"I pray you, in your letters when you shall these unlucky deeds relate, speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate nor set down aught in malice. Then must you speak of one that lov'd not wisely but too well; of one not easily jealous, but being wrought, perplex'd in the extreme."Othello's tragedy describes the fall of a great military leader and passionate lover whose fatal flaw was the kind of insecurity that, when fanned by the flames of jealousy, can erupt in a violent display of toxic masculinity. While many men carry a torch for the woman they love, not everyone resorts to violence as a way of solving their problems. Some people carry on for months, years -- even decades -- with the pain of unrequited love. No matter how close they may be to the object of their affection, they often end up feeling like the third wheel in someone else's relationship.
This situation becomes increasingly painful when it seems as if everyone else is finding and marrying the love of their life. Curiously, within a span of 10 weeks in 1964, three new musicals opened on Broadway which featured songs about parades.
On January 16, Hello, Dolly! bowed at the St. James Theatre with a first act finale entitled "Before The Parade Passes By." On March 26, Funny Girl opened at the Winter Garden Theatre with Barbra Streisand belting out "Don't Rain On My Parade" as the curtain fell on Act I. Both songs were written for characters whose fear of missing out spurred them to take substantial risks.
However, on April 4, when Stephen Sondheim's ill-fated Anyone Can Whistle debuted at the Majestic Theatre, the woman singing about a parade was not a sympathetic character. Instead, Mayor Cora Hoover Hooper (Angela Lansbury) was a shallow politician terrified that she might no longer be the center of attention.
Though a wedding may be a source of great joy for the bride and groom, it can also create a gaping hole in the life of the close friend who gets left behind. The acute emptiness left in the wake of someone who has obviously moved on to a new chapter in life was beautifully captured in two recently seen dramas. One fairy tale focuses on a devoted heterosexual man who loses the love of his life to Shah Jahan, who built the Taj Mahal as a shrine to honor the memory of his beloved queen, Mumtaz Mahal.
The other revolves around a contemporary gay man who has always been comfortable being "one of the girls" until the women he adores get married and the dynamic of each relationship undergoes an unavoidable change. Ironically, both stories revealed the (frequently self-inflicted) emotional damage some men suffer as a result of female privilege.
* * * * * * * * *
Directed by Franz Osten and released in 1928, Shiraz: A Romance of India is filled with exotic visuals ranging from the art direction by Lala Brigmohontal and Promode Nath to the fact that its leading man and producer (Himansu Rai) convinced the Maharaja of Jaipur to allow parts of the film to be shot on the grounds of the Taj Mahal and several Mughal palaces. |
| Enakashi Rama Rao as Princess Selima in a scene from 1928's Shiraz: A Romance of India |
Based on a play by Niranjan Pal, the title character starts out as a potter's son who inherits a childhood playmate when his father discovers a hungry and confused toddler among the dead bodies and wreckage of a caravan. Although the little girl wears an amulet identifying her as royalty, the two children become inseparable until, as a young woman, she is captured by slave traders and sold to a prince for his harem. As film historian Matthew Lipson explains:
"The central character, named for the city of Shiraz in Iran where many famous Persian poets are buried, is a wholly fictitious creation. Several historical facts pertaining to the origin of the Taj Mahal have been altered for the screen version, such as the name of the princess for whom it was built (known in the film as Selima, her real name was Arjunand Banu). While Shah Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor, did indeed build the Taj Mahal as an expression of his eternal devotion to his queen, the film depends on the fictional character of Shiraz to tell its story of unrequited love and ultimate transcendence."
 |
| Poster art for 1928's Shiraz: A Romance of India |
 |
| Himansu Rai (Shiraz) and Charu Roy (Emperor Shah Jahan) in a scene from 1928's Shiraz: A Romance of India |
Using a beautifully restored print from the British Film Institute's National Archive, the SFSFF's screening of Shiraz at the Castro Theatre was accompanied by Steinway's Young Artist of 2010, Utsav Lal (who has drawn international acclaim for his transpositions of Hindustani classical music for the piano, a decidedly Western instrument). Here's the trailer:
* * * * * * * * *
The old adage that "dying is easy, comedy is hard" is familiar to anyone with enough guts to get onstage in front of a live audience. Finding a playwright with a wickedly funny comic streak, however, is easier said than done. Joshua Harmon first attracted major attention with Bad Jews in 2013 (his play received its Bay area premiere from Magic Theatre in September of 2014). On November 7, 2016, four small regional theatre companies (Studio Theatre in Washington, D.C., Actor's Express in Atlanta, SpeakEasy Stage in Boston, and Magic Theatre in San Francisco) performed free readings of Harmon's caustically prophetic sizzler entitled Ivanka: A Medea For Right Now. As the playwright explained at the time:IVANKA transports contemporary characters to a classical situation in the hopes of highlighting the extent of the tragedy that is the rise of Donald Trump. What’s arguably even more tragic is watching intelligent people stand beside him, asking us to vote for him, when they must know his seemingly unstoppable brand of hate has such toxic potential. The play posits that the only person with enough influence and power to stop Donald Trump is the one who stands closest to him, loyally by his side: his own daughter. At its core, IVANKA is an act of civil disobedience. While we still live in a free country, it is our duty to exercise our First Amendment rights and speak out."
 |
| Poster art for Ivanka: A Medea For Right Now |
It's hard to believe that Harmon's acid wit could have progressed so far and so quickly as evidenced by Significant Other (which was given its world premiere by the Roundabout Theatre Company in 2015). Screamingly funny while driving its painfully insecure protagonist to distraction, Significant Other is now being staged by San Francisco Playhouse in a whip-smart production directed by Lauren English with set design by Jacquelyn Scott and costumes by Randy Wong-Westbrooke.
 |
| Jordan (Kyle Cameron) and his girlfriends share a group hug at Kiki's wedding in a scene from Significant Other (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
The premise of Harmon's play is simple: “How do you make life work for yourself when you feel that you’re not living the life you’re supposed to be living or want to be living?" he asks. "And how do you deal with that when the changes that you need to make are in some ways outside of your control?” In the following clip, Harmon explains how his initial concept developed into a full-blown evening of raucous dramedy.
Late in life, I've been lucky enough to enjoy a friends-with benefits relationship with a man I often describe as "the lowest maintenance homosexual in the City and County of San Francisco." Harmon's protagonist is the polar opposite. A reasonably attractive single gay Jew working at an ad agency in Manhattan, Jordan Berman (Kyle Cameron) is a bundle of neuroses whose loneliness and neediness can suddenly ratchet up to a category 4 storm. Overhearing a friend's fiancé say "Jordan doesn't really look that fat" can trigger a meltdown.
Whereas women who form close friendships with gay men are often labeled with such pejoratives as "fruit fly" and "fag hag," Jordan easily fits the stereotype of the gay best friend seen in heterosexual rom-coms. As the play begins, Jordan and his girlfriends are celebrating at a bachelorette party for Kiki (Hayley Lovgren), who is about to tie the knot with a hunky galoot named Conrad (August Browning) whom she will have no trouble dominating.
 |
| Kyle Cameron (Jordan) and Hayley Lovgren (Kiki) in a scene from Significant Other (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
Initially thrilled by Kiki's good fortune, Jordan becomes increasingly agitated as he witnesses Vanessa (Nicole Azalee Danielle) pair off with Roger (Greg Ayers) and his former roommate, Laura (Ruibo Qian), get hitched to Tony (also August Browning). As each woman's attention starts to focus more intensely on her marriage and his phone calls get sent to voice mail, Jordan finds himself growing lonelier, bitter, and more resentful. Basic bookkeeping tells him that it's costing nearly $2,500 to satisfy the wedding fantasies of one of his closest girlfriends (which really hurts when Laura always scorned wedding traditions and didn't even ask Jordan to be one of her bridesmaids).
 |
| Kyle Cameron (Jordan), August Browning (Tony), and Ruibo Qian (Laura) in a scene from Significant Other (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
Not that Jordan has made it easy on himself. While fully at ease with his girlfriends, trying to strike up a conversation, go out on a date with, or handle texting Will (August Browning) -- the calm, butch, and extremely handsome gay man from Maine who recently started work at the ad agency -- triggers Jordan's self loathing and extreme social awkwardness with other men. A reunion with Gideon (Greg Ayers), a gay friend from college days who is newly arrived in New York, reveals that Gideon can't stop thinking of his ex (and, as a result, is hardly dating material). An attempt to make friends with the office's gay gossip and outrageous flirt, Evan (also Greg Ayers), is a resounding failure because, while Jordan cannot conceive of having casual sex, Evan can't imagine anything else.
 |
| Kyle Cameron (Jordan) and Greg Ayers (Evan) in a scene from Significant Other (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
That leaves only one source of solace: Jordan's grandmother (Joy Carlin), whose life has grown lonelier as her friends have moved away or died. As steadfastly as Helene tries to remain optimistic (even though she often wishes she could die in her sleep), it's hard for Jordan to stop wallowing in self-pity.
 |
| Joy Carlin (Helene) and Kyle Cameron (Jordan) in a scene from Significant Other (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
Part of Jordan's problem is that, due to his crippling insecurity, he has had little success in dating other men. Even if he were to do well on a first date, anyone who got to know him might be horrified at the amount of reassurance it would take to sufficiently stroke Jordan's wounded ego. In his “Note from the Artistic Director,” SFP’s Bill English stresses that:
“Significant Other is an unromantic rom-com that explores our fears of being alone. In this age when every technological advance promises to keep us in perpetual contact, we are painfully aware of how we feel more alone than ever. Folks in their twenties are much more dependent on close friends for intimacy and these friendships last longer and become essential only to be dashed by the inevitable ‘wedding bells’ that make them inappropriate or untenable. The pain of these breakups can be very intense. When such loves are between a woman and her gay male friend, the end can be particularly crushing. Making such partings worse, our pop culture has perpetuated the unfortunate cliché of the ‘gay best friend,’ a supporting character who can easily feel trapped on the sidelines of his own life. Harmon brilliantly upends the cliché, taking us into the heart of the supporting roles often played by gay characters in the typical rom-com, giving Jordan Berman center stage and giving his story authenticity.”
 |
| Greg Ayers (Gideon) and Kyle Cameron (Jordan) in a scene from Significant Other (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
“Who really wants to be a significant other when one could be a wife, a husband, a lover, a romantic partner, a soulmate? It’s the clinical kind of term used on applications to carefully skirt more personal issues of identity and sexual preference. As the most discerning in his group of friends, Jordan struggles to find love while watching his closest friends rush to matrimony for a classic list of the wrong reasons. While his most intimate friends march to the ticking clock of biology, we are invited into his lonely, courageous battle to persuade himself that he matters, that he deserves happiness in this world of over-connection, that he deserves to be more than a significant other. As the parade of weddings cascades down upon him, the tolling bells become a distorted cacophony of voices shouting ‘you don’t deserve this.’ Can he find a way to be a leading man in his own story? As the protagonist in our empathy gym, he draws our compassion.”
 |
| Jordan (Kyle Cameron) struggles to make small talk with Will (August Browning) in a scene from Significant Other (Photo by: Jessica Palopoli) |
Harmon has done a spectacular job of merging two dramatic stereotypes (the self-loathing gay man who overthinks everything and the obsessive drama queen who knows how to throw himself a royal pity party) into one frustrated protagonist. In Act II, Jordan lashes out at Laura during her bachelorette party in a fast and furious monologue that rises to the emotional intensity of "Rose's Turn" in Gypsy. While Jordan's angst is the glue that holds Harmon's drama together, Kyle Cameron gives a bravura performance as a gay man terrified of becoming a lonely, bitter old homosexual.
With lighting by Wen-Ling Liao and sound design by Theodore J. H. Hulsker, SFP's production hits all the marks in Harmon's script with stunning accuracy as the men who cross Jordan's path (embodied by August Browning and Greg Ayers) and the women (portrayed by Hayley Lovgren, Nicole-Azalee Danielle, and Ruibo Qian) whose marriages cause them to drift away from their "gay best friend." Joy Carlin gives a tender, almost glowing performance as Jordan's loyal grandmother.
Performances of Significant Other continue through June 15 at the San Francisco Playhouse (click here for tickets). Here's the trailer:
No comments:
Post a Comment