Last night Damian and I joined our friend Jim from Los Angeles at a benefit production of "13-Year-Old Michael Ausiello Presents: Beverly Hills," staged at the MCC Theater on West 52nd Street, and my face hasn't hurt from laughing and smiling this much since I saw the similarly tongue-in-cheek "Celebrity Autobiography."
For the uninitiated, Ausiello's show gets celebrities to cold-read actual scripts of a soap opera a very young and very gay Michael wrote in (the closet of) his suburban New Jersey abode during the 1980s heyday of "Dallas" and "Falcon Crest," and the results are as unpredictable as they are hilarious -- the actors are as tickled and surprised as the audience is by what this teen drama queen came up with on the page!
The production (minus a hyphen) has been a huge hit in Westlake -- Michael was so dedicated to his art that he actually wrote 517 episodes, so there are always fresh plots for the twisting -- and it was just a matter of time before it made its way to the New York stage. With the help of the Katie McGrath & J.J. Abrams Family Foundation, Michael et al. were able to get a binder full of boldface names -- including Rachael Dratch, Ana Gasteyer, Jim Parsons, Busy Philipps and Michael Urie -- and donate all the proceeds to the city's Ali Forney Center, the largest community center helping LGBTQ homeless youth in the United States.
Like Michael, many a blossoming homosexual had creative outlets as children. (I just saw Rob Madge's "My Son's a Queer [But What Are You Gonna Do?] at the New York City Center; and I myself penned several children's books as a tween queen and staged "Christmas at Harvey's" for a number of years in my family's garage!) So I can only imagine what an absolute thrill it is for Michael to see his childhood vision come to life 40 years later, which sort of feels like a vindication for all of us fey Gen Xers who didn't always know it would get better. xo
Plenty of photo highlights BELOW.
9021-here-we-g0!
Post-Foreman: Constantine Rousouli and Jim Parsons in an updated version of "My Chauffeur"
Michael Urie in a ribbed sweater, for my pleasure
Ana Gasteyer gets physical
Rachel Dratch runs away to the (Russian) circus
Busy Philipps was brought to her knees
Bizarre love triangle: Ana, Busy and Andrew Leeds, whom I recognized from everything but knew from nothing.
UPDATE: Just looked it up -- he was Darlene's short-lived beau (Nick) on the "The Conners"!
Move over, Shields and Yarnell
Although I'm loath to say any one person stole the show, I think it would be fair to say that Renée Elise Goldsberry's facial expressions deserved a credit of their own! "Hubby" Kal Penn was the perfect straight man.
A nighttime soap is only as strong as its beefiest hunk ...
Three-gun salute!
Krystle fight: Ana's Joan Collins vs. Busy's Linda Evans
Busy with the object of her affection, Andrew
Conrad Ricamora -- who married Peter Wesley Jensen the same time I got hitched -- and his mother, hilariously played by Hannah Solow
Three's company: Constantine, Jim and Rachel
I said I could only imagine how special this was for Michael ...
But to be honest, I think we could all tell just by looking at his face.
Lobbyists:
Gettin' Busy
With Constantine
Michael with J.J. Abrahams, whom I conflated with Bryan Singer (oops)
With Ana, who watched "Stars Wars" at the White House with friend Amy Carter along with Anwar Sadat's family(!)
With Michael
Props to Michael Silpa (far left), who is the show's long-running -- and long hilarious -- narrator!
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