Arts & Entertainment
Finding ‘Follies’
Gay actress says role feels conceived for her
Terri White feels she finally grew into her ‘Follies’ role and is thrilled to be in the current Kennedy Center production. (Photo courtesy of the Kennedy Center)
‘Follies’
Through June 19
The Kennedy Center
$45-$150
202-467-4600
www.kennedy-center.org
Throughout her long career in show business, Terri White has certainly sung her share of Stephen Sondheim tunes in nightclubs and piano bars, but it’s not until now that she is actually tackling a full-fledged role in one of his musicals. As has-been dancer Stella Deems in Sondheim’s nostalgic backstage story “Follies” (currently enjoying a much anticipated run at the Kennedy Center), White, who is also gay, feels she’s found the part of a lifetime.
“I first saw ‘Follies’ when it opened on Broadway in 1971,” says White, 62. “And over the years I’ve sort of grown into the part.” Not only do White and her character both share roots in theater of a different era, they also know what it means to step away from show business and find respite in sunny Florida. “It’s uncanny,” White says. “It’s as if Stella was written especially for me. I’ve just had to wait 40 years to be old enough to give it a try.”
Considered among the best of Sondheim and James Goldman’s collaborations, “Follies” is a hauntingly beautiful tribute to lavish revues and increasingly complicated lives. Gathered for a final goodbye in a once grand New York theater on the eve of its destruction, a group of former showgirls reminisce about the glamorous, good old days and share where their post-chorine lives have taken them. On top of Goldman’s rich libretto, the show boasts a memorable hit laden score: “Broadway Baby,” “I’m Still Here,” “Too Many Mornings,” “Could I Leave You?” and “Losing My Mind.”
With a multi-million dollar budget, a 28-piece orchestra, and a large cast including megawatt dames like Bernadette Peters, Elaine Page and Linda Lavin, the Kennedy Center’s “Follies” (staged by gay director Eric Schaeffer) is produced big as it should be, says White. “And there are no divas here,” she adds. “It’s a brilliantly cast group of professionals who’ve come not only to work, but also to enjoy ourselves while we’re here. I respect all the ladies and relish the opportunity to share the stage with them.”
As a kid, White was part of the family act the White Quartet, and travelled the South and the Midwest performing on the TOBA — Theater Owners Booking Association, or more familiarly known to performers as Tough on Black Asses — circuit.
“My father was a crooner and a hoofer. He taught me to tap dance and put me on stage when I was 8. Times were often tough. Sometimes managers didn’t pay us and we’d get very low on funds,” she says. “I’d glue bottle caps to the soles of my shoes and tap dance on a wooden crate to raise some change for sandwiches and gas to get us to the next city for a gig.”
During those early years on the road, White watched as theaters turned exclusively into rock venues, movie houses or entirely disappeared. In the 1960s, she arrived in New York City as a dancer who sang, but as she grew older the physical challenges of dance prompted her to change her focus to singing. She still dances however. In fact, White’s Stella is perhaps the only one ever to tap dance throughout her big production number “Who’s That Woman?”
White’s Broadway and off-Broadway experience includes Joice Heth in “Barnum,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’” as Neal, gay director/choreographer Tommy Tune’s “The Club” (Obie Award 1976) in which she literally tap danced from her entrance to her exit, “Nunsense,” “Stepping Out” at Radio City with Liza Minnelli, “Chicago,” and the recent revival of “Finian’s Rainbow.”
Despite her big talent, White has known lulls in her career. After appearing in Tony Award-winning “Barnum” on Broadway in 1980, White was unable to find similar gigs for eight years. “I was effectively blacklisted for being gay,” she says. “There were a lot of gay men in the theater, but you didn’t see a lot of openly gay women performing on Broadway then or now.”
In 2008, White lost her apartment and slept in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park for three months. With the help of friends she found a signing gig in Key West, Fla., where she met her wife and business partner Donna Barnett. A year later the couple was celebrated a commitment ceremony on the stage of the St. James Theater where White was playing in “Finnian’s Rainbow.” Shortly thereafter, they were legally married in nearby Connecticut.
“For now,” White says, “I’m happy playing this incredible part Stella in ‘Follies.’ If the show goes on to Broadway, my wife and I will follow. If not it’s back to Key West to enjoy some gorgeous sunsets. That’s the plan.”
Celebrity News
Silky Nutmeg Ganache talks sex and dating, gender, politics, weight loss journey
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars’ semifinalist grew up in Bible Belt
Uncloseted Media published this interview on July 7.
By SPENCER MACNAUGHTON, ISABEL STOKES, and BELLA SAYEGH | After appearing on the 11th season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the first season of “Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World,” the sixth season of “RuPaul’s All Stars” and now the 11th season of “All Stars,” Silky Nutmeg Ganache, known by many as the Reverend, is undoubtedly a legend.
Born and raised in Moss Point, Miss., Ganache bears all in this episode of “UNCLOSETED with Spencer Macnaughton.” She speaks about her relationship with gender, her 100-pound weight loss, what it’s like living as a queer person of color in a red state and why she’s calling on allies to stand up for the trans community.
Patrons enjoyed a night out at the popular LGBTQ venue Crush Dance Bar on Friday, July 3.
(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)
Theater
‘My Favorite Sociopath’ debuts at Shepherdstown’s CATF
Gay playwright Aurin Squire’s take on D.C. journalism in the ‘90s
‘My Favorite Sociopath’
Contemporary American Theater Festival
July 10-Aug. 2
Shepherdstown, W.Va.
Catf.org
Discernment. It’s a thing some people have, explains playwright Aurin Squire, especially when you’re gay or Black in America (Squire is both).
“You instinctively know when the mob is teaming up for the best interests of the powers that be. You can feel it in the air.”
In his sharp new satire “My Favorite Sociopath,” Squire writes about life experiences but set in a different time and place: It’s the 1990s, early days of the 24-hour news cycle, and three ambitious journalism students are pursuing success in D.C.
And now, Squire’s play, along with other new works, are making their world premieres at the annual Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF) at Shepherd University in historic, queer-friendly Shepherdstown, W.Va. (just a 90-minute drive from D.C.).
“All of my plays are queer in some way,” says Squire, 46. “This one touches on harmless and dangerous lies. The characters are on the spectrum sexually, and it’s interesting how all that falls out.”
And he’s given it a lot of thought.
“Already as a kid, it seemed to me that the rage against rap music and sex was coming from closeted people resisting their own urges and temptations. For me, it was interesting to see a witch hunt led by witches. Queer people can always call out a lie.”
Since September, Squire has also been working with a TV show about the tech industry set in Silicon Valley. He says, “It seems the general flow of the tech industry is that humanity and civilization is finished and it’s just about accumulating as many goods as possible before everything collapses. In fact, those who are profiting actually agree. But for those who disagree, they believe the solution is to build bigger gates, but activists believe we can stop this”
Yet, he’s learned from folks associated with the show. “Many say the quickest way to divorce yourself from any responsibility or regulations — smash and grab. Otherwise, you have to stop and think and regulate your desires for greed and power”
Squire possesses a penchant for pithy titles. He laughs, explaining the first thing he wrote as a student at Juilliard was “Obama-ology,” the comedy with contemporary message. While a lot of people liked the name, it didn’t necessarily vibe with the author. He concedes that he chooses names based on “easy to remember” and titles that won’t be easy to lose as a file.
Another is “Defacing Michael Jackson,” a coming-of-age dramedy set in rural Florida in 1984, specifically Squire’s native town Opa-locka, Miami, a fantastical place famed for its fanciful Moorish revival architecture.
Living in the shadow of exotic structures, he wasn’t particularly fazed. Squire says “It wasn’t until returning to visit after my freshman year at Northwestern University in Chicago that I realized how weird it was: When you grow up in a place, you take surroundings for granted no matter how over the top.”
Now based in New York (where for two happy years, 2017-2019, he shared digs with drag king Murry Hill), Squire returns frequently to Miami to be with family, but this summer has been filled with both work and travel.
Currently, he’s in Shepherdstown with CATF shaping up “My Favorite Sociopath.” Later this summer he will travel to South Africa for research, followed by a silent writing retreat in Santa Fe, N.M.
Much of Squire’s work reflects the Latino, African, Caribbean, African-American, and Jewish cultures he grew up around in South Florida.
When asked if today’s winds of anti-multiculturalism worry him, he replies, “No, because that’s going to pass. Most people don’t like, people are seeing the negative results of it, and the young people coming up despise it. White male gamers were tricked momentarily through the algorithms into voting against their own interests and they’re now seeing how it’s not working out for them.
“Conservatives always try to stop progress and eventually they always lose. It’s just a question of where we’ll be in the middle of the end of civilization before that happens. I’d like to hope we can turn the ship around before then.”
In addition to “My Favorite Sociopath,” CATF summer season features three other world premieres (Lisa D’Amour’s comedy “The Smoker,” “Refugee Rhapsody” by Yussef El Guindi, “Best Line Wins: A Play Inspired by the Improvised Lives of Elaine May & Mike Nichols” by Beth Kander) and “¡VOS!” by Christina Pumariega.
CATF runs from July 10-Aug. 2 in three venues on the Shepherd University campus: Frank Center, Marinoff Theater, and Studio 112.
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