How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization - Cathy Crimmins [44]
I spoke with Jeremy Wintroub, who works out of Chicago as the tour manager for the Sing-A-Long Wizard of Oz, a totally different venture than the Sound of Music tour but definitely inspired by it. The Sing-A-Long Wizard of Oz tour started in November 2002. It has played in the Hollywood Bowl to 16,000 people, and also had a monthlong run at the Gershwin Theater in New York.
A master of ceremonies presides over the live part of the sing-along, and each audience member receives a “fun pack” with a tinsel wand, bubble mix, a noisemaker, and a kazoo. The song lyrics pop up on the bottom part of the screen. Many audience members come in costume—the costume parade is a highlight for adults and children. You’re just as likely to see a gay man in drag as Glinda the Good Witch, and then next to him, a five-year-old girl in a similar getup.
Do the two audiences, straight and gay, get along?
“In most of our venues, we have a thirty percent alternative audience,” said Wintroub. “We did some research and found that on the tour, our primary audience is family. But we get very positive response from both ends of the community. And the gay and family audiences get along great.”
Wintroub went on to explain that the composition of the audiences can vary according to the size of the gay population in metropolitan areas. Columbus, Ohio, for example, had a big gay audience; Omaha, Nebraska, did not. And for obvious reasons, the tour sees more young family attendance for matinee performances. As we spoke, the tour was headed to the Castro Theatre in the Castroville section of San Francisco, one of America’s oldest and most populated gay enclaves. “We’re selling lots of block tickets for gay organizations,” said Wintroub, “but we’re also seeing family group sales.”
The Sing-A-Long Wizard of Oz even has advertisements aimed at the separate target audiences, gay and straight. Says Wintroub, “We have one featuring the Scarecrow, who says, ‘Some people go both ways,’ and then another that focuses on Dorothy and ruby slippers, for the kids.”
What about the adult content of the stage patter that would keep gay audiences interested? “Sure, there are some double entendres,” confirms Wintroub. “But it’s silly stuff that goes over the kids’ heads. And adult content is adult content, whether straight or gay. Like, our emcee might say to the audience, ‘Now don’t get jealous because I have a bigger wand.’”
The Wizard of Oz just might be the most American movie of all time, showing that even people from the Kansas dust bowl can dream in Technicolor. The film is absolutely wholesome and absolutely queer at the same time—no wonder straight and gay people will still pay good money to see it in the theater.
The New Gay Melodrama
The gay attraction to the homage and to historical forms of the past achieves new heights in Todd Haynes’s fine film of 2002, Far from Heaven. I saw this film at a preview where Haynes, Julianne Moore, and Elmer Bernstein (the film’s composer) appeared afterward for a discussion, months before its premiere, so I had read none of the many articles talking about what Haynes was trying to achieve. As Far from Heaven began, I was amazed by the manipulation of tone—the settings were so lush, the dialogue so corny, that the first few scenes made me laugh. The director seemed to be saying, “Yeah, this is a film about the fifties—wink, wink.” But then as it went on, the film made me cry. Haynes had hit the heart of what was so satisfying about the fifties melodramas (and certain soap operas)—by exaggerating life, they made it more real. It was the total gay aesthetic—pump something up, give it some artifice, and then you can finally see what it really means. Far from Heaven was like a movie in drag.
In the discussion afterward, Haynes talked about the films of Douglas Sirk and his gay sensibility.