Printer Friendly - lazy
Posted by chanel 2013-01-29 11:46:32
So they cut it!
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2013/01/theater_actor_o.php
"Pleasures and Palaces" actor objected to same-sex kiss on religious ground
Posted by henrikegerman 2013-01-29 12:18:10
Since this kiss between men is, datedly and objectionably, for comic effect - oh ha ha, two men kissing, how fey and funny! - I'm glad they cut it.
Here's an idea. Since it's a musical about Catherine the Great, why not have her kiss a horse?
lazy
Posted by finebydesign 2013-01-29 12:40:35
"I'd love to get Bryant's point of view, but he doesn't seem to be on Facebook or Twitter, so I've reached out to the Lyric's managing director and am awaiting a reply."
Call his damn agent. Jeez I know Musto's column isn't really journalism,, but do some damn work. Lazy.
lazy
Posted by newintown 2013-01-29 12:55:28
His resume doesn't mention an agent, and is of sufficiently low wattage to suggest that he might be self-managed.
Apropos of nothing, he currently studies with one Deena Kaye (who is not Danny Kaye's daughter, Dena).
lazy
Posted by finebydesign 2013-01-29 12:59:41
LOL you apparently were able to find his email and telephone number faster than Musto got up for his second donut.
lazy
Posted by Joviedamian 2013-01-29 13:08:04
WOW, this guy is not going to have much future as an actor if he is this sensitive to material. Almost everything he will do in the future or even in the past may have been some "grounds" to cut the part because of his religious beliefs. This guy needs to grow up and or not accept shows that may not hurt his beliefs, and believe me that's going to be hard.
lazy
Posted by ghostlight2 2013-01-29 13:24:06
"WOW, this guy is not going to have much future as an actor if he is this sensitive to material."
That isn't much of a given. Jim Caviezel is a devout Catholic who refuses to do love scene (no problems with violence, though), and I'd say he's a pretty successful actor.
My question is, regarding this specific case, if the guy had a problem with the kiss, why did he audition for the role? Why wait until a week before the show to express his feelings
Most important, why is Musto using the word "supposedly"?
lazy
Posted by FindingNamo 2013-01-29 13:29:33
I'm surprised a Bryant with a "y" is objecting to a same sex kiss.
lazy
Posted by chanel 2013-01-29 13:41:01
It clearly says "supposedly" because it came from a source and the theater hasn't weighed in with a response.
As for rejoicing that a comic kiss was cut, the actor ("supposedly") didn't object for that reason, but because it offended his religious views.
Still rejoicing?
lazy
Posted by JoeKv99 2013-01-29 13:41:11
Perhaps he's afraid that something would come up in response to finally kissing a real, live boy?
lazy
Posted by henrikegerman 2013-01-29 13:46:45
"As for rejoicing that a comic kiss was cut, the actor ("supposedly") didn't object for that reason, but because it offended his religious views.
Still rejoicing?"
My point was that, notwithstanding his motives, it might be a blessing in disguise given that the scene sounds as if it might well be far more homophobic than he is.
Moreover, I'm not rejoicing about anything. I'm just pointing that out.
lazy
Posted by suestorm 2013-01-29 13:49:26
i think its dumb that he objects but he is entitled to his own beliefs. just as some actors may object to violence and gunplay. We must learn to be tolerant of others beliefs, even if theyre dopey.
lazy
Posted by ghostlight2 2013-01-29 13:56:35
"It clearly says "supposedly" because it came from a source and the theater hasn't weighed in with a response. "
So in other words, we don't know that this is true at all, since (as far as I can tell), the only source we have is Musto's anonymous one. Not that it would be surprising, b/c this theater is in Texas, but I can't get all hot and bothered about something that "supposedly" happened.
Not a huge Musto fan, I do admit. I also find this sentence, regarding the thus far non-response of the managing director: "It's been over a day and she must be pleasuring herself in her palace because she's not answering." a nasty and cheap shot, and not at all funny.
lazy
Posted by chanel 2013-01-29 13:57:29
The irony is he probably wouldn't object to playing a murderer or tyrant, but he objects to a male kiss.
lazy
Posted by ghostlight2 2013-01-29 13:58:46
You don't know that, either, though that's clearly the case with Caviezel.
lazy
Posted by Joviedamian 2013-01-29 13:59:49
ghostlight2, total agree. But, the actor you mention I am sure selects his roles wisely, so for me that is still respectable.
lazy
Posted by SonofRobbieJ 2013-01-29 14:02:38
"You don't know that, either, though"
Well...he was in Marat/Sade, so...
lazy
Posted by ghostlight2 2013-01-29 14:03:23
As to Caviezel, he's quite upfront about his beliefs, and yes, I absolutely respect his choices, as they don't affect anyone else. If this Musto story is true, it sounds like Bryant wasn't upfront.
eta to respond to Robbie:
""You don't know that, either, though"
Well...he was in Marat/Sade, so..."
You know that, and I now know that, but chanel didn't, hence the use of word "probably". To me, this is all really a tempest in a teapot until we learn if this is really true or not.
lazy
Posted by chanel 2013-01-29 14:03:33
"We must respect his views?" So anyone can change a script they agreed to do, based on their views?
lazy
Posted by SonofRobbieJ 2013-01-29 14:09:23
I worked with an actress that refused to do a stage kiss with ANYONE because she made a promise to her husband not to. As long as you are up front about what you will and won't do, I guess I can't fault the actors who make those choices. I don't get it...but whatever. Ain't my problem.
lazy
Posted by Smaxie 2013-01-29 14:09:24
I'm just surprised anyone is reviving Pleasures and Palaces.
lazy
Posted by henrikegerman 2013-01-29 14:22:41
"The irony is he probably wouldn't object to playing a murderer or tyrant, but he objects to a male kiss."
In fairness, an actor doesn't actually murder someone when he plays doing so on stage. The same is not true for a kiss.
As others have said, assuming the facts as reported by Musto, for the sake of the argument, the real issue here is whether he chose to take the role and later objected to the kiss. If so, that's obviously unprofessional. He should have discussed this before agreeing to take the job.
As for refusing a gay kiss on stage for religious reasons, I think that's wrong. But that's beside the point.
lazy
Posted by themysteriousgrowl 2013-01-29 14:48:06
I went to college with a fantastically talented kid who, much to my lasting sadness, turned down the role of The Baker in INTO THE WOODS in his sophomore year because the character lies, cheats, and steals to get his wish. It didnt matter to him that show explicitly examines, comments on, and does not glorify these very human failings. I reasoned to him that even in medieval morality plays, someone had to play the devil.
But despite my efforts, he couldnt reconcile the role with his Christian faith, which had become significantly more intense since his freshman year previous
when he had played John Wilkes Booth in ASSASSINS.
lazy
Posted by SonofRobbieJ 2013-01-29 14:52:53
He could sing the words 'nigger love' but not 'if you know what you need then you go and you find it and you take it'?????
I...I just don't understand.
lazy
Posted by themysteriousgrowl 2013-01-29 14:59:37
¯\_(")_/¯
lazy
Posted by SonofRobbieJ 2013-01-29 15:01:04
^ That's rather impressive.
lazy
Posted by Mister Matt 2013-01-29 15:24:36
Not that it would be surprising, b/c this theater is in Texas
I'm very surprised considering I personally saw shows and performed shows with same-sex kissing and gay love scenes in Texas since the late 80s. The first play I ever saw with a gay kiss was in Dallas (home of my favorite gay var in the country, the Round-Up), as a matter of fact.
Most actors have objections to various stage situations for a variety of reasons, so I can't really fault this guy for that (though if it was a week before opening when he refused to do it, I wonder if it was even in the script to begin with). The director can choose to either alter the scene or replace the actor. It's possible in this case altering the scene may not have damaged the integrity of the work anyway. I did see a production of Deathtrap in college that cut the gay kiss and I was infuriated.
lazy
Posted by ghostlight2 2013-01-29 15:27:56
"Not that it would be surprising, b/c this theater is in Texas"
"I'm very surprised considering I personally saw shows and performed shows with same-sex kissing and gay love scenes in Texas since the late 80s."
I deserved that, and I hereby retract my statement, as it was borne of the very kind of bigotry that I myself abhor. Thanks, Mister Matt.
lazy
Posted by Mister Matt 2013-01-29 15:54:11
No worries. The biggest misconception about Texas is that it is far less diverse than it actually is. I wouldn't have been surprised if this theatre were in some small town (though any small town in any state would hardly be surprising), but a large repertory company in Dallas isn't the same thing at all. If the kiss was considered controversial, it could have to do with the demographic of the company's audience as well, which is typical for any large musical theatre repertory company pretty much anywhere outside of NYC.
lazy
Posted by LizzieCurry 2013-01-29 15:57:57
There are only three cast members, right? So this guy was turning down a kiss with Christopher Carl?
That alone is madness.
lazy
Posted by KylePKJP 2013-01-29 16:06:23
The whole tone of the article seems to be reporting for the sake of being a royal b*itch. Seems like he caught on to a rumor and took it public because he found it salacious.
Why not contact the theatre BEFORE you go to print about an issue at hand? And, he doesn't have a Facebook or Twitter? So what? Clearly, someone easily found his resume because it's posted here in the thread and both his phone number and email are on it. If one can easily locate those two direct methods of contacting the actor why let a "lack" of Facebook or Twitter account stop you?
Calling B.S. on this story.
lazy
Posted by KylePKJP 2013-01-29 16:09:55
Or at leat this version of it.
lazy
Posted by Mister Matt 2013-01-29 16:25:34
Oh, Musto's definitely trying to stir the pot. His enormous lack of detail makes the comment "I didn't know institutionalized bigotry was allowed as an excuse to interfere with the creative process" worthy of Fox News.
lazy
Posted by FindingNamo 2013-01-29 16:30:30
Seriously, Lizzie, I would be all "wouldn't French kissing be EVER FUNNIER???"
lazy
Posted by everythingtaboo 2013-01-29 16:45:33
Wasn't this the plot of a Roseanne episode, or am I misremembering? 
lazy
Posted by JMPlayer6 2013-01-29 16:46:34
You mean the guy didn't read the script before agreeing to do the role?
lazy
Posted by Mister Matt 2013-01-29 16:55:54
We have no idea. Musto probably has no idea, either. All he says is that a source told him the guy said he wouldn't kiss another dude on stage a week before opening. If it really took that long to get to the staging of that scene and the kiss was in the script all along, then I'd blame both the actor and the director for being unprofessional. But for some ridiculous reason, I think there might be more to the story than a few tabloid sentences strung together.
lazy
Posted by AEA AGMA SM 2013-01-29 20:52:36
"He could sing the words 'nigger love' but not 'if you know what you need then you go and you find it and you take it'?????
I...I just don't understand."
Neither did the girl who played Julie on Growing Pains who came back to film her second season and found out she was being fired because of Kirk Cameron's religious awakening, or the writers who had to scramble and write the character of Mike Seaver in a complete 180 degree turn from where he had been the season before.
It doesn't always take long to be "born again."
lazy
Posted by michaelcfoster 2013-01-29 23:07:00
Well..keep in mind that this IS Texas...and Rick Perry is our Governor : (
Anyway, my two cents. I think Lyric Stage did an amazing job at retrieving and recreating the music from the 1965 production. We didn't get the kiss, but since the script has been hidden for 43 years, no one really noticed, or cared. Even without the kiss, I think they did a good job pulling it off. The music was absolutely astounding!
This production was concert style with minimal costumes and sets. Acting was great, but this was all about the music and Jay Dias did what he does best...recreating original Broadway scores.
I took production photos during the last dress. You can check them out here:
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.554313624579193.131021.100000016821562&type=1&l=4a5c02d919
I met Jo Loesser since she was there during dress which was a blast.
lazy
Posted by jimmycurry01 2013-01-29 23:59:05
Is it possible that the kiss was in the blocking and not written into the script? I am not familiar with this play, but cutting a kiss is not necessarily the same as changing the script.
lazy
Posted by Borstalboy 2013-01-30 00:12:59
The Big Irony: PLEASURES AND PALACES is maybe the single gayest title for a musical ever. This bitchy little Ganymede knew what he was signing up for.
Seriously, though. Why is Musto covering this? Did dlisted steal that much of his thunder?
lazy
Posted by welcometothetheater 2013-01-30 02:12:24
His credits are amusing. Particularly because I saw The High Cost of Living and he was not, in fact, the lead. Zach Braff was.
lazy
Posted by Mister Matt 2013-01-30 21:14:18
Well..keep in mind that this IS Texas...and Rick Perry is our Governor
And when Little Bush was Governor, I played Judas in McNally's Corpus Christi...in Texas! The Full Monty on Broadway passed on the gay kiss as well. Was that a New York thing? Good grief!
lazy
Posted by chanel 2013-01-31 11:32:51
Update: No response and/or evasions.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2013/01/update_on_actor.php
lazy
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-01-31 18:07:25
Is it possible that the kiss was in the blocking and not written into the script? I am not familiar with this play, but cutting a kiss is not necessarily the same as changing the script.
The author's stage directions are just as much a part of the script as his or her dialogue.
(These are not to be confused with every little movement -- "Crosses to couch, sits and crosses legs." -- inserted by Samuel French Publications, presumably for the use of amateur directors. (No offense to DramaMama who needs no such cues, I'm sure.))
lazy
Posted by Mister Matt 2013-01-31 18:20:57
The author's stage directions are just as much a part of the script as his or her dialogue.
That is something of an age-old debate. I do think some stage directions are important to the script, but there are indeed those that were simply a directorial choice in the original production. In this particular case, we just don't know.
lazy
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-01-31 18:36:17
Matt, do you really think a same-sex kiss was incidental in a 1960s musical? I don't.
And while I appreciate ghostlight2's sense of fairness, hasn't Texas earned our scorn by now? I'm sure there are millions of decent Texans, but if their neighbors are going to threaten to secede from the Union every time we elect a black president, I think the entire state should be mocked as a matter of course.
lazy
Posted by Jungle Red 2013-01-31 19:27:29
I love the Round Up!
Anyway, from what I've been taught in playwrighting classes, the playwright only needs to write "He enters", "He exits", and "He aims and fires".
The dialogue, too, of course, but that's a given.
lazy
Posted by Plum 2013-01-31 19:32:48
Gaveston, didn't people from 20-something states threaten to secede? Including NJ? I guess I just like to be more specific than geography in my mockery.
lazy
Posted by Jungle Red 2013-01-31 19:42:22
I believe petitions for succession came from every state, with varying degrees if signatures.
lazy
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-01-31 20:33:03
The Texas petition was the one I wanted to grant, so I only paid attention to that.
***
Jungle Red, two men kissing in the mid-1960s was a helluva lot louder than a gun shot, I promise you. But I hope your teacher only meant that's all the playwright HAS to write, not that that is all she is allowed to write and expect to be honored.
I've taught playwriting myself and sometimes young playwrights get so busy staging the work in their own mind that they forget to put it down on paper. It can be helpful to say, "Cool it with the stage directions for this draft." But playwrights often create detailed on-stage worlds and it's only narcissism on the part of directors and designers that causes those details to be ignored.
For the record, I might also defend the right of a thoughtful director to ignore a playwright's stage direction if the director truly believes another choice is better for his interpretation of the play. But that's not the same thing as just shrugging off the playwright's instructions because some twit doesn't understand what playacting is.
lazy
Posted by goldenboy 2013-02-02 11:11:31
The kiss sounded comically homophobic. Is it possible he objected for those reasons?
Without really asking the actor or not being there... we just don't know the truth.
lazy
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-02-02 18:08:02
It's possible. But it sounds like every attempt was made to contact the actor in question.
I have trouble believing any actor would avoid the NY TIMES because s/he had taken a stand in favor of fairer representation of gay people.
Of course I don't pretend to understand the psychology of Texans. Why are they so damn proud of that big, empty space? (This is a joke. I don't know that the actor in question is even from Texas.)
lazy
Posted by Mister Matt 2013-02-02 21:45:40
Matt, do you really think a same-sex kiss was incidental in a 1960s musical?
For comic effect, absolutely. Especially in a 1960s musical, I can't imagine it existing for any other reason than an incidental moment for a cheap laugh.
And while I appreciate ghostlight2's sense of fairness, hasn't Texas earned our scorn by now?
Wile I agree there are reasons to scorn Texas specifically (though that's true of nearly every state), I don't think this is one of them, since it really isn't indicative of the state, or even the city of Dallas, itself.
lazy
Posted by GavestonPS 2013-02-03 15:54:57
Again, just kidding, and I think Texas has earned that much.
But as for the kiss, we are using different meanings of the word "incidental". Do I think a same-sex kiss was played for laughs in the 1960s? Absolutely. That doesn't make it automatically trivial or incidental in the scheme of the show.
It does, however, make it even sillier if an actor objected on religious grounds. Not even LEVITICUS bans same-sex kissing!
