Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ Is the Biggest Hit of the 20th Century

The tune has become the most-streamed song of the century, buoyed by the popularity of the new Queen biopic.

www.advocate.com/music/2018/12/11/queens-bohemian-rhapsody-biggest-hit-20th-century

‘Clueless, the Musical’ Can’t Capture the Movie’s Bite Off-Broadway: REVIEW

Amy Heckerling balanced satire on a razor-sharp edge in her 1995 film Clueless. The absurdity of its Beverly Hills excess is signaled from the very first line (“So you’re probably going, ‘Is this like a Noxzema commercial or what?’”), even while its warm-hearted characters — and especially Cher, played by Alicia Silverstone — easily win our sympathies.

Clueless was a hit because we all wanted to be the cool kids — and have permission to hate them just a little bit, too.

Much has changed in the two decades since the film’s release, as acknowledged at the outset of Heckerling’s saccharine and duly faithful musical adaptation, which opened off-Broadway tonight. “In the ‘90s, everything is awesome!” exclaims Dove Cameron’s Cher. “Fashions are fly, music rocks, the whole world loves America.” You can’t help but sigh as “Beautiful Life” by Ace of Base is co-opted to confirm those were indeed simpler times.

But nostalgia isn’t enough to sustain a whole musical, and Clueless goes as red in the face as Cher before a night alone with Christian trying to prove otherwise.

The musical banks foremost on audience affection for the film, which withstands the test of time as most era-defining classics do. But unlike other popular teen movies recently adapted for the stage, Clueless hasn’t undergone one of Cher’s transformative makeovers. Both Legally Blonde and Mean Girls, for example, arrived with original scores and adjustments in storytelling to help music drive the plot.

Heckerling’s adaptation includes rewritten lyrics to a dozen-plus ‘90s hits that accommodate the story without feeling essential to it. In doing so, she’s also ceded the specificity of tone that elevates the movie to pop songs that bring their own cultural connotations. While there are occasional inspired moments, such as Cher’s disastrous driving test set to 4 Non Blondes “What’s Up?,” pop singles often make for lousy musical theatre, laden with repetition and void of subtlety. This is particularly true of ‘90s tunes like “Barbie Girl” and “Bye Bye Bye,” despite being delightful vehicles for Kelly Devine’s propulsive choreography.

Most unfortunately, the satire Heckerling so perfected in the movie (based in part on Jane Austen’s Emma) has evaporated under the hot lights of the New Group production, directed by Kristin Hanggi. Perhaps Heckerling’s own love for her characters has overtaken what was, on screen, both a celebration of and sideways glance at the extremities of privilege. The frivolity and entitlement of Cher and her crew, no matter how benign, seem especially ripe for reexamination today, which makes the musical’s failure to do so all the more glaring.

Cher’s turning over a new leaf culminates in a letter-writing campaign to alert local reps about contaminated water (“I’m sure they won’t miss one itsy bitsy product,” she replies when Josh points out what kind of corporate giant she’s up against). Even while making this small revision for contemporary resonance (one can’t help but think of Flint), the musical falls short of interrogating its own nostalgia. Cher is naive, yes, but her heart is like, totally in the right place and we can’t fault her for that. But more to the point — we were all naive back then. Two decades on, a reimagining of Clueless might have seized the opportunity to show us why. As is, the musical seems content for us to remain… well, clueless.

Recent theatre features…
Bryan Cranston Headlines a Bold but Bloodless ‘Network’ on Broadway: REVIEW
Broadway’s ‘The Cher Show’ Is a Feast for Fans and an Assertion of Legacy: REVIEW
Feel-Good New Musical ‘The Prom’ Wears a Big Heart on Its Puffy Sleeve – REVIEW
Broadway’s ‘American Son’ Starring Kerry Washington Is the Most Vacuous Kind of Race Play: REVIEW
Michael Urie and Mercedes Ruehl Lead Transcendent Broadway Revival of ‘Torch Song’: REVIEW
The Legacy of Gloria Steinem Burns Bright in ‘Gloria: A Life’ Off-Broadway: REVIEW
Stockard Channing and Glenn Close Make Magic of Maternal Strife Off-Broadway: REVIEW
‘What the Constitution Means to Me’ Is the Best Political Play of the Trump Era: REVIEW

Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar
(photos: monique carboni)

The post ‘Clueless, the Musical’ Can’t Capture the Movie’s Bite Off-Broadway: REVIEW appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

‘Clueless, the Musical’ Can’t Capture the Movie’s Bite Off-Broadway: REVIEW

Local newspaper’s major Julia Roberts typo goes viral
The paper later issued a correction, but the damage was done.

www.queerty.com/local-newspapers-major-julia-roberts-typo-goes-viral-20181211?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

5 Low-Key Ways to Celebrate the Holidays With a New S.O.

A new romance is exciting, fun and wistful—but put it to the test with too many high-pressure holiday events, and it may not feel so carefree anymore. Luckily, there are many ways to celebrate the holidays with someone you’re still getting to know and enjoy the bliss of getting into the spirit with someone by […]

The post 5 Low-Key Ways to Celebrate the Holidays With a New S.O. appeared first on PlentyOfFish Blog.

5 Low-Key Ways to Celebrate the Holidays With a New S.O.

Nick Ayers, Julia Roberts Headline Fail, Beto O’Rourke, Mel Reid, Morehouse College, TIME Person of the Year: HOT LINKS

TIME PERSON OF THE YEAR. The Guardians and The War on Truth. ‘The story of this assault on truth is, somewhat paradoxically, one of the hardest to tell. “We all learned in our schools that journalists shouldn’t be the story ourselves, but this is, again, not our choice,” says Can Dündar, who, after being charged with revealing state secrets and nearly assassinated as a newspaper editor in Turkey, fled to Germany, where he set up a news site. “This is the world of the strong leaders who hate the free press and truth.”

The Guardians—Jamal Khashoggi, the Capital Gazette, Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo—are TIME’s Person of the Year 2018 #TIMEPOY t.co/HvoEaW5oUi pic.twitter.com/9Mr0wBTmvj

— TIME (@TIME) December 11, 2018

NICK AYERS. A signal to Trump that the rats are abandoning ship? ‘Journalists weren’t the only ones surprised by the Ayers development. It took many people in the White House unawares, including the President, it seems. The Times’ Maggie Haberman reported that “two people close to Mr. Trump said a news release announcing Mr. Ayers’s appointment had been drafted, and that the president had wanted to announce it as soon as possible.” Instead of showcasing as his new majordomo a blond, thirty-six-year-old Republican operative who has spent the past two years helping keep Pence out of any serious scrapes—quite a feat in the Trump White House—Trump was forced to engage in some Sunday-evening damage control.

BETO 2020? Speaking to prominent African-Americans: “In the last two weeks, the soon-to-be-former Texas congressmen met with former President Barack Obama at his Washington office, a source familiar with the meeting confirmed to NBC News, and spoke by phone with the Rev. Al Sharpton and fellow 2018 progressive darling Andrew Gillum. The O’Rourke-Obama meeting was first reported by The Washington Post.”

RIP. Roger the buff kangaroo.

IMPEACHMENT. Donald Trump now sees it as a real possibility.

MOREHOUSE COLLEGE. Student accuses gay professor of sexual harassment: ‘Peterson continued to sexually harass the student and other Morehouse students throughout the trip, the lawsuit said. This included sending explicit text messages and making frequent comments about sex. One of the text messages Peterson allegedly sent to students had a picture of a man’s penis, which Peterson referred to as a “shrimp salad/dinner.” He also repeatedly asked them “if they wanted a shrimp dinner,” the lawsuit said…Peterson “vehemently denied” the allegations and insisted that “the students were saying these things about him because they didn’t like the fact that he is gay,” according to the results of the investigation included in a court filing.’

MEL REID. Pro golfer comes out as gay: “I fell in love with a girl and I was excited about it, so I told my sister who was completely cool about it, and then my brother. My parents are older than most, but they couldn’t have been better about everything. They just assured me that as long as I love a good person, it doesn’t matter what race, gender or background they come from.”

SWANNING. Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black hit the ballet.

HEADLINE FAIL OF THE DAY. Julia Roberts’ holes. By the Jamestown, New York newspaper Post-Journal.

LEONARDO. U.S. showrunner Frank Spotnitz and British writer Steve Thompson speak to Variety about their new series about “gay outsider” Leonardo da Vinci: “It’s certainly a feature, but it’s not the main pillar on which we are hanging it. Some of his relationships were with men; those were significant relationships. But perhaps the most significant relationship in his life was with a friend who was a woman, with whom he was very close, and we unpack that. So we are not steering clear of it….It’s just part of the mix.”

SURVIVAL VIDEO OF THE DAY. Timber the cat, found one month after California’s Camp Fire.

BEETHOVEN OF THE DAY. Johnathan Brendle plays the Moonlight Sonata.

TORSO TUESDAY. Wissen Dnlr.

 

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A post shared by Wissen Dnlr (@w.dnlr) on May 30, 2018 at 6:49am PDT

The post Nick Ayers, Julia Roberts Headline Fail, Beto O’Rourke, Mel Reid, Morehouse College, TIME Person of the Year: HOT LINKS appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Nick Ayers, Julia Roberts Headline Fail, Beto O’Rourke, Mel Reid, Morehouse College, TIME Person of the Year: HOT LINKS

Gay Former California Highway Patrol Officer Suing for 20 Years of Discrimination: WATCH

Former California Highway Patrol officer Jay Brome is suing his former employer for discrimination he experienced over a period of 20 years with the force.

The Sacramento Bee reports: ‘When his classmates [at the CHP academy] and co-workers discovered Brome was gay, he was subjected to two decades worth of discrimination, abuse and ridicule, he says. “There was bullying or name-calling – ‘fag,’ ‘gay,’’ Brome said. “I had an instructor that told me … to take my skirt off and start acting like a man.” The lawsuit states the abuse began at the academy in West Sacramento — he says that during an exercise a cadet pointed a training gun at his head and said, “I know you’re gay, tell me you’re gay or I’ll pull the trigger” — and followed him through his 20-year career, including during a stint at the CHP’s Contra Costa office that began in 2008. Eventually, Brome retired, saying it became apparent that gay men in the CHP were routinely targeted for abuse and given no support from supervisors.’

Wrote Brome’s attorney Gay Grunfeld, in the brief: ‘The harassment began during Officer Brome’s academy training, where he faced homophobic slurs and physical threats, and followed him from assignment to assignment — from the CHP’s San Francisco area office, where his career began in 1996, to the CHP’s area offices in Contra Costa and Solano, where he worked from 2008 until the psychological toll of the CHP’s hostile work environment became so intolerable that his doctor ordered him to take medical stress leave on Jan. 15, 2015.’

Read the full report HERE.

The post Gay Former California Highway Patrol Officer Suing for 20 Years of Discrimination: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad Gay News.

Gay Former California Highway Patrol Officer Suing for 20 Years of Discrimination: WATCH

Carson Kressley has some choice words for Kevin Hart over those homophobic tweets
“Don’t mess with the gays,” Kressley said.

www.queerty.com/carson-kressley-choice-words-kevin-hart-homophobic-tweets-20181211?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29