tony award for Best Actor in 2013, and he also played the role in the 2016 TV version of Hairspray Live! Millennials probably didn’t know when they were watching Hairspray Live!, they weren’t just watching a drag queen, they were watching royalty.

And those in the know are now going to see him in Gently Down The Stream at The Public, because of course the show is amazing.

GOP Rep. Raul Labrador: NOBODY DIES BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE

From: Boy Culture

Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) literally stated that nobody dies from a lack of access to health care at a town hall.

It didn't go well.

It defies credulity that he could actually believe this ...

P.S. This video should be used to answer any right-winger who bitches and moans about Obamacare:

GAY WINE WEEKEND – JULY!

From: Bear World

 If you love wine, then you are going to love the Gay Wine Weekend, July 14-16 in Sonoma. Three full days of LGBT events, in Northern California’s magnificent Sonoma Valley – home to some of the world’s most prestigious wines and wineries.

Celebrate with world class wine and culinary delights, music and dancing in a private estate vineyard, VIP Receptions, wine tasting excursions, champagne brunch, wine auction and pool party in one of the most famous luxury wine destinations in the world.

There are several options with a VIP element but you can cherry pick the events you would like to attend. Friday night kicks off with a VIP reception (if you are on the VIP package or staying in the host hotel) and then seven possible wine & dinner locations on the first night to choose from. The first night ends with a visit to Midnight Sun POP-UP video bar on the Sonoma Plaza! (click here to find the full details)

 Saturday after breakfast sees you going on one of five possible winery tours with a picnic lunch. Later that night is a VIP reception followed by the Twilight T-Dance at Chateau St. Jean Winery, which is a benefit for Face to Face, Sonoma County AIDS Network. The Chateau St. Jean estate offers wine lovers an idyllic getaway to soak in the Sonoma wine lifestyle, with incredible vineyard views, a dramatic mountain backdrop, lush gardens and the elegant 1920s chateau. The evening closes with an “Apres-T” After Party at 11:00pm with little bites and no host bar at the brand new SIGH Lounge, Sonoma’s only “Bubble Room” located across the street from the host hotel. 

 Sunday sees a relaxed day with the Gay Wine Auction and Recovery Brunch at 10 am presented by Equality Wines, founded by equality pioneer Jim Obergefell, who successfully overturned Prop 8 with the US Supreme Court and won Marriage Equality for all. 100% of the monies raised at the live auction benefit Face to Face, Sonoma County AIDS Network.

This is followed by the Sunday Pool Soiree – 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. It’s a REAL SONOMA POOL PARTY located just minutes from the Plaza at the beautiful home of a good friend of the Wine Weekend and one of Sonoma’s most fabulous couples, who have generously opened their home to guests. Spend Sunday Sonoma Style, with a chill afternoon poolside with LA CREMA WINES and enjoy the final afternoon of Gay Wine Weekend, lounging and soaking in the warm Sonoma Sun until departure – or extend your stay and keep Gay Wine Weekend going!

This is one of those amazing weekends that will offer something different than any other weekend away.

Book now as there are still places for most of the events and some VIP passes still available too.

For full pricing and how to book visit:

www.gaywineweekend.com

Gay water polo team finds unique way to get in the competition’s heads

From: Queerty

Toronto’s Triggerfish Water Polo team is set to defend their recreational and competitive division titles at the 2017 IGLA Championships at the World Out Games in Miami later this month, and they’ve come up with a new approach to upping the ante.

Below, watch as they strut their way towards a hopeful victory in what can only be described as a “smack down.”

We can’t wait to see the rebuttals:

Gay Teen In Chechnya Pushed Off Ninth Floor Balcony By Uncle

The 17-year-old was pushed to his death in an attempt to "wash away the shame" from his family
From: NewNowNext

 More harrowing reports of harassment, torture and murder of gay men continue to pour out of Chechnya: One fugitive recounted details of the homosexual purge to the Russian magazine Snob, detailing how he came out to his mullah.

 “As a Chechen and as a man I do not want to see you here. Neither in the mosque, nor in this district,” he was told by the teacher. “I want you to leave now, because everything you said is the most disgusting thing you can find out. I hope your relatives have the dignity to wash away your shame. Go away.”

The mullah then related an incident involving a 17-year-old, who was pushed off a ninth floor balcony to his death by an uncle ashamed of his homosexuality. Police have reportedly been telling families to “sort out” their gay children or else the state will intervene. At least six concentration camps have been set up for sexual minorities in Chechnya, with reports of beatings and electrocutions.

Chechan president Ramzan Kadyrov has issued contradictory statements about the anti-gay pogrom, first claiming through a spokesperson that “you cannot arrest or repress people who just don’t exist,” and then announcing he would rid the region of gay people by the start of Ramadan, later this month.

Russian president Vladimir Putin downplayed reports of the attrocities as “rumors,” but this week agreed to allow a government human-rights official to begin an investigation.

Rainbow Railroad is raising funds to help at-risk LGBT people get out of the region. You can make a donation on their website.

Gap’s New Mother’s Day Ad Celebrates Every Kind Of Mom

Liv Tyler's short film "Mama Said" features a lesbian couple and their children
From: NewNowNext

 Mother’s Day comes early with a new Gap campaign ad that includes an adorable family led by two moms.

Liv Tyler directed and stars in the clothing retailer’s short film, “Mama Said,” which celebrates the joys of motherhood. Photographer Cass Bird and director Ali Bird appear in the clip with their two adorable children, Leo and Mae.

Candice Swanepoel, Coco Rocha, and Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Jussie Smollet’s sister, also appear in the ad with their children.

The film is in support of Every Mother Counts, a non-profit dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe.

Watch “Mama Said” and a behind-the-scenes bonus video below.

FOR THOSE OF YOU INTO TALL GUYS, MEET MATT DELGADO

From: Manhunt Daily

 He’s tall. He’s like a big hot tree! His cock’s tall, too! NextDoor’s newest acquisition is tall, dark, and handsome Matt Delgado. They’ve paired him with cute ginger Scotty Zee. Do you think breaking in the new ass at a porn studio is a good gig or is it actual work? It might take a certain kind of porn model. They might need patience. Or, Matt is a born natural and fucked like a champ and needed very little coaxing. Judging by the teaser, I’m going with the latter.

Favorite Pic of the Day for May 7th

From: Favorite Hunks & Other Things

Tyler by Richard Rothstein

Cam Gigandet in The Shadow Effect

From: Favorite Hunks & Other Things

 Cam Gigandet is one of Hollywood's hottest, and most talented actors but except for the short lived 2014 television series, Reckless, I haven't seen too much of him the last few years. I believe Cam's appearance The Shadow Effect marks his second only nude scene, the last being his sexy turn in 2010's Burlesque.

 Cam's character Gabriel spends a fair bit of time in his boxer briefs, but usually when he's hovered over a toilet bowl getting sick. Gabriel is not having the best of days, and things get even worse when Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Michael Biehn join the mix. Thankfully, he comes 'out of it' near the end in a scene the films director wisely decided should have Cam wet.... and naked. 

After Merkel plea, Putin backs probe into Chechen gay attacks

From: WION

While speaking to the Kremlin ombudswoman in televised comments,
Putin referred to the reports as "rumours, you could say,
about what is happening in our North Caucasus with people of non-traditional orientation,"
using a euphemism meaning gay.
Photograph: (Getty)

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday backed an official check into reported brutal attacks on gay men in Chechnya in his first public comment after German Chancellor Angela Merkel confronted him on the issue.

Putin said he would personally "talk to the prosecutor-general and the interior minister" to ask them to help Kremlin rights ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova check the reports which have caused an international scandal.

"I hope the colleagues respond and support you," Putin told Moskalkova, whose role is to investigate rights abuses but is widely seen as a loyalist establishment figure.

At a joint press conference with Putin on Tuesday in Moscow, Merkel raised the "very negative reports" and said she had asked Putin to "use his influence to guarantee the rights of minorities." 

While speaking to the Kremlin ombudswoman in televised comments, Putin referred to the reports as "rumours, you could say, about what is happening in our North Caucasus with people of non-traditional orientation," using a euphemism meaning gay.

In March, the Novaya Gazeta opposition daily reported that Chechen authorities were imprisoning and torturing gay men in the conservative region where homosexuality is taboo.

It said the authorities had detained more than 100 gay men and urged their families to kill them to "wash clean their honour." At least two had been killed by relatives and a third died after being tortured, it reported.

A group of Chechen men in a safe house near Moscow later confirmed to AFP that they had fled the region in fear of their lives after being beaten and imprisoned.

Chechnya's strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov has fiercely denied claims of a crackdown in the socially conservative region.

The muscle-bound former insurgent turned Kremlin-loyalist responded to Putin's comments on Friday by telling journalists his authorities were "ready to closely cooperate" with Moskalkova, RIA Novosti news agency reported.

But he claimed that majority-Muslim Chechnya does not have any gay people and suggested some gay people may be pretending to be Chechen to get asylum in the West.

"Chechen society does not have the phenomenon called non-traditional sexual orientation: its people have lived for thousands of years according to different rules laid down by Allah," Kadyrov said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov initially downplayed the reports, saying there had been "no confirmation" of violence and arrests.

After a delay, Russian investigators have said they are probing the allegations. 

Moskalkova said last month there had been no official complaints from victims. 

But on Friday she said that there needed to be a mechanism for victims to report abuse when they are outside Chechnya and asked Putin to help create a working group to receive such complaints. She stressed that victims' anonymity will be protected.

This week, the foreign ministers of Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden wrote to their Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov to press for an immediate end to any persecution of gay men in Chechnya.

Tom Daley And Dustin Lance Black Marry In Fairytale Castle Wedding

“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?”

From:  NewNowNext

 Olympic diver Tom Daley, 22, and Oscar-winning filmmaker Dustin Lance Black, 42, have reportedly tied the knot.

The Sun reports that the intimate yet lavish wedding took place yesterday at Bovey Castle in the English countryside.

 Before the civil partnership ceremony, Daley reportedly imitated Shakespeare’s Juliet on the Bovey Castle balcony, singing, “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo?” to his betrothed.

The ceremony, scored by a string quartet, was held in the posh venue’s Cathedral Room and followed by a three-course meal and “massive cake” that Daley ordered personally. Daley wore a burgundy suit while Black wore navy. Guests later danced into the wee hours in the Dartmoor Suite ballroom.

• dlanceblack
• Happy Anniversary my love. 3.22.13 #FourYears #Cornwall2013 🐸❤️🐵

 Just 50 close friends and relatives gathered at the five-star golf resort, which is located in Dartmoor National Park, 30 miles from Daley’s hometown of Plymouth in Devon County. The couple rented out the entire 58-room hotel for the weekend.

Just days before the wedding, Daley was admitted to the hospital due to a sports-related hip injury.

• tomdaley1994
• What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼 
• #AthleteLife Back on the board soon 👌🏻

The couple, who recently celebrated their fourth anniversary, announced their engagement in October 2015. Daley first went public with their relationship in 2013 following a YouTube video in which he spoke publicly about his sexuality for the first time.