Review: Liza Minnelli live at the Royal Festival Hall

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

If there’s one person you should see live before you die make sure its the queen of showbiz herself, Miss Liza Minnelli. At the age of 66 the legend of stage and screen showed the audience at the South Bank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall just how she became a living legend.

Minnelli’s performance was part of The Rest is Noise Festival, which was billed by London’s South Bank Centre as being a tribute to the Weimar era, though Minnelli herself didn’t perform much from the era attributed with inspiring the reason for her performance. However, this didn’t stop her from being mesmerising, witty and funny, or from giving an all-round triumphant performance.

From the moment she walked onto the stage she had the audience in the palm of her hand as they sat their enthralled by her. The performance was her first at the Royal Festival Hall since 1973, when she performed Liza with a ‘Z’, and we got a reminder of this when she performed the song in question.

Despite her vocals being a little shaky at the beginning, they improved significantly as the show moved on, giving the audience a look at her memorable belt that, despite everything, she has managed to maintain. While the voice was incredible for someone her age, she looked a bit shaky on her feet and required a rest at one point allowing her pianist, Billy Stritch, to perform a solo number, ‘No Moon At All.’ Stritch was a big part of the show in fact, as he performed a duet of ‘I Can’t Give You Anything But Love’ with Liza, to a roaring applause.

The applause and laughs throughout the show continued as Minnelli told hilarious stories from her past and gave impressively big performances of ‘Maybe This Time’ and ‘Cabaret’, which received standing ovations; there were also a couple of humourous songs such as ‘He’s Funny That Way’ and ‘You’ve Let Yourself Go.’ But one of the best performances of the night came when Liza performed Charles Aznavour’s ‘What Makes A Man A Man.’ Lit by a spotlight, the audience could see Minnelli, and Minnelli only, as she sang the song about sexual identity and told her audience to be themselves. I’ve heard the song on a number of occasions but seeing it live gave me chills.

Minnelli ended the stellar show with her signature tune, ‘New York, New York’, giving the audience a glimpse of her signature “YEAH” before the song and ended on an incredible high note that saw waves of applause fill the room.

After 90 minutes on stage and being every inch the professional non-diva, Minnelli gave a number of encores for her fans – something you wouldn’t see at a Madonna concert – and ended by singing a cappella to fans; proving that despite the ups and downs of her life, the voice is still as big and strong as ever.

Liza Minnelli's Latest Comeback

Originally published on www.sosogay.co.uk

With an Oscar, an Emmy, multiple Tony Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award under her belt and over 50 years in the business that is show, Liza Minnelli is the definition of the term ‘living legend’.

Not content with sitting out her later years on a vast yacht in the baking sun telling stories about all the other greats she’s known – such as her mother, her father, Frank Sinatra or Sammy Davies Jr. – Liza continues to keep busy, and this year is no exception as she brings her celebrated gifts to the London stage for a one-night-only performance on March 1^.

Minnelli will be performing at the Royal Festival Hall in London as part of the Southbank Centre’s ‘Berlin in the 20s and 30s’ weekend, where she will perform songs from the legendary Cabaret, jazz standards and Broadway tunes. However, as she mentioned in The Telegraph, she’s still re-writing the show, so who knows what could happen.

The performance at the Royal Festival Hall will be her first performance at the venue since 1973, when she performed her renowned Emmy Award winning show Liza with a Z there.

The weekend will also see a screening of Cabaret, which celebrates its 41^st birthday this year and marks the 40^th anniversary of Minnelli’s Oscar win for her performance of Sally Bowles.

Aside from her one night engagement in London, this year appears to mark another comeback in the life of the legendary performer. With scheduled performances at the New York City Town Hall alongside Alan Cumming, a performance at the State Theatre’s 25^th annual benefit gala in May, a return to acting with a guest appearance as herself in TV shows Smash and Arrested Development and even, according to an interview with The Huffington Post, a new album in the works, it looks like Liza may be doing a few more appearances this year. Well here’s hoping she does.

The Pink Pound and the Music Industry

Originally published on www.vadamagazine.com

In today’s music industry many artists dominating the charts take time out to lend their voice to good causes. They may relate to problems such as world famine, body issues, war and lately even gay rights. This may seem like something truly commendable as famous individuals lend their name (and hundreds of thousands of twitter followers) to a cause in order to give it a greater voice. However, in relation to gay rights just how much of this advocacy is truly on behalf of those suffering and how much is for personal gain?

This may sound a little cynical to some who believe these stars are truly helping gay men and women across the world become more accepted, which to extent they are. However, whilst having a big name star promoting a cause is a guaranteed way to make a mark for it, for the star it is also a way of gaining yourself a loyal fan base that will stick by you. The audience think you ‘get them’. The cynicism enters when thinking about gay men and women as the power of the pink pound and its appeal to PR executives everywhere is remarkable. Leading mostly metropolitan lives and statistically freer from the financial black-hole of childrearing, our demographic are often thought to have more disposable income. For many this is mostly true.

When you think about gay rights advocacy and celebrities today, one of the biggest stars that come to the forefront of most people’s minds is Lady Gaga. Now I am by no means accusing her of not believing in equality for everyone, in fact she has done quite a lot over the last few years to help LGBT advancement, but you cannot help but feel there is a slight marketing push behind it.

After watching her concert on DVD you are left with the feeling that the chanting about gay rights is a little too much overkill. Sometimes it feels as though she is trying too hard to ensure that those in the audience who are gay know that she loves them. Also when you listen to her album Born This Way, the running theme of gay rights throughout it is incredibly obvious, so much so that it starts to annoy you. It has to be said that the title song of the album was a brilliant way to gain exposure across the world for gay rights (I know it advocated rights and equality for everyone but the message for the LGBT community was much stronger), but also a great way to guarantee gay men and women would buy the single and the album and that it would be played as a gay anthem for years to come.

Now I do not want this to sound like I am ripping into Lady Gaga, after all she wouldn’t be the first star to have a large gay following, although she seems to be one of the first to specifically target them. That said her predecessor Madonna did this but in a much subtler way.

‘Vogue’ was a massive hit worldwide back in 1990 and it is well known now that voguing was very popular on the New York gay scene. Madonna helped bring this facet of gay subculture into the mainstream. However, back then it would have been much harder to publicly back LGBT people through song in the way Gaga has today due to widespread homophobia, the legacy of the HIV/AIDS epidemic of the 80s and the fact that as a community, equality was still a long way away in many more countries than it is today.

So when you look at it that way pandering to a gay audience has been going on for some time, whether it has been obvious or not. Rewind to the 50s and 60s when the biggest gay icon of them all Judy Garland was selling out concerts all across the world that were known to be frequented quite prominently by gay men. However, back then there was no marketing or pandering to gays and as Judy quipped when asked about her gay following, “I couldn’t care less. I sing to people.“ I’m quite sure that if being gay wasn’t the crime it was back then, some marketing savvy individual would have had her shouting out for gay rights across the globe.

So maybe it’s not the stars, maybe it is the marketing companies and their strategic soapboxing of stars that grinds my gears. By advocating a certain fight for equality they tap into a lucrative market in an attempt to exploit it for all they can. After all, stars such as Madonna and Lady Gaga just want to sing, entertain, love their fans (so they say) and be appreciated. As most people know, companies involved in marketing, advertising and PR are out for one thing and one thing only: Money.

So yes maybe stars are pandering to the capital of the pink pound, but is it because the teams behind them are exploiting them, and in turn exploit the pockets of fans across the world? I’ll let you think about that one.

Review: Keep the Lights On

Originally published on www.biggaypictureshow.com

Keep the Lights On tells the story of a Danish filmmaker, Erik (Thure Lindhardt), who’s working on a new documentary and living in New York City. He enters a loving yet complicated relationship with Paul (Zachary Booth), a struggling drug and sex addict. The film takes a rare and honest look at the complications that impact on most relationships and the negative effects addiction can cause for yourself and a partner, all put together in a way that makes you not think of this as a ‘gay film’.

The film itself is based on the director Ira Sach’s own relationship with literary agent Billy Clegg, who has published a memoir discussing his own past struggles with addiction. Luring you in with a great concept, I got excited by the idea of this film and was very intrigued about how it would tackle the sex addiction aspect, as most gay themed films just tend to focus on muscly model-esque men having sex and getting naked at every given opportunity.

However this film completely avoids that and the sex scenes are both relevant to what’s happening and actually drive the plot along, and in one case shows us that sex isn’t exactly how it looks in porn or Hollywood. So a big thumbs up has to be given to them for not falling into the littered realm of cliché and mind numbing sex scenes.

The way the film is shot is also very good, as it has an almost vintage, gritty realist look to it, and for an independent film I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t look like someone had just filmed something in their back garden with a home video camera, which is often the case. In fact the film as a whole looks like Transamerica in terms of the way it was shot. The music used, when coupled with the imagery, is excellent as it really helps set the scenes and allows you to know if you’re in for a heavy moment or not.

This being said, I wasn’t completely satisfied when it came to watching this film. What Keep The Lights On lacks is perhaps the most important part – the ability to get the viewer engrossed and concerned about what they are watching. As the film progressed I realised that I had little concern for the characters, which mainly stemmed from the slow moving plot.

Also I felt that if someone watched this film who hadn’t read up on it beforehand and knew what it was about, then this slow burning plot would definitely confuse them and leave them wondering what the hell was going on. However, despite not feeling for the characters, the two lead actors give quite gritty and realistic performances as lovers, so hats off to that.

Keep The Lights On has so much going for it in its premise and the music, and acting and shooting is all great. However, the slow developing plot that makes you lose interest allows the film to fall flat. They could have done so much more with this film, but they just missed the mark. But credit to them for not turning it into a gay sex and sausagefest.

Review - Elliot Loves

Originally posted on www.biggaypictureshow.com

Elliot Loves explores the turbulent love life of Elliot throughout two pivotal parts of his life, as an inquisitive 10-year-old dealing with his loving yet seemingly unhappy mother and as a naive 21-year-old looking for love in all the wrong places in New York.

The initial concept of the film intrigued me I must admit, especially as I was wondering how they would mirror the two separate parts of his life. The way it was executed by cutting segments into what appeared to be chapters and by mirroring similar and important parts of his life as a child and young adult were done effectively and allow the audience to see how the character was the way he is.

The character of Elliot himself is a very intriguing one, as we have all either been in his position or know a friend that has been there. By this I mean an extremely naïve young person looking for love in all the wrong places before they finally realise you don’t find love, love finds you.

The film is funny in parts, and bittersweet and sad in others, but the scenes in the past have to be given credit as the better parts of the film. This is mainly due to the acting from Quentin Araujo as the young Elliot and Elena Goode as his mother, as they make you laugh and feel sympathy for the characters. These are without a doubt the stand out performances of the film.

Other good points of the film include the way it was shot, as it is softly focused and looks romantic in many key parts. The music also adds to the emotions of the film. One of my personal favourite parts is the animation scene, which allows them to do things they wouldn’t have otherwise been able to and it breaks the film up a bit.

However it isn’t all good, and unfortunately the bad definitely outweighs them. At the very beginning of the film I initially thought, “What the hell is this?” as it starts off a bit hammy. Even though it gets better, the present day scenes always fall into the hammy, trying too hard to be funny category, and as we all know, when you try too hard it just isn’t funny. Much of the dialogue and scenes could have been cut or shortened, as a few parts feel like they’ve been on for around 20 minutes, despite actually only being on for about five.

One major problem I had with the film is how it tries to flit between being a comedy and being a tragedy. This almost made me lose focus and interest many times. If they had made it a complete tragedy about someone looking for love and failing, or made it a comedic take on this the entire way through the film, it would have worked a lot better.

The film is ok in parts but the bad just outweighs the good. If it had been executed a little better and stuck to one theme then it would have worked a lot better.

Icons: Harvey Milk

Following from my last we remember piece about the film Milk, I thought it was only right that the next Icons piece should look at the man who inspired the film, Harvey Milk.

Milk is one of the pioneers for gay men and women in politics after he became the first openly gay man to be elected into public office in California. After leading a very interesting, successful and complicated life over his 48 years Milk was sadly shot dead in 1978. But what we have to remember is what this man did for us and how he gave gay people a voice in one of the most important institutions in the world, politics.

Milk didn’t actually become involved in the world of politics until he was in his 40s after experiencing much of the gay counter culture of the 1960s and very early 1970s, and had previously been quiet about his homosexuality. But when he did get involved he stood up what he believed in, wasn’t afraid to let his voice be heard or his sexuality known as he helped pave the way for many gay men to make their ways in the world.

After being born in Woodmere, New York, Milk majored in mathematics at the New York State College for Teachers before beginning a career in the Navy, where he rose to the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade. From the mid 1950s up until the late 1960s Milk embarked on several failed relationships with a number of men and worked a number of different jobs such as a teacher and a researcher, before finally relocating to San Francisco in the late 1960s with his then partner. After the relationship broke up, Milk drifted from different places such as New York and Texas before finally moving back to San Francisco with his then partner Scott Smith, where they opened a camera store. Then the politics began.

Milk’s political career began in 1973 when he became enraged after a state bureaucrat attempted to make him pay a $100 deposit against state sales tax, then again over government priorities. Milk soon began his attempt to run for city supervisor. After coming 10^th out of 32 candidates in 1973, Milk sadly failed to be elected but did not let this deter him. After gaining the nickname The Mayor of Castro Street because of his tireless campaigning to make things better, he finally won the election in 1977 against 16 other candidates with 30% of the votes making him the first openly gay man in the United Stats to win an election for public office and cementing himself firmly into the history books.

Sadly 10 months after being elected Milk was shot and killed by Dan White, in what is probably one of the saddest moments for gay people in politics. This assassination, which saw the killer walk free sparked the White Night riots, showing just how loved and influential this man was. His drive and determination have made sure that Harvey Milk’s name has lived on for the past thirty years allowing generation after generation to learn about what a great man he was and what he did for gay people around the world. His final campaign manager Anne Kroenber said of him, "What set Harvey apart from you or me was that he was a visionary. He imagined a righteous world inside his head and then he set about to create it for real, for all of us.”

And that is exactly why he is a true gay icon.

The Importance of Gay Marriage

Originally posted on www.twomenonacake.com

Gay marriage is a hot topic everywhere you go, over the last few years it has been one of the biggest things people within the gay community have been discussing and one of the biggest subjects discussed outside of the gay community as well.

A few years ago I was one of the number of people who didn’t really care about the prospect of gay marriage, because as I’ve already mentioned before I found it to be an outdated institution and always believed in the thought that you don’t need a piece of paper to show your love for someone.

But as I’ve got older I’ve come to realise that gay marriage is so much more than just a piece of paper, it is about a human right, a given right to prove your love and commitment for someone, all in all it is about equality and that is one of the biggest things that not just the gay community but people from all over the world have strived for, day after day for the best part of the last 100 years.

I mean if people today considered not giving women a vote or not allowing someone of different racial background to sit next to a white person on a bus it would be considered an outrage. So why is there still this huge negativity thrust towards two people of the same sex to get married?

You only have to look at the California and Proposition 8 to realise just how bad things can get when it comes to gay marriage, what gives these people the right to tell two people they cant cement their love like any other person with marriage? The answer to this is nothing, nothing gives them the right, it is your right as a human being to be allowed to get married to who ever you want and when.

Gay marriage is also good for the economy, you only have to look at New York where gay marriage has recently been legalised, because of this the city is expected to see around 63,000 people get married and generate over $100 million for the economy. See our money is just as good as any one else’s.

As a young person who recently got engaged I am lucky that I live in the United Kingdom where there hasn’t been the fuss over two men getting married like there has been in certain states in America, but even then we aren’t totally equal as we can only enter into a civil partnership, but it is a start, who would have thought you would even be able to do that back in 1960 when being gay was still illegal.

It may seem like full gay marriage may take a while before it is completely legalised but if you stand up for your right to love and your right to marry the person you love then it will happen, because at the end of the day equality is important and that makes gay marriage hugely important to everyone in our community.