Let's lighten things up on this fine Friday, shall we? There's so much to love this week!

Don't you love it when the military accidentally recruits gays by placing more than 8,000 job listings on a gay networking website? "Whoops!" doesn't quite capture the sound of high-ranking officials crapping their pants when they found this out.

Don't you love it that Lance Bass wanted Britney Spears to be his fag hag? But nooooo, they haven't talked since that fateful night when Lancey-poo invited Britney to his bed--only to clobber her by coming out.

Don't you love it that Lance wants Justin Timberlake to be gay as much as we all do? "We thought Justin was gay because he told us he wanted to do a gay part in a movie," Lance told GQ magazine. I don't know about you, but that still gives me hope. Maybe Justin can team up with Daniel Radcliffe, who wants to go gay too! Who would top? Who would bottom? The possibilities are endless!

With my seemingly obsessive ongoing posts about High School Musical, you may think that I'm pretty much a one trick pony. But, as you may have guessed, I like to have as many tricks as possible.

There is something to be said, however, for latching onto a theme and running with it. In my plays, I seem to deal with coming out issues repeatedly. Perhaps I'm striving to get it right in art--since the process has been imperfect in my own real life. In these plays, the audience assumes a certain character is straight, but the character eventually comes out, clumsily in most instances and much to everyone's surprise.

For example, in Boyz of All Nationz: The Rise and Fall of a Multi-Ethnic Boy Band (2002), the very religious Hispanic member of the group, Jace, is changing backstage after the band's first big concert. An obviously gay fanboy named Joe sneaks into Jace's dressing room and starts gushing. Soon, gay Joe is trying to figure out which way his favorite boy band member swings.

Back in June, I called Tony Award Night the gay equivalent of Super Bowl Sunday. Well, how 'bout Super Bowl Saturday. Yes kids, it's finally happening: 'Legally Blonde' will air on MTV on Saturday, October 13th at 1 PM EST.

Now, what I've tried to do here is give a little theatre to those of you who don't live in New York, or get to come here. What MTV is doing is REALLY bringing the theatre into your home. This is great news.

Like movies and television, theatre provokes emotion -- and even the fluffiest shows can jump-start a conversation. 'Legally Blonde,' for instance, can be the catalyst for talks about women's rights, men vs. women, law, marriage, Chihuahuas, hair extensions and, well, the color pink.

While MTV is sure to rerun the show clear through 2028, I thought I'd give you a peek at a backstage video I found on YouTube. Can I get some snaps for this, please? Watch it after the jump ...

Broadway has a new play, everybody, and it's pretty freakin' great. The play not only has a tip-top ensemble of performers who act their faces off, but it also has writing that gives the audience equal helpings of comedy and suspense. Oh. Did I tell you what it's about? Oops, sorry. It's about stamps, people.

Stamps.

'Mauritius,' pronounced MOR-ee-shus, is written by Theresa Rebeck and currently playing at the gorgeously restored Biltmore Theatre. Here are two random pieces of trivia, folks:

Trivia Tidbit #1: The show's title refers to rare stamps from the island of Mauritius.

Trivia Tidbit #2: When The Muppets put on a show in their 1984 classic, 'The Muppets Take Manhattan,' they did so at the Biltmore.

Anyway ...

At the core, 'Mauritius' is about two sisters who squabble over an album full of (rare and possibly valuable) postage stamps, and it's quite smart, adult and funny. And at just over two hours with an intermission, you can't go wrong ...

Margaret Cho -- the talented, dirty, hilarious, shocking, gay-loving comedienne -- has been making audiences laugh for over 20 years.

Did I write laugh? No, I mean something bigger. I mean spit out your food and have your drink come up through your nose laugh. The fact that she loves and embraces the gays – men, women, MTF, FTM and everyone in between – makes me adore her even more.

Her new show, 'The Sensuous Woman,' currently playing off-Broadway's Zipper Theatre, is one of her most original and outrageous stage outings yet.

For this go-round, she's joined by Los Angeles bellydance and burlesque sensation Princess Farhana, emerging transgendered comic Ian Harvie, the burlesque performer Selene Luna, comic actor Liam Sullivan as internet rock-star Kelly, internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer Ryan Heffington, New York downtown fave Miss Dirty Martini and sketch comedians Diana Yanez & Kurt Hall of the Gay Mafia Comedy Troupe of West Hollywood.

I was seriously excited to talk to Margaret. I found her to be candid, honest and flat-out cool. We talked about comedy, her love for the homos and trannies and the new show.

And for some reason I wanted her to get sorta dirty like only she can. Did she? Find out after the jump.

With ticket prices climbing, and with every theatre on The Great White Way currently or about-to-be occupied, Broadway producers are scrambling and competing for our hard-earned bucks now more than ever. Often times, those producers have to get creative to market and publicize their shows in unique (and sometimes off-beat) ways that often reflect our high-tech, short-term attention span culture.

Some examples:

If you read this post or this one, you already know that the people behind 'Legally Blonde' are taking a huge gamble by airing the musical in its entirety on MTV on October 13th while it's still running on Broadway. (The show is currently doing moderate -- but far from boffo -- business.) If this MTV plan works, look for other shows to follow suit in some way.

'Spring Awakening,' this year's Tony-winning Best Musical about teenage sexual angst, aggressively went after the high school set (and their parents) this past summer with both MySpace and Facebook pages. The show also posted a pretty cool music video of one of its songs, 'The Bitch of Living,' on its website. (You can watch that here.)

Now come February, 'In The Heights,' an award-winning musical that follows friends and families living in New York City's Washington Heights area (think 'Rent' way uptown), is making the dicey and costly move from a 499-seat off-Broadway house to the 1,300-seat Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway.

That's a ton more tushies to get in that theatre.

I've been invited to present a version of one of my essays at La MaMa. Having grown up and lived more than half of my life just down the street from this theatrical and East Village landmark, I'm pretty excited. I've sat in dozens of La MaMa audiences over the past 40 years and to actually be standing in front of one is definitely bizarre and, well, cause to wear Depends between now and then.

I'm not telling you when because that would provide the fundies with a date and time. And we know they're coming after me. But feel free to email me for details if you're a glutton for punishment. Make sure you say something authentically gay in the email so that I know that you're not a representative of James Dobson. On the other hand, the audience will likely be packed with seasoned drag queens and I can't imagine better body guards.

The event in question is a theatrical tribute to possibly the most famous drag club of all time, The 82 Club, so named because it occupied a basement at 82 East 4th Street for 20 years from the 1950s through the beginning of the 1970s. For whatever it's worth, the site in now an underground gay sex club--yes, they still exist, but underground so nobody knows about them. Oops. I guess they do now.

That aside, be warned, the performance will be theatrical karaoke, no better, no worse...well maybe no worse.

I suffer from serious stage fright. I know I'm going to vomit in front of the world. Yes, I know, breathing exercises, Inderal, crumbs of Valium, masturbation, imagining everyone naked...nothing works for me. Charmin loves it when I'm scheduled to speak before a group of people.

Despite the fact that I have been on stage, participated in a few orgies and delivered many speeches and presentations before large groups, I simply can't get past fears of falling, vomiting or pitching tent. None of this has ever happened, but that has no impact on those first few moments of panic. Actually, to be honest, pitching tent has happened but only when I was much, much, much, much, much younger. Stage fright at my age does not provide sufficient foreplay. At 17, a light breeze was enough and the second breeze would finish the job.

And things do happen. It's how we're built.

Although I made a personal vow to not subject QueerSighted's regular readers to more High School Musical madness, the phenomenon has just jumped back into my consciousness because the Los Angeles dates of the national touring stage version of HSM have been announced (December 12 to 23, 2007, at the Kodak Theatre, with plenty of dates in other cities). Now, this stage production is not to be confused with the High School Musical concert tour or the High School Musical ice show or the High School Musical cult indoctrination. (Okay, I don't think that last event exists, but it might as well.) This is a huge stage musical with professional actors, a new book, and extra songs added. Oh, yeah, and it's gayer than the movie.



As you may remember, I mentioned that there are plenty of hints in the HSM movies about how the character of Ryan Evans is gay. The angry tweens who left vitriolic comments to my guest post about the HSM sequel were appalled that I would suggest such a thing, and they (understandably) did not know what I meant when I used the word "pitcher."

I had heard that the stage version of HSM was less coy about Ryan Evans's homosexuality. And legitimate news sources have confirmed that this is true, which makes the prospect of spending my hard-earned AOL cash to go see the stage show seem far more enticing.

When publicity photos of an almost-naked Daniel Radcliffe (who was starring in the London revival of Peter Shaffer's play, Equus) began circulating the Internet earlier this year, gay men emitted a collective gasp heard 'round the world. Harry Potter was not only all grown up, he had the hottest body this side of a Matthew McConaughey-Zac Efron pillow fight.



My friends were telling me how in love they were with the 18-year-old wizard, and, despite my attempt to keep it cool, I couldn't help but scream every time I saw those PR shots: "I wanna stroke your wand!" My friends and I would talk about our dreams of running off to England for the summer; surfing theater discussion boards to see whether we should sit house left or house right; and watching Radcliffe bare it all on stage. (Oh, yeah, and act.)

When it was announced that Radcliffe and Equus would be hitting Broadway in late 2008, it further stoked our fires of lust and encouraged us to think about staking out the stage door and instantly converting Radcliffe with the power of our gaze.

Then, as if to legitimize our shallow obsession, Radcliffe recently said at a press conference that he would play gay for me. (Well, maybe not for me specifically, but let a boy dream, would you?)

Today is the most Jewish day of the year and it's also our once-a-year 24 hour shot to gain entrance to God's house.

Catholics ask forgiveness for their sins whenever they please. Jews get one shot a year for one 24 hour period. God buys your excuses or he doesn't. The only way to know is to drop dead. Harsh. I like to observe this day with some very personal Jewalicious moment. For me, it's a tradition.

Have you noticed that there's a Broadway number for virtually every aspect of life?

Anyhow, so to keep up the tradition of remembering some very personal Jewalicious moment, I take you back to 1976 and then 2004--that's two moments, I know, but together they make one very big moment.

We start with a nice long illogical Jewish preamble.

Can a gay man play a straight man convincingly? This question has plagued Hollywood and the American public for a very long time. No one seems to have an issue with a straight man playing a gay man, gay for pay seems to be an honorable undertaking. Of course, the question is simply ridiculous. Consider the great gay actors who have convincingly and successfully portrayed straight men over the years: Rock Hudson, James Dean, Montgomery Clift, James McGreevey, Ted Haggard, me.

A few days ago I wrote this post about how Broadway's 'Legally Blonde: The Musical' was going to be broadcast on the used-to-be all music, all the time channel, MTV.

Come on, admit it: You're going tape or DVR or TiVo the heck out of 'Legally Blonde' and watch it until you have every lyric ... every dance move ... every piece of dialogue memorized. I mean, we're talking about a show with a gay love subplot (albeit, a quick one) and a showstopping 'Riverdance'-like number, for cryin' out loud!

OK, I need to calm down. Anyway ...

From what I hear, this week's taping in front of an enthusiastic crowd was quite the event, red pink carpet and E-List reality stars included. With that, I received an e-mail yesterday from a fellow musical lover named Matthew:

Hey Sanford!

I just wanted to let you know that I attended the "Legally Blonde" taping for MTV the other night here in NYC. From the pink carpet, to the stars of "The Hills" parading down the aisle, and of course the show itself, it was quite the event. My friend David and I had a great time and captured it all on camera. Can't wait to see how it turns out when it airs on TV.

-Matt

Anyone who documents anything Broadway is A.O.K. by me. And I think Matt's video is pretty freakin' fantastic. What do YOU think?



'Legally Blonde: The Musical' will air on MTV on Sunday, October 14th. And a big hat-tip to fellow show queen Matt for the e-mail and the video.

I love crisp Saturday nights in New York. The air is cool, but not cold. People are milling about inside and out. The city is your playground. As is somewhat usual with my schedule, I chose this past Saturday night to go to dinner and the theatre with my friend Liza (not Minnelli).

In said crisp weather, we strolled across West 20th Street in Chelsea to catch a new play called 'Scarcity.'

Now, I only knew two things about the show going in: The buzz was really loud (in a good way) and Michael T. Weiss (photo below) – you know, that way hunky 'Pretender' dude – was in it.

Frankly, that was enough for me.

Let me say this: I am rarely pleasantly surprised in the theatre. It's not often I go see a show without knowing something about it (you know, like, say, the plot). In these particular circumstances, I don't count on getting my socks knocked off. But readers, it happened. Luckily, I was wearing my Paul Smiths.

The play's setup is simple: Set in rural Massachusetts, 'Scarcity' is about a brother and sister whose need to escape the confines of poverty and small-town life conflicts with their sense of family responsibility. When 16-year-old Billy has the chance to change schools and move out of town thanks to an overly attentive teacher, his family starts to unravel around him ...

Everyone loves a smart-mouthed, mean girl -- and boy, Broadway's 'Legally Blonde' sure has one o'those. And she really IS smart. But you know, she's not really THAT mean. And she's STUNNING. But we just don't like her when we meet her, and that's the way it should be.
Oh wait, here's the Cliff Notes version of the musical in case you're unfamiliar:

Elle Woods goes to Harvard to win back her beau, Warner Huntington III, and prove to him that she's a serious woman. But Elle doesn't know that Warner's already taken up the with purebred preppy -- and already serious -- Vivienne Kensington. And the games begin!

As Vivienne, Kate Shindle has the task of taking down Elle Woods eight times a week with a whole lot of snarly zingers.

And boy, that Vivienne is a bitch with a big B. But Kate? Not even close.

I spoke with her about being Miss America (yes, really!), an actress, an activist and an author ...

And being that today is Kate's 10-year Miss America anniversary (yes, today!), I thought it would be appropriate to not only wish her a Happy Anniversary, but also find out just where, in fact, she keeps that crown of hers.

Find out after the jump.

With the fall season quickly approaching, there's a quite a bit to write about when it comes to Broadway these days. And even if you're not a die-hard theatre fag (oops, I mean fan), you just might be interested in today's post.

First off, let's have a show of hands, shall we?

How many of you are familiar with the work of the X-rated actor, Ryan Idol (right)?

Wow! That many of you.

In case you had your hand down, Mr. Idol (born Mark Anthony Donais) was the star of adult films like 'Idol in the Sky' (1996), 'Idol Worship' (1991) and, um, 'Idol Eyes' (1990).

Well, you might want to get your well-sculpted tushies to Studio 54 in New York City because, starting September 14th, Mr. Idol will be appearing in the new Broadway revival of Terrence McNally's romp, 'The Ritz.'

And I'm willing to bet there's going to be just a wee-bit of flesh involved. Don't believe me? Read more after the jump.

On August 19,1990, Leonard Bernstein conducted his last performance. I was there. I had to be; my first full-blown gay crush was nearing the end of his career (more quickly than anyone realized on that day). Just two months later he would be buried in Brooklyn at the age of 72. Bernstein was also my first big gay role model: gay, Jewish, a New Yorker, enormously successful, famously influential and a passionate hunk.

I had fallen for Lenny a quarter century earlier.

n 1965, Lincoln Center recognized 100 New York City high school students for excellence in the performing arts. I was among the 100. You had to be nominated by the faculty of your school and then judged by Lincoln Center's Board of Directors. Honorees had to demonstrate excellence in two or more areas; in my case it was drama, set design and writing. I was also named "Most Sophisticated" by my senior class. And then there was the summer of 1962 when I studied Shakespearean acting at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. I was the best 14-year-old Prospero my grandmother had ever seen.

All of that and no one thought I was gay-- except for Leonard Bernstein. Some 40 years later, as an openly gay man, I would return to Lincoln Center to pay tribute to the maestro with some help from my friend Gabe.

More Lincoln Center, more Lenny and much more of Gabe after the break...