OurLadyJ

we should be so lucky

the gendered classroom

today at work, a discussion of gender:

we were asked to pick students to be placed in our after-school program

based on their gender.

honestly, it’s something that i don’t see in the kids.

i don’t think “boy” or “girl” the same as i don’t think “black” or “white”

but the argument was that musical theatre is a gendered world.

an obviously less-evolved one, but gendered still.

we can cast shows without regard to color,

mixing and matching inter-racial families

but we have the strongest objection to gender-blind casting.

the gender spectrum is so varied in this world

and yet gender is so black and white on the stage.

isn’t the purpose of theatre to reflect life?

of course there’s fantasy,

and plays that require the audience to visualize race and gender.

but those pieces are so few compared to the works

which are just about the human existence.

it is especially insulting to the feminine men who work on the stage.

they are told to act masculine again and again and again
while never getting to express their feminine selves,

unless it’s in a cartoon version of a gay man or drag queen.

but then women are (without protest) cast into mens roles over and over.

every time i’m asked to play the gender discrimination game,

i’m reminded of how far we have to come.

the nice thing about a lifetime of fighting,
is that you get better with every battle.

we’re going to the war on our equality,

if it takes me and every flaming queen on this planet.

the family

i love my new girlfriend tim.

boobs down, she enjoys life.

tonight, we had dinner with joey arias and jim

and last week we went to a ball with rufus wainwright

and my sister, justin.

i decided as a child that i would never be bored as an adult,

and that decision is most definitely coming to fruition.

boobs down, we always have a good time.

rosie’s broadway kids

yay, we have a youtube channel!
here’s a sample of my work with them

(arrangements, orchestrations and piano by moi!)

if i may be sentimental

i try not to blog when i’m tipsy… but i am.

2nite i saw rent on b’way

in honor of its closing this year

and i was propelled back to 1996, 18 years old

watching the stage with optimism

my first glimpse of new york

i knew i had to move here.

525,600 minutes measured in love

i became and i pursued

the bohemian life, much different than i expected

but still, the love i became.

only this time, while watching

i realized that it was a moment in time.

the new york that i thought i’d come to know

was not the new york i saw on stage.

but the new york i know now

has fulfilled me in a much different way.

i am living 525,600 minutes a year.

happier, wiser and more content

i’ve tried not to lose my optimism.

thank you ‘rent’

rip

i love these boys

sung by nina simone, written by exuma

…

Liberation of animals, prevention of cruelty to animals, man and beast
Flying and unflying, flying things, revolution of music, poetry, love and life
Sex changing, changing, changing
Man is woman, woman is man, even your brain is not your brain
Your heart is a plastic thing that can be bought
There are no more diseases that can be caught
Man became the thing that he worshipped
Man truly became his god
That was the day that man and woman truly became born.
Man became his good, man became his evil.
Man became his god and man became his devil

Tomorrow will be the 22nd Century

i heart romy haag