Page 1 Roundup (05/14)

The Daily News: De Blasio booed during Green New Deal rally at Trump Tower ahead of his president campaign announcement

Melissa McCarthy to replace Steve Harvey as host of ‘Little Big Shots,’ Kelly Clarkson to take over 'Steve' talk show timeslots with 'The Kelly Clarkson Show'

Michael Jackson’s son Prince graduates with honors from Loyola Marymount University

Two inmates charged in ‘sextortion’ plot that drove young Army vet to kill himself

Deep Dish: A loving gay remembrance of Doris Day (1922-2019)

Salon: Felicity Huffman pleads guilty in nationwide college-admissions scandal

TV Line: Kim Cattrall is returning to television in the holy roller soap "Filthy Rich"

The '90210' gang is back together, minus one

NewNowNext: If your religious views prevent you from providing health care, you shouldn't be in health care

TPM: GOP senator tells farmers hurt by Trump's trade war to suck it up: At least you're not fighting in a real war

Chicago Tribune: I've been fascinated by this woman since I started reading Interview as a kid. How I hope this show makes its way from the (312) to the (212) ...

BBC: Conor McGregor -- who was born to wear white jeans -- has charges dismissed

Back2Stonewall: Happy birthday to Armistead Maupin!

People: Passengers were waiting to board -- then the pilot was arrested for triple murder

Metrosource: Are you looking for local LGBTQ-friendly businesses?

New York Post: Felicity Huffman cries in court while pleading guilty to college admissions scam

Royal baby joins famous Archies through history (SLIDESHOW)

Get Naked/Soiree Fair: Previews for "Camp Morning Wood" begin May 29

The Washington Post: Glad Jimmy Carter is on the mend, but he wouldn't have broken his hip if he hadn't been planning to shoot innocent animals

The New York Times: New York cities, desperate for people, try new strategy to lure refugees

Warren H. Phillips, longtime Wall Street Journal publisher, dies at 92

The Wall Street Journal: As Chinese buyers flock, homing pigeon prices soar

Take a Hike, 'Rent'

UPDATE: This over-the-top post was written to troll Generation Z activists. But the fact that it wasn't readily recognized as satire by everyone tells you just how far off the rails we've gone.  #heavenhelpus

I don't know about you, but I for one will NOT be watching "Rent Live" tonight. I've never understood why everyone felt the need to worship at the feet of a white cisgender man who was in the exact place at the exact time to have witnessed the AIDS epidemic first-hand -- who by all accounts happened to be a theatrical genius -- when there are so many transwomen of color who were also affected by the disease. This is NOT his story to tell. [Insert inflammatory buzzwords here.] Stop colonizing* people of color and stop mansplaining ... and don't get me started on his work's bierasure. #ReinaGossett #believetranswomenofcolor #mansplaining #whitesplaining #nothisstorytotell #buzzword 

*Incorrect usage but always wins elections 

Go-Go's, Grateful Dead and Jimmy Buffet Musicals Headed to Broadway

Rolling Stone looks at three new musicals headed to the Great White Way, including "Head Over Heels," which (for better or worse) does not tell the rise and fall of the first all-girl band to top the Billboard albums chart:

Christine Russell, one of the producers of the hit Carole King Broadway musical "Beautiful," remembers her first reaction when she was pitched on a new pop-oriented production. The show is based on "The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia," a 16th-century tale of mistaken identity and jealous lovers that was later turned into a play, "The Arcadia." The twist of the show, starting with its name, "Head Over Heels," is its score: It's entirely set to songs by the Go-Go's.  

"I thought, 'Huh, really?'" Russell says. "I asked [Go-Go's guitarist] Charlotte Caffey about it and that it seemed so left field, and she said, 'That's why we like it – it's weird and off the wall, just like our band.'"

Read what Kathy Valentine, who penned many of the songs used in the production including the title track, had to say about it HERE.

An 'UpStairs' View to a Kill

Taylor Frey and Jeremy Pope

Accompanied Damian to a preview performance of "The View UpStairs," a new production inspired by the 1973 UpStairs Lounge arson attack in New Orleans that left 32 dead and 15 injured. Although the crime was the deadliest attack on a gay bar in U.S. history until the 2016 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., it has only recently been widely covered as the homophobic climate in the South at the time led news organizations and law enforcement to minimize or ignore the gruesome event. Although regular readers know I am allergic to musicals, Max Vernon has penned and scored an inventive and layered show that uses the setting of the tragedy -- and its colorful cast of regulars -- to examine where the LGBT community was and where we are now, a distinction that seemed monumental until Nov. 8, 2016. I abhor spoilers and reviews that give scene-by-scenes plot details, but I can say that this negative nelly came away from the show a fan, impressed by the cast (Frenchie Davis and Nathan Lee Graham shine at the bar's butch owner and resident diva, respectively) and direction (Scott Ebersold), which may well leave you taking stock of the LGBT movement as a whole. Tickets for the Lynn Redgrave Theater are available HERE. Damian's thoughtful piece for The Daily Beast is HERE.

Randy Redd

The Go-Go's and the Even Newer 'Arcadia'

I don't know where my gay DNA went wrong, but even when you take songs I love by the Go-Go's, the second you turn them into a musical, they just don't work for me. (I especially want to punch these people and their exaggerated pronunciations during "Automatic Rainy Day"). Anyway, I know I'm in the minority here. Get a peek at the world premiere of "Head Over Heels" -- now playing at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in the outdoor Allen Elizabethan Theatre -- and tell me what you think. 

Description:

A duke. A mysterious prophecy. Two daughters: one mobbed by suitors, the other . . . not so much. And all set to the beat of 1980s pop icons the Go-Go's? An Elizabethan love story is turned on its head in this exuberant musical by playwright Jeff Whitty ("Avenue Q," "The Further Adventures of Hedda Gabler"), inspired by Sir Philip Sidney’s 16th-century pastoral romance, "Arcadia." This world premiere promises a delicious mix of razor-sharp wordplay, infectious songs and romantic surprises.

For more information, click HERE.

'Mighty' Fun

Anyone know anything about THIS?

The Go-Go's Are 'Head Over Heels' to Be Onstage

So often you hear rumors about a play, film or reality show in the making that never comes to be. Imagine my surprise when I received this email moments after having coffee with Kathy Valentine, who is visiting from Austin? Apparently we were talking about other things!

From Playbill:

The world-premiere musical "Head Over Heels," featuring a book by Tony Award winner Jeff Whitty and the music of the Go-Go's, will be staged as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's 2015 season. The Elizabethan period-set comedy is based on Philip Sidney's "Arcadia."

I'm going to demand to know about this Elizabethan period bit at dinner tonight -- I don't like the sounds of it!

'Motown: The Musical' Opens on Broadway

These jukebox musicals don't really appeal to me. But I sure wish I'd been there for the recent backstage fun at  "Motown," where Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Mary Wilson and Miss Ross herself were on hand for the show’s much-anticipated premiere at Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Has anyone been yet? My parents are looking for a show when they come in June and this seems like it might be right up their Detroit alley. Read HERE.

Gwyneth Paltrow in Talks to Turn Go-Go's Story Into a Jukebox Musical

Not sure what's more surprising, that Gwyneth Paltrow is in negotiations to bring the story of the Go-Go's to the stage, or that The Hollywood Reporter thinks that Paula Jean Brown is a member of the group. Fans might remember that Brown was briefly in the group when Jane Wiedlin left to seek solo stardom, just before Belinda Carlisle and Charlotte Caffey decided to call it a day. (Footage of Paula Jean's one and only performance, at the Rock in Rio Festival, is online HERE  Brown cowrote "Mad About You," a song intended for the Go-Go's fourth album, but was instead used as the first single from "Belinda.") Interestingly, Donovan Leitch -- Susanna Hoffs' gorgeous former boytoy and the son of the "Mellow Yellow" singer -- is listed as a perspective co-producer for the musical, along with Rick Ferrari. (Hoffs famously wrote THIS unkind song about the younger Donovan.)

Paula Jean Brown was presented as a Christmas present to Go-Go's fans in 1984, but the gift did not keep giving.