The Ritz

The New Theatre, Sydney

'The Ritz' is another thirty or so years old play; a farce in which a man finds refuge from a hit man in a steam bathhouse frequented by gay men. Hilarity of a sort ensues with confusion over identity and sexuality.

It is a bit of a creaky play very much set in the era it was written so that many references are meaningless unless you are of a certain age and have some familiarity with New York and its much loved identities.

The play has been programmed to coincide with Sydney's annual LGBT Mardi Gras.

Unsurprisingly the audience when we attended was very much gay men of a certain era; just like Cs and I!

★★

Queenly delicious

As promise earlier, a closer photograph of Queen Elizabeth, still dressed in the Mardi Gras outfit donned in the morning, berthed at Circular Quay as viewed in the rain from the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

The berth had been vacated just prior to dawn by Costa Deliziosa which moved to anchor mid harbour off Athol Bay. I snapped the following photograph of Costa Deliziosa at anchor through the glass of the North Bar of the Sydney Opera House during interval of the matinee performance of 'Carmen' earlier this afternoon.

Large groups of passengers from both the vessels were on escorted tours throughout the Opera House during the day.

Costa Deliziosa sails from Sydney tomorrow evening at 6pm followed by Queen Elizabeth at 9pm. That allows passengers from both vessels to view tonight's Mardi Gras Parade if they wish to brave the rain and the crowds. Judging by the age and looks of the passengers I saw around the Opera House today I suspect their participation in the Parade, even as observers, will be most unlikely.

The Queens are back in town

Plenty of Queens descend upon Sydney at this time of year with the annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade to be staged tonight.

Arguably the largest Queen visiting for the Mardi Gras arrived in Sydney this morning; fashionably late. By my assessment, Queen Elizabeth entered Sydney Harbour two hours behind schedule according to the Sydney Ports site cruise schedule.

(Click photos to enlarge)

Queen Elizabeth sailing up Sydney Harbour this morning

Moments after the above photo was taken, Her Majesty paused just off Bradleys Head for about fifteen minutes. The reason for the pause was not evident to me until she recommenced her journey up harbour to her berth at Circular Quay. It appears Her Majesty paused to don her Mardi Gras outfit.

Queen Elizabeth and her 'Happy Mardi Gras' outfit

I will be at Circular Quay this afternoon to attend the matinee performance of 'Carmen' at the Opera House and will try to remember to take a close up photo of Her Majesty at her berth for posting later tonight. Maybe Her Majesty will have donned yet another colourful outfit?

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

Come rain or come shine....

Tomorrow night is Sydney's annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. So often the Parade has been staged in rain or under the threat of rain. We have a very wet period at the moment and the forecast suggests it will indeed rain on Sydney's parade (again) tomorrow evening.

In years past the Reverend Fred Nile, who as well as being an ordained Minister is also a Member of the New South Wales Parliament, has been a very vocal critic of the Parade; indeed of all things homosexual. He used to pray for rain before the Parade - which naturally would be a sign of God's disapproval of homosexuality - but in recent years Mr Nile seems to have gone silent on the issue. Or am I just deaf to his pronouncements?

Anyway, I assume Mr Nile still prays and this year his prayers look like being answered.

Oxford Street fashions

Can you tell it is Mardi Gras time?

The Temperamentals

(New Theatre)

Each year at this time the New Theatre stages work with a gay theme or connection in recognition of Sydney's Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras period.

This year's work is The Temperamentals. I have to admit that until now I was unaware that 'temperamental' was a slang term for homosexual. I don't know whether that term ever applied in Australia but evidently it did in the USA, at least in the 1940/50s. Nor had I heard of the Mattachine Society organised to press for the rights of sexual minorities.

This play is about those involved in founding the Society. Regrettably I'd never heard of these people either. Five actors portray five of these individuals as well as a host of others, the only one those peripheral characters known to me being the American director Vincente Minnelli.

I can't say that I found this to be an exciting work; in fact it was somewhat boring and unfocused in it's first half. There was much unnecessary moving about of bar stools that was highly distracting. The second half was better mostly I think because the focus improved with just a couple of the plots highlighted. Thankfully the bar stools were given a rest after interval.

I could have done without the preachy style of the play.

The five actors did well each performing multiple roles.

Lunch and marriage...go together like a horse and carriage

The Council's Christmas Tree in Martin Place

Arriving by train at Martin Place yesterday for lunch with Da who is visiting from Canberra for the weekend to attend the Australian Ballet's production of Romeo and Juliet I snapped this photograph of Sydney Council's Christmas Tree.

Behind me and intentionally out of camera range was a modest gathering arguing to 'maintain marriage'; ie anti same sex unions. Earlier I had heard on news bulletins pro same sex union protesters drowning out the speeches of this group but all was quiet as I passed by.

I guess that the pro same sex union gatherers would have moved on by then to nearby Hyde Park for their meeting.

I met Da in Pitt Street Mall and we walked over to the Strand Arcade for lunch and a long gossip. We sat at one of the tables in the long aisle of the arcade and from my seat I could see the opening to the Mall in the distance. Whilst we ate I first heard and then glimpsed the same sex union supporters walking by the arcade on their way to Darling Harbour where only minutes earlier the Australian Labor Party had voted to include same sex unions in party policy. I could tell, both from the noise and what I could glimpse in the distance, that there were many more people participating in the pro same sex union rally.

Da and I chatted on for a long while. My lunch of sourdough toasted BLT with chicken was delicious. I can recommend it. On the other hand, Da's choice of sour dough toast and vegemite looked...well...a little dry.

The Morning After

Brunch at an Oxford Street eatery the morning after the 2011 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade

World AIDS Day 2010

It's coming

Feature: Welcome to Mardi Gras 2010 from mardigras on Vimeo.

Take Me Out

Mk, Rs and I saw Take Me Out yesterday. Staged in association with the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras 2009 the play tells the story of a star player with a mythical New York baseball club who comes out of the closet. An all male cast of eleven portrayed the team players and several other characters with most of the action taking place in the team's locker room. A mix of comedy and strong drama the play was performed on a simple set.

Some of the nuances of the play, relying as they do on the close links between the history of baseball and 20th Century US history, may have been lost on us as baseball is a minor sport in Australia without similar links to our history. However we felt we had a good sense of the play nevertheless through substituting AFL/NRL clubs in our minds for the baseball club.

Those of sensitive disposition should note that eight of the eleven cast members appear completely naked on stage at times as they shower and change into and out of their clothing. Luckily none of our group was of such disposition. The cast's acting, clothed and unclothed, was of a good quality.

Milk

Sean Penn plays Harvey Milk, the first openly gay official elected in California. It covers the period from his fortieth birthday to his assassination eight years later.

The film blends archival footage with movie footage so skillfully that the entire film has the feel of a documentary. After a while I scarcely noticed the switches between archive and movie. Milk captures the feel of its period (1970-78) very effectively and brought back many memories for me of those times in little details such as body type, clothing and hair styles.

The cast is strong and both Penn and Josh Brolin have been nominated for Academy Awards but for me the best performance is by James Franco.

It surprised me to realise that I was in San Francisco the same year that Harvey Milk was engaged in those political rallies in the lead up to his assassination and yet I know so little about the man.

I presume that Harvey Milk had negative aspects to his character but there is little evidence of them in the film.

I think the film is very moving and it brought tears to my eyes on three or four occasions. Very few films have had that effect on me.

Proposition Hate

There are protests planned for today across the United States, as well as some internationally, against California's Proposition 8.

In Australia, a protest is being organised for 12 noon today in Federation Square, Melbourne.

Check Join The Impact for more information.

Sunday in the park

Today is a Sunday in the park kind of day in Sydney.

It is the Mardi Gras Fair Day at Victoria Park on the southern edge of the Sydney CBD and later today Tropfest, the world's largest short film festival, is being held in the Sydney Domain on the eastern edge of Sydney's CBD.

But I decided to bypass both and go to the NSW Art Gallery, adjacent to the Domain, to see Art Express the artwork of High School students. The work I enjoyed most was the time lapse video by Lochlan Macpherson who produced interesting black and white images all to a catchy soundtrack.

A series of blurred photographs taken at a Sydney underground railway station also caught my eye as did two simple but effective spheres constructed with corks and plastic cups respectively.

After viewing the Art Express display I wandered through several adjacent galleries where, as usual, anything containing nude images immediately attracted my attention.

Walking back through the Domain I took some snaps of the preparations for tonight's Tropfest. It usually attracts an attendance of up to 100,000 and as I passed through six hours or so before it was to get underway early arrivals were setting up in their preferred positions.


The short films are displayed on three screens set up in a triangle formation in the middle of the Domain with the crowd viewing them from all sides. You can see one side of the three sided screen in the distance.


The old Woolloomooloo Finger Wharf sits on Sydney Harbour down the other side of the hill from the Art Gallery. It has been turned into a hotel, restaurants and apartments. The apartments are at the far left end of the old wharf and are the Sydney home of a number of local celebrities the most internationally famous being the actor Russell Crowe.