Debra De Liso’s Beautiful, Terrifying, Love

Published August 22, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Behind the scenes, it may take a village to put on a show. But, sometimes, on the stage itself, all you need is one special presence.

Such is the case with the brilliant Debra De Liso. Best known as Kimberly Clark in the cult horror classic The Slumber Party Massacre, De Liso is a West Coast theatrical mainstay, with teaching, directing and acting credits galore. Now, after years of helping amazing talent travel with their own solo adventures across the boards, she has developed her own memoir piece, Beautiful, Terrifying, Love.

Recently, De Liso took this intimate production, which has been called “a tantalizing Twilight Zone marathon of a life, told by a poetic dynamo” to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. There, it was referred to as “involving” by WOW 24/7 and the press, also, delighted in the fact that references to her horror film past were made during the evening.

But, while shaded by veins of humor, the show, tenderly, focuses on De Liso’s relationship with her beloved and very talented bi-polar daughter. These photos from the production, taken by De Liso’s sister, obviously show her heartfelt connectedness to the material, making it seem like a sure fire journey that lovers of, both, the arts and the humanities will definitely want to be taken on.

More information on Beautiful, Terrifying, Love and De Liso, who has also appeared in such horror and cult films as Iced and Dr. Caligari, can be gathered at http://www.debradeliso.com.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Review: The Summer of Daisy Fay

Published August 6, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

New American Folk Theatre’s charming production of The Summer of Daisy Fay, based on comedian-author Fannie Flag’s popular Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, ultimately, shows how far and how little we have come with concern to women’s rights and the equality of the GLBT community.

As played, subtly and enthusiastically, by the adorable Charlie Irving, Daisy Fay recounts her adventures under the charming Southern tutelage of an urbane gay man. It’s the late 50s and, as the show opens, Daisy Fay’s distinguished sponsor is putting the finishing touches on his pliable creation in anticipation of her competing in the upcoming Miss Mississippi Contest.

Of course, Daisy Fay doesn’t find every recipient of small town masculinity quite so impressive. As bitterly recounted by Irving, the audience soon discovers that Daisy Fay’s dearest childhood friend has been the victim of a familial rape and is now indentured to her abusive father.

We, also, learn of how Daisy Fay helps a local businessman escape a raid at the local gay watering hole and eventually, in humorous detail, just exactly how her beauty crown ambitions play out.

Full of down home humor and hope, Daisy Fay, courtesy of Irving’s skilled commitment and playwright Ed Howard’s effective words, is eventually revealed to be the type of person that the world needs more of. Understanding and full of warm acceptance, this character would surely be mortified that, in contemporary society, women still must defend their right to proper birth control and that, despite major advances, that gay, lesbian and trans men and women (and their supporters) are still being attacked and murdered in the streets.

Lovingly directed by Anthony Whitaker, and produced in association with Redtwist Theatre, The Summer of Daisy Fay runs until August 17th at Redtwist Theatre, 1044 W. Bryn Mawr in Chicago. Please visit http://www.newamericanfolktheatre.org for more information.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Adrienne Barbeau in Pippin

Published July 31, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

Life as a circus act can have various connotations – for the better or worse.

Lately, though, no one is celebrating the joys of an unconventional existence better than the glorious Adrienne Barbeau. Barbeau, known to upscale terror connoisseurs as the eclectic face of such horror efforts as The Fog, Creepshow, Swamp Thing, Two Evil Eyes and so many others, is currently touring the country in the colorfully effective revival tour of Pippin.

The Tony Award winning show follows the adventures of Pippin, a recently graduated scholar, who longs to have a life of importance and meaning. Seemingly performed by a Middle Ages style burlesque troupe, this traveling production features a bevy of professional circus performers in its cast, who all add breathtaking flair to the proceedings and who help make Barbeau’s main musical number a truly memorable one.

After his first disheartening attempt at transcendence, via his participation as a soldier in one of his king father’s wars, Pippin (a sweetly bumbling Sam Lips) goes to visit his grandmother, Berthe (Barbeau), for encouragement. As played by Barbeau, Berthe is saucy, but tender and she, fully and lovingly, connects with Lips’ bedraggled wanderer. With vibrant voice, Barbeau, also, brings playful and subtle force to Berthe’s creed and grand advice to Pippin, No Time at All.

Skillfully engaging with the audience throughout the song, which encourages everyone to live as though there were no tomorrow (because, indeed, there may be no tomorrow), Barbeau eventually truly amazes with some daring, high wire feats.

Ascending on a swing, center stage, Berthe/Barbeau flips around and under the floating apparatus with the aid of a flexible, bare chested fellow performer. It is simply a wonder to behold and proof positive that anything is possible if one puts a mind to it.

Most importantly, though, Barbeau, who began her career on Broadway in Fiddler on the Roof and the original production of Grease, seems to be having an amazing time reconnecting with her roots. Pippin, which radiates with a darkly magical flair, also, seems to be a return of sorts to her work as Ruthie in Carnivale, one of her favored roles. These circumstances add up to make her the delicious heart of the production.

The Pippin touring schedule is available at http://www.pippinthemusical.com/tour.php.

Barbeau, meanwhile, is reachable at http://www.abarbeau.com and https://www.facebook.com/4abarbeau.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Theater Review: Redletter

Published March 6, 2015 by biggayhorrorfan

While definitely not a horror piece, Redletter from (the very gay friendly) The Neo-Futurists does feature a segment which details the terrors of uninformed journalism in the modern age, with prominent attention paid to the numerous incorrect reports in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. In these moments, you can truly feel the dread of creator Lisa Buscani, whom seemingly nurtured this show due to her love of responsible, old school reporting, leaping off of the stage. Lives were destroyed due to false reports and Buscani’s disgust at the unprofessional actions of the press is palpable here.

While this moment is truly one of the show’s most notable, as in all Neo-Futurist productions, the ensemble eventually gathers together to share their personal stories about their own writing careers and how newsworthy events have impacted their lives. Thea Lux’s memories of 9-11 are poignant while Lindsay Muscato bravely shares how her own insecurities have often halted her progress in her creative endeavors. Buscani who leads the whole ensemble, including affable Co-Artistic Director Bilal Dardai, with heartwarming enthusiasm, also, shares happy memories of family gatherings with the morning paper and her early attempts at student journalism.

In a feat of dramatic contrast, the notion of honest, old school reportage is given by a ribbing by the committed ramblings of the truly talented Trevor Dawkins. Dawkins, who, winningly, staged his own action movie in last year’s athletic Haymaker, here morphs into an insane, coke snorting version of his journalist father. Revealing that even in the golden age of television journalism, networks could be bought and sold, Dawkins is a marvel. Whether grooving across stage with perfect Fosse hands or rambunctiously attacking Buscani, Dawkins comes off like the coolest guy in town, perfecting all of the truly awkward and totally delightful energy of every Neo-Futurist production in one performance.

Hmmm…Hey, Trevor, wanna be friends?!?

Redletter runs through March 29th, 2015 at The Neo-Futurariam , 5153 N. Ashland, in Chicago. More information is available at http://www.neofuturists.org.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Review: Deborah Voorhees’ Billy Shakespeare

Published October 25, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

If I made a film about what I knew in my younger days, it would have to include a lot of Amish buggies and farm scenarios. The multi-talented Deborah Voorhees, best known from her eye gouging encounter with Jason in Friday the 13th: A New Beginning, meanwhile, allows her youthful knowledge of the dirty dealings of show business to inform Billy Shakespeare, her very fun take on the legacy of theater’s most famous bard.

Imagining Shakespeare as an artist trying to make it in contemporary times, writer-director Voorhees explores the wordsmith’s struggles to get audiences to connect with his Renaissance style. Particularly effective is the modern reaction to a volatile film version of The Taming of the Shrew, in which a combative woman is turned into a submissive companion to her husband. Skewered by feminists, denied by his ultra-successful journalist mother and urged by his agent to sell out by writing horror films, Shakespeare soon finds himself entering an even bigger maelstrom. When his best friend, a beautiful transgendered woman named Wilma, discovers his sonnets and thinks they are written for her, a bounty of misunderstandings and slapstick style entanglements soon occur. With heart and humor, Voorhees delightedly explores the many questions regarding Shakespeare’s sexuality and even when all seems resolved, the fadeout reveals that nothing, as in life itself, is for sure.

Terror fans, naturally, are going to enjoy Voorhees’ nods to her acting career, particularly an enjoyably blatant reference to her involvement in one of horror cinema’s biggest franchises. But, as a whole, she works with humor and skill here, creating a product that fans of theater and romantic comedy should both embrace. Granted, certain factions of the queer community might question the use of the word ‘drag queen’ as opposed to ‘transgendered’ when certain characters describe themselves, especially as those depicted appear to be living their lives as women. But there is no ill intent here, as Wilma and her companions are truly lovely creations who often the steal the show, who seem to be using that descriptor for humor’s sake.

Voorhees, also, gleans sophisticated performances from her cast, an important nuance as her accomplished script takes them through many complications. Jason D. Johnson supplies multiple layers to his Shakespeare. He is noble, comic and exasperatingly dense, all at once. Phillip David Collins fully brings Wilma to life, as well. He is entirely natural, making one truly believe that he lives every waking moment in female form. Meanwhile, as Anne, Shakespeare’s acknowledged lover, Catharine Pilafas fills the screen with steely grace and a vulnerable beauty.

So, be sure to sharpen up your iambic pentameter by following Voorhees and Billy Shakespeare at
https://www.facebook.com/billyshakespearethemovie and http://www.billyshakespearethemovie.com.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan
http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan

Review: Evil Dead – The Musical

Published October 3, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Sometimes, I just get tired of fighting off those milk encrusted kitchen demons alone. (What I wouldn’t give for a good dagger infused mop or two, as well!) Luckily, I no longer have to attack these undead annoyances as a solo entity – for, at last, Ash is in town! Well, at least until October 12th!

Yes, Evil Dead – The Musical has finally landed with a huge body thudding splatter in Chicago and, for horror fans, Halloween has definitely come a bit early this year!

Lyricist and writer George Reinblatt’s immensely silly homage to the original Evil Dead series is full of winking nods to the Sam Raimi classics with plenty of goofy, fun hearted horror and sex comedy tropes of all varieties thrown in for good measure, as well. It’s definitely not a serious blast of terror, but it’s just about the most stress-free, joy inducing theatrical experience that lovers of fright are going to experience for awhile.

Plot-wise, as expected, Ash and crew head out to a mysterious cabin and after reading from a Book of the Dead, mayhem soon ensues. Everything is in place, here, from (sister) Cheryl’s rape by trees to her subsequent jailing in the rickety vacation home’s basement. Joined in the second act by characters from the similar Evil Dead 2, this production ends with blood flying in outrageous amounts across the front rows of the theater and the sticky, grinning audience members (from the premium rows) corralled out the side doors of the theater.

Obviously produced on a fairly modest budget, this production still delivers with plenty of stage magic. In particular, Ash’s severing of his hand is nicely effective and the emergence of (girlfriend) Linda’s talking head is creatively handled, as well.

Nicely, director Christopher Bond concentrates on characterization as well as hi-jinks with the talented performers. As Ash, David Sajewich charms with everyman bravado while Demi Zaino is an unrepentant delight as Cheryl. Callie Johnson, meanwhile, beams layers of personality into Shelly, a bouncy bimbo-type, and Annie, a take-charge, self important scholar.

Evil Dead – The Musical runs until October 12th, 2014 at the Broadway Playhouse in Chicago. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.theatreinchicago.com and http://www.broadwayinchicago.com.

Be sure to keep up with the production (and its various incarnations) at http://www.evildeadthemusical.com and https://www.facebook.com/pages/Evil-Dead-The-Musical.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Sexy Witch, Dark Side of the Moon!

Published June 24, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Acting like a witch isn’t always a bad thing – especially when you are talking about Charlie Irving and Aaron Cammack, the two versatile performers playing seductive witches in New American Folk Theatre’s Dark of the Moon. I, recently, had the chance to talk with this fabulously talented duo and I am still feeling beguiled and fascinatingly charmed!

Dark of the Moon runs until June 29th, 2014 at the Den Theatre in Chicago. More information is available at http://www.newamericanfolktheatre.org.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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The Unexpected Father – A Memoir Piece.

Published June 24, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

Me and my real dad.

This is probably my favorite photo of us. We’re in costume for (my first summer stock show) American Primitive.

There is an interesting, vaguely unsettling (to my childhood mind) stage dad story with this, as well. This was 1976 and for the 1.5/2 weeks of rehearsal, a young, very handsome blonde actor had been playing my father in the show. Suddenly, a day or so before we opened, the director (a darker, heavyset guy) took over the part. If I’m not mistaken, that was the plan all along – but I was never told.

Honestly, I don’t think I ever said a word to the first guy off-stage, being enamored and much too shy, but I had definitely bonded with him, theatrically, and didn’t like the change. I was bewildered yet exceedingly polite about the situation – but not happy.

As the show came to a close, the imposter stage dad became increasingly emotional before every performance – stating each night, loudly and dramatically, to me (& to all that were near) that “In two days…one day…tonight…I’m losing a son!!!”

I thought it was the strangest thing ever. I knew we were just acting!

Anyhow, all these years later, I do hope that my second fake dad eventually had plenty of kids who truly loved him – or, as the case may be (bachelor actor!!!), had plenty of fictional theatre children who adored him in all the ways that I certainly couldn’t!

But…

Next time, let a kid know, yo!!!!

Big Gay Horror Fan
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Holy Bloody Confetti! Chatting with the Chicago Cast of Carrie, The Musical!

Published June 11, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

I left my prom dress at home – but the kind cast of Bailiwick Chicago’s production of Carrie, The Musical still allowed me to chat with them after a recent show.

Carrie, the Musical runs through July 12th, 2014 in Chicago at the Victory Gardens Theatre, 2433 N. Lincoln Avenue. Further information is available at http://www.bailiwickchicago.com.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

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Talking Shirley Jackson!

Published April 24, 2014 by biggayhorrorfan

No one haunts a house quite like Shirley Jackson, everyone’s favorite spooky lady of letters. Taking this truth to heart, Chicago’s favored City Lit Theatre has recently, concisely, adapted Jackson’s The Haunting of the Hill House to the stage.

Recently, I was lucky enough to chat with the adorably talented Mary Anne Bowman who plays the exotic Theodora in this spookily realized production.

The Haunting of Hill House runs until May 11th, 2014 in Chicago. More details can be found at http://www.citylit.org.

Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan

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