If you’re into song and dance, let alone gay romance, then this uplifting show within a show is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face and a lot more besides.
Then again, how could this sparkling cinematic cocktail not fail to please, as we encounter the tangled lives of aspiring off-Broadway actors Paul, forever searching for the one and still not out to his family, cutie Eddie. Only when Eddie learns that his parents intent to visit New York to witness his stage debut in the show Adam & Steve, he turns to his best friend for advice, only to find Paul having sacrificed commitment for a Slutty Summer instead. With sex in, romance out and the homophobic wrath of Eddie’s devout parents about to descend on the Big Apple, it would seem that all is lost for our boys. But hey this being a musical love story, you just know that a happy ending is on cue for the finale, just the way God made it.
Or rather just to way writer and co-director Fred M Caruso made it, having drawn upon his theatrical background to mix his seven-year-old musical Adam & Steve with a later I Wanna Be A Slut narrative, leaving Casper Andreas of A Four Letter Word fame free to do what he does best; namely deliver the gay cinematic goods within a limited time frame. Sure it’s camp with a capital C, that of a true off-Broadway experience complete with small sets and stage, but it’s also one hell of an entertaining ride, laced with a buffed to perfection cast, who can actually sing and dance in songs that cross-relate to both the on-stage action and the actors’ off-stage lives. To the end, celluloid newcomers Daniel Robinson as Paul / Adam and Joey Dudding as Eddie / Steve shine throughout, even if Liz McCartney as televangelist Patty-Maye and Steve (think Trick) Hayes as God come close to stealing their thunder, clearly loving every minute of it.
Then again, what’s not to love here when homoerotic sex, let alone an appearance from Brent Corrigan as a kind hearted escort mix with a troupe of gorgeous dancing boys in tight fitting trunks. True the show tunes are not exactly Sondheim, but then when did Sondheim deliver the strong safe sex message home, let alone showcase the prejudice of the religious right against a heartfelt message of acceptance, namely that it's okay to be gay. And in times in which self-hate still results in all too many gay suicides, that is a message that cannot be preached loud enough. That this film does so in choreographed tap dancing style, makes it nothing short than a pure blasphemous delight. Need more be said?
PRODUCTION NUMBERS:
Overture | Angel’s Tap | Creation | Friday Night | Eve’s Lament | Christian Medley
I Will Change | I Wanna Be A Slut | America Online | Straight to Heaven
Sing Me A Love Song | Music Theatre Love Story | Someone Up There
God Loves Gays | As I Am | Finale.
screened as part of the 24th London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival 2010
starring: Daniel Robinson, Joey Dudding, Jeff Metzler, Liz McCartney, Brian Spitulnik, Andre Ward,
Steve Hayes, Jim Newman, Celina Carvajal, Michael Schiffman, Marty Thomas, Kate Pazakis,
Brent Corrigan, Jeff Binder, Denise Cormier, Brandon Rubendall and Tommy Scrivens
cameo appearances by Jack Aaronson, Michael Musto,
Fred M Caruso as the drunk at the bar and
Casper Andreas as the theatre usher.
If you’re into song and dance, let alone gay romance, then this uplifting show within a show is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face and a lot more besides.
Or rather just to way writer and co-director Fred M Caruso made it, having drawn upon his theatrical background to mix his seven-year-old musical Adam & Steve with a later I Wanna Be A Slut narrative, leaving Casper Andreas of 