Marching about town

A quick recap of the last couple of weeks. We have been busy with a variety of things. I already covered the first weekend in March. The rest of the month consisted of the following:
Attending 5 more plays:

• 1) Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song Trilogy done by a small community group called Theatre Q . It was a 25th anniversary production and tells the story of Arnold, a drag queen in pre-AIDS New York as he faces three important challenges: searching for love, wrestling with love's complications and defining family for a Jewish gay man. I was amazed how well the play’s themes still holds up and how much better I liked it than the movie. I am sure that 25 years ago the issues presented on stage were shocking and outrageous. Today they are just part of the news chatter. I would love to see a professional production of it sometime.
  


• 2) We say a youth production of the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie. A child of a close friend and gay father was performing in it. The kids did a wonderful job.
  


• 3) Trying by Joanna McClelland Glass was at TheatreWorks. This was an audience pleasing 2 person play about FDR's attorney general, Francis Biddle, and a young fresh-faced secretary there to help him finish his memoirs. The night I spotted the cast of San Jose Repertory Theatre’s next production, Nixon’s Nixon, attending as well. The next day I sent a note to Leah Garchik's column in the San Francisco Chronicle. She then printed the item: “Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger went to see FDR's Attorney General Francis Biddle in "Trying'' at TheatreWorks. Ken Ruta plays Biddle in this production, and David Pichette is Nixon and Peter Van Norden is Kissinger in San Jose Rep's soon-to-open "Nixon's Nixon.''
  


• 4) We attended the touring production of Altar Boyz at the Orpheum theatre. It was part of the Best of Broadway series. Its a gentle satirical send-up of boy bands and Christian pop. It was cute but the theatre space (the Orpheum) is much too big and the production was lost in the cavernous hall.
  


• 5) We went to the Marin Theatre Company to see The Good German by David Wiltse. It is a play we have talked for days afterward. Although the play is set during WWII, the commentary is really about the politics and ethics of today.

NOTE: Tickets for many of these shows are often available on Goldstar Events for half price.
Other stops around town.

We attended a fundraiser for National Center for Lesbian Rights and Equality California. The celebrity guest was Doug Spearman from the TV series Noah's Arc.

We also danced the night away at Jewish Family and Children's Services Spring Gala Dinner.

We also saw Blue Suede Shoes at Ballet San Jose and went to San Francisco Symphony to hear Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah.

Family events included a niece’s wedding in Crockett, CA, opening day of little league and half dozen small dinner parties.

One of our favorite places to dance in San Francisco is Fresh at Ruby Skye. They have a monthly T-Dance usually on the third Sunday of the month. It starts a 6 pm Sunday evening and finishes by midnight. We love it because it has all kinds of men: young and old, twink to bear. It is great fun to dance for hours with hot, sweaty guys. And one does not have to stay out all night to do it either. Unfortunately, we have not been able to make it to the T-Dance in over a year and a half. Finally, we went in March. The music, dancing and the energy were pretty much the same but there was one noticeable difference. At any one time, at least 10% of the guys on the dance floor were standing there looking at their cell phones. Some people can’t be disconnected for a moment.