michael musto

The most acclaimed play of the Broadway season is David Adjmi’s Stereophonic, about a harmonizing 1970s rock group putting together an album while navigating their internal frustrations, rivalries, and affections.

A patchwork of pure beauty, the play zeroes in on the minutiae involved in a bunch of potential superstars getting together to do a job that may be bigger than all of them.

I met Adjmi at the New Dramatists lunch at the Marriott Marquis honoring Michael Greif (the very busy Rent and Dear Evan Hansen director who this season alone had his name on Hell’s Kitchen, The Notebook and Days of Wine and Roses). I asked the playwright—a supernova himself–how he’s holding up, what with all the figurative bouquets he’s had to catch with his teeth lately.

“I’m intimidated by everything,” Adjmi admitted. “This has been very overwhelming. It’s insane. I’m disconnected all the time.” So, wait–there’s no joy in having written the most lauded play of the year? “I feel joy,” he said, “but it’s more cerebral. It’s jolt after jolt and I can’t tell trauma vs success. I’m trying to find my center all the time. You have to get outfit after outfit and go to all these things. I haven’t had this many outfits since I was 15 at Yeshiva and had to have all these cool outfits.” I guess these are problems I will never have, lol.

Would he maybe next consider writing a play about the making of Illinoise, the 2005 Sufjan Stevens album that’s the basis of Stevens’ current Broadway hit? “I would love to,” he gushed. “I love that music.”

Another plus might be that, unlike Stereophonic, Illinoise has a gay story at its center. Does the openly gay Adjmi tend to write about queer issues at all? He replied that there’s no specific subject matter tying together his writings. “My work is heterogeneous. Diverse!” he crowed. Well, with a record-breaking 13 Tony nominations for Stereophonic, he should probably just keep buying outfits.

A hard habit to break

Also going through stuff, the equally admired Amy Ryan was there, having been Tony nominated for stepping into the nun’s habit in Doubt when Tyne Daly got sick and had to drop out. “It was truly terrifying,” Ryan told me, “but it soon morphed into pure joy. I was reminded of how much I love doing theater.” So she literally got a call out of the blue? “Yes,” she said. “Scott [director Scott Ellis] called, saying, ‘What are you doing next week, honey?’ ” Ah, how we long to be terrified by such a call.

I couldn’t leave without saying “hi” to Sarah Paulson, Tony nominated in the same category (Best Performance By An Actress In a Leading Role In A Play) for the contentious family drama Appropriate. Paulson had done a podcast revealing that in 2013, when she was in a revival of Lanford Wilson’s play Talley’s Folley, Trish Hawkins—who played the same part in the original production—came to see her and later sent her six pages of notes about how to play the part more like she had!

“I have six more pages of notes from Trish Hawkins,” I joked to Paulson at the New Dramatists event. “It really happened to me,” she said, intently. “Well, it was mean,” I ventured, sobering up. “I’m glad you spoke out about it.” “She made her bed,” said the American Horror Story diva, eyes burning. “F*** her!” I’d rather not. I left Paulson with the news that I‘d seen the original Talley’s Folly and ironically, Hawkins was the weak link. She shouldn’t be giving anyone else notes.

And speaking of the pesky phenomenon of peons offering their unwanted two cents, I thanked Back to the Future star Casey Likes for having costar Roger Bart’s back when a woman on X went all nasty about Bart having been Tony nominated for his performance. Again: F*** her!!!

Broadway rhythm’s got me, everybody dance!

More nominees, more drama. The reception at Bond’s 45 for the Chita Rivera Awards nominees (for dance) was bittersweet because they were the first such event without the legendary Chita. But the spirit was there—and so were her daughter, Lisa Mordente, and everyone’s favorite Peter Pan, Sandy Duncan.

Intoxicated by all the hot dancers in the room, I made a fool of myself telling Illinoise’s Brandt Martinez that he should be more confident in his curtain call because he deserves bigger applause (Relax; I didn’t send him six pages of notes) and gushing over Antoine Boissereau—the horse in Water For Elephants—“You were great! You were better than the elephant!”

Camille A. Brown (nominee for choreographing Hell’s Kitchen, the Alicia Keys musical) told me that her mother is the one who inspired her to love musical theater. And as I scarfed up the sumptuous veggie buffet, I started sensing that I was the real elephant in need of water.

Get Him!

As for the actual Hell’s Kitchen: Though one of the kazillion gay bars in that gayborhood (Frankie’s Pub) closed after a short time, the space has now reopened as It’s Him, a gay social club “based on a true story of happiness, heartache and healing”. This is the way it’s been in HK for years; a gay bar shuts down, but then it comes back as a different gay bar, so the closure didn’t really count. It’s sort of like those old body switching movies from the ‘80s.

It’s Him has a dress code, which forbids sagging pants, workout attire, flip-flops or baseball caps (though I miraculously got in with surgical shoes). T-shirts are allowed, but they must be “fashionable” and preferably tucked in. And the place itself? On opening night, it looked sleek, with a huge mirror and LED strip lights behind the bar, creating an effect reminiscent of 1970s hustler boites. That was all too perfect since—once you got past the tuxedoed doorman–the crowd seemed right out of an International Male catalog.

Owner Chris Kelly—who was involved with the West Hollywood bar the Factory until 2018—told me It’s Him has no admission fee, but he wants to evolve the place into a “hybrid membership club.” Seating had been moved away for the night to make room for the bar crowd, but normally, you can sit and order $29 burgers and other items. 

Before anyone pointed at me and murmured, “Eww. It’s HIM,” I headed for the exit, but not until asking Kelly what the “heartache” backstory was all about. “My ex,” he said, plainly. “He dumped you?” I wondered. “He wanted an open relationship, and I didn’t want that,” said Kelly. “So sorry,” I offered. “How long were you together?” “Six months,” he replied, looking pained. 

I burst out laughing, then realized that IS a long time in gay years. Cheers to the healing!

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