Charles Busch - Those Were The Days

A new show opens next week:

“Sidesplitting!” -The New York Times. The acclaimed actor/Tony-nominated playwright and drag legend returns to 54 Below with a show chock full of outrageous personal stories, original characters, original characters and classic songs; all performed with his own unique form of glamour. Charles Busch continues to delight and re-define his craft as a master humorist, entertainer and camp icon. The author of dozens of hit plays (Tale of the Allergists Wife, Die! Mommie! Die!, Psycho Beach Party, The Divine Sister & Vampire Lesbians of Sodom to name but a few), Busch is joined by his longtime musical director Tom Judson. Expect laughter, music, tears and sequins.

Tom Judson, by the way, is the real name of former porn star Gus Mattox. Those Were The Days has a rather interesting history.

(Tipped by JMG reader Tony)

12 Drama Desk Noms For Book Of Mormon

The Book Of Mormon led this morning's Drama Desk nominations with a dozen nods, including for Outstanding Musical. The show also received nominations for music, lyrics, choreography, and for the show's lead, Andrew Rannels. The revival of Anything Goes followed with ten nominations. Legendary playwright, actor, and drag performer Charles Busch received the Best Actor nomination for his performance in his play, The Divine Sister. Also nominated for Outstanding Musical was Priscilla: Queen Of The Desert.

VIDEO: In the clip below, Broadway Speaks OUT's Marti Gould interviews Drama Desk presenters Audra McDonald and Liev Schreiber, followed by the nomination announcements.

Ben Brantley On The Future Of Drag

"How much longer can they continue without a fresh batch of bona fide female stars to draw inspiration from? Since the 1960s, such role models have been scarce. Sure, there have been beautiful-freak performers like Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli, with their surreally emotive song stylings (descended from the patron saint of musical drag queens, Minnelli’s mother, Judy Garland).

"But with the feminist movement and the let-it-all-hang out ethos of the hippies that took hold in the post-Kennedy years, heroines in movies started to look more like natural women (to borrow a title from Carole King). In the 1970s and ’80s, Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda and Jill Clayburgh emerged as strong personalities, but they were not obvious fodder for drag shows. In the so-called postfeminist era, women may have stepped back into high heels and makeup as thick and precise as a geisha’s. But now they wear these identities with quotation marks, as female impersonators had before them." - New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley, in an interesting piece on the future of drag. Read the entire thing.

Broadway Friday

- Legendary playwright and Tony nominee Charles Busch (left) has opened Off Broadway with his latest, The Divine Sister, in which he plays Mother Superior of St. Veronica's, where "dark secrets are rampant." Early reviews are boffo.

- Nicole Kidman returns to Broadway next fall in a revival of Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird Of Youth. The original 1959 production starred Geraldine Page and Paul Newman.

- Jodie Foster, Kate Winslett, and 2010 Oscar winner Christopher Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) will star in Roman Polanski's movie adaptation of the Tony winning drama Gods Of Carnage. Although the play is set in Brooklyn, filming will take place in France because, well, you know.

- The cast recording of the revival of Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein's La Cage Aux Folles has been released. Kelsey Grammer's vocals are reviewed as "rough."

- Playwright and gender-bending actor David Greenspan stars as Queen Elizabeth in the Off Broadway revival of Virginia Woolf's Orlando, now running at the Classic Stage Company.

- Jerry Seinfeld will make his Broadway debut as the director of former SNL cast member Colin Quinn's one-man show, which begins an 11-week run at the Helen Hayes on October 22nd.

- The musical version of Steven Spielberg's hit movie Catch Me If You Can is scheduled to land on Broadway in the spring. The show had a well-received tryout in Seattle last year.

- Moulin Rouge director Baz Luhrman is creating a stage version of Strictly Ballroom.

VIDEO: Broadway star Nathan Lane teases the ladies of The View about how their guests greet them.

Broadway Friday

-Next Fall, playwright Geoffery Nauffts' "exploration of faith in a modern gay relationship" moves to Broadway in the spring. Previews begin at the Helen Hayes in mid-February. The show got rave reviews in its Off Broadway run earlier this year, where it was extended three times. You probably recognize Nauffts from his numerous Law & Order bad guy appearances.

-Costumes from Disney's eternally-running The Lion King are headed for display at the Smithsonian.

-Catherine Zeta-Jones has been added to the cast of the revival of Sondheim's A Little Night Music. My BFF Angela Lansbury co-stars. The show opens December 3rd at the Walter Kerr.

-Playwright and actor Charles Busch will host A Place At The Table, a benefit for the Ali Forney Center starring a performance by Rufus Wainwright. The October 3rd event at the Chelsea Art Museum also features a cocktail party, food tastings, and a silent auction. Purchase tickets here. The Ali Forney Center provides shelter to homeless LGBT youth.

-Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS presents their annual Broadway Flea Market this Sunday on Times Square's Shubert Alley. Major Broadway stars will be on hand, including the "tribe" of Hair.

-The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein begins previews on October 1st at Off Broadway's 13th Street Rep. "Mary Shelley meets Adolph Hitler." Starring drag queen Mimi Imfurst in the title role.

Die Mommy Die!

Last night Aaron, Father Tony, Little David and I saw Charles Busch's Die Mommy Die! at the New World Stages. I haven't seen Busch since I saw my very first play in NYC, Vampire Lesbians Of Sodom, sometime in the 80's.

I'd already seen the movie, but I still had a great time, even if I'm not sure that the show lives up to Ben Brantley's rave review in the New York Times. But if you're a fan of the late-career movies of faded divas, the references to Bette Davis, Tallulah Bankhead, and Joan Crawford come machine-gun fast.

By the way, the New World Stages, a former movie five-plex located under a plaza on West 50th, is a great Off-Broadway venue. Cool bar, neat layout, great video art in the lobby. Last night I picked up a signed window card for the show, as part their Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS fundraiser. And my inexorable march to Offical Show Queen continues.