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Circuit DJ Roland Belmares& DJ of the Year Tim Pflueger

Oz is standing room only for theBabylon Tour

RKM brings down the house at Oz

Tyra Van Ryan

Fly Fashion Glamour’s Mercedes EllisLoreal, Vivica Devereaux

& Kabrina Watson

big easypaparazzi

Todd & Mike

Tommy, Bianca & Carl

Marsha & Bianca

Strip-off Winner Mike & Bianca

Woogie, Bianca & Allen

Bianca & DJ of the Year Tim

Mike, Bianca & Sebastian

Bartenders Allen & Karbin

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the cream until stiff and spread gener-ously between layers, on top and on thesides of the cake. Sprinkle chopped hazel-nuts on top for decoration.

KALACS(CINNAMON SWIRL BREAD)

4 cups all-purpose flour¼ cup white sugar1 teaspoon salt1 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast1 egg¼ cup melted butter1 ¼ warm water1 teaspoon vanilla extractMelted butter for brushing1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/3 cup brown sugarPlace four, white sugar, salt, and yeast

into the bowl of a stand mixer. In a separatebowl whisk together egg, melted butter,warm milk and vanilla: pour into the flourmixture. Using a dough hook attachment,mix on low until flour is moistened and adough forms. Increase speed to medium,and continue kneading until smooth andelastic, 5 minutes. Place dough in agreased bowl, cover, and allow to rise in awarm place until doubled in bulk, about 1½ hours. Punch dough down, turn out ontoa floured surface, and divide into two equalpieces. Roll each piece out into a 1/3 inchrectangle. Brush each with melted butter.Mix together in a small bowl the cinnamonand brown sugar, then sprinkle evenlyover the two rectangles. Roll each firmlyinto a log. Place in separated greasedglass loaf pan. Cover and allow to rise ina warm place until doubled, about forty-five minutes. Preheat oven to 350 de-grees. Brush tops with melted butter andbake in preheated oven until golden brown,about thirty minutes.

Happy eating, you can contact me atthis paper or via e-mail [email protected].

cookin' w/auntie dee ...from M-20

trodding the boards

by Brian Sands E-mail: [email protected]

The Titanic Adventures ofthe Love Boat Poseidon!at One Eyed Jacks

Ahoy theater mavens, dragafficionados and any seamenin the neighborhood, The Ti-

tanic Adventures of the Love BoatPoseidon! has pulled into One Eyed Jacks.Anyone wanting a soakin’ good timeoughta sail over there before they pulloutta port on August 4th.

For their newest production, RunningWith Scissors, that subversively wackygroup, has conflated three of our favoritewater borne tales. Thus Captain MerrillStubing, Isaac your Bartender, and Julieyour Cruise Director welcome on board agaggle of relationship-challengedcouples some of whom bear an eerieresemblance to passengers who hadcruised on the S.S. Poseidon and S.S.Titanic.

As often happens with RWS extrava-ganzas, trying to describe it would not do

the zaniness justice. And if you think I’msaying that because I was laughing toohard to take copious notes about the plot,you’re right.

But trust me, if you love terribly won-derful puns about exploring propellershafts and people going overboard; luxu-riate in double-entendres dripping frompeople’s lips (Remember that necklacefrom Titanic? Here it’s a pearl one); enjoythe delicacy of lines like “I really must goand powder my va-j-j” and the descriptiveallure of “She smelled like Janis Joplinafter the Boston marathon.”; and don’tmind a little Irish step-dancing thrown in,TTAotLBP! is for you.

Were we in theater obsessed NewYork, the blogosphere would probably befuriously debating which was the show’sbigger highlight—the underwater discoballet or the Charo/Ethel Merman duet,Rock the Boat. Doesn’t matter really, ei-ther one is worth the price of admission.

Among the cast of castaways, BrianPeterson adds another shimmering por-trait (or two) to his already overstuffedgallery. His Unsinkable Molly Brownsteinis no mere reprise of his Gladys Finkelsteinfrom Grenadine McGunkle. Nor is she aShelly Winters impersonation. Rather,Peterson brings this former championswimmer (natch) to life as a demuremiddle-aged lesbian who’s confusedlyaroused when Capt. Stubing puts themoves on her in front of her partner. Fewactors, male or female, can expressthrough their eyes alone a combination ofsexual longing and modest shame asexquisitely as Peterson can. And he makesa pretty amazing Charo, too!

Looking like Martina Navratilova, BradCaldwell is letter perfect as Molly’s astrin-gent lifepartner, Mandy Brownstein, who’swilling to go down on the ship to keep herpartner happy.

If Bob Edes, Jr., displays a more de-bauched side to Stubing than GavinMacLeod ever did, he is truly remarkableas he metamorphoses into Vicki, theCaptain’s niece. It’s not just the innocent-seeming blonde wig and pink dress (withmatching panties) that make us believethat a middle-aged man with a hairy chestis a 15 year old girl but Edes’ artistry, as headjusts voice and posture, that convinces

us we’re seeing a teenager whose hor-mones are exploding.

Dorian Rush makes a deliciouslynaughty and nice Kate Winslet-inspiredRose, and puts her bodacious pipes tooutstanding use as Miss Merman. LisaPicone neither over- nor underdoes it asJulie, who likes to powder her nose...a

LOT if you catch mydrift. Like Rush’spipes, she puts herbodacious ta-ta’s toequally outstandinguse. Travis Acosta,Jack Long and LizZibilich all add to thefun.

I’m not sure theRWS powers-that-be have yet to figureout fully what to dowith Donald Lewis,Jr., the troupe’s soleperson of color. Heamuses as glad-handing Isaac andgets in a killer IsaacHayes impression.But it’s not till the end

that his Shakespearean chops kick in andwe get to see a measure of Lewis’ rangeas the Juilliard-trained-minority-actor-who-only-gets-to-play-criminals-side-kicks-and-servants (yeah, it’s a cliche butstill, sadly, a too true one); this could’vebeen a hilarious running joke throughoutthe evening.

Similarly, I wish RWS had mined theirprimary material for even more humor; at60 fast-moving minutes TTAotLBP!could’ve kept cruising along for a another30 or so. Yet if I missed the old lady fromTitanic or Hackman & Borgnine from ThePoseidon Adventure, TTAotLBP! was stilla tsunami of fun.

Chicago at Tulane’s SummerLyric Theatre

Towards the end of Chicago,one of the law-breaking char-acters says she “prayed to God

for forgiveness.” In light of certain recentevents involving a certain Senator, Chi-cago may have debuted 32 years ago andbe based on an 80 year old play but itremains steadfastly au courrant.

Though overshadowed initially by AChorus Line, thanks to the long-runningNew York revival and Oscar-winning film,John Kander & Fred Ebb’s scathing vaude-ville about greed, lust and grabbing head-lines has endured to join the ranks ofcanonic Broadway musicals.

And why not? Every song in its scoreis a hummable hit with lyrics to die for. Thebook by Ebb and Bob Fosse, pepperedwith lines about flash in the pan, phonycelebrities and averring “not that the truthreally matters”, could have been writtenyesterday and keeps the entertainmentbubbling along.

It’s hard to fail with material like thisand director/choreographer Diane Laladelivered the goods with flair and the nec-essary snap, crackle & pop. That said,Lala along with set designer David Rapheland costume designer Julie Winn stuck tothe conceptual and stylistic template laiddown by Fosse, which is fine, but by nowmightn’t we be ready to take a chance ona different approach?

Such a different take was provided byElizabeth Argus who gave us a Roxie Hart

slightly tougher than Gwen Verdon’s orRenée Zellweger’s but still oh-so-new tothe spotlight and loving every minute of it.Like a gold medal Olympic gymnast, fig-ure skater or diver, Argus made her turnseem so easy and natural and, in sodoing, brilliantly made Roxie her own.Though I’ve not seen all of Argus’ majorperformances, I’ve come to believe thatshe can do anything...perfectly.

With the operatically trained JamesC. Martin as Roxie’s defender Billy Flynn,it was a treat to hear the role sung with aset of pipes worthy of La Scala. As demon-strated in last year’s Pippin, Martin’sstrengths lie more in his vocal abilitiesthan in his acting. Yet Chicago’s money-loving lead lawyer lies right within hisemotional palette and he made as brash,obnoxious and charming a Flynn as onecould ask for.

As Roxie’s woebegone husband,Ricky Graham gave one of the best acted,genuinely touching Amos’s I’ve seen.Charlotte Lang, sans make-up and in astandard prison grey outfit, made Matron“Mama” Morton one tough cookie whoseemed to have an eye for the girls; as withMartin, her trained voice added a touch ofsophistication to Morton’s usual menaceand guile. And even knowing the denoue-ment of sob sister Mary Sunshine’s shtikdidn’t lessen the enjoyment to be hadfrom D. Bellais’ great portrayal of her.

Unfortunately, Leslie Castay is tem-peramentally unsuited for the toughnessof Roxie’s nemesis-turned-partner VelmaKelly and so threw the first half of the firstact off balance. But once Castay got to thedesperation of I Can’t Do It Alone, shefound her stride and was fine.

Musical director C. Leonard Raybongot the proper razzle dazzle from his bandand the chorus members were all dandy;I just wish such talents as Chase Kamataand Joanna Richardson had had more todo.

With human nature as steady as it is,I suspect 100 years from now Chicago willstill provide as apt a commentary on soci-ety as it does nowadays...and that peoplewill still be enjoying it.

Morning, Noon, & Nightat the Anthony BeanCommunity Theater

Written by Ted Shine, Morn-ing, Noon, & Night is a cu-rious play. Part dramatic,

part comedic, part melodramatic and even-tually a tale that could’ve been told aroundthe campfire, with its uneasy mix of trag-edy and humor, MN&N might best bedescribed as Southern Gothic. After all,what better term fits a scenario that in-volves possible murders, venereal dis-ease, rat poison, a fake leg that needsrepainting and lotsa “Hail Jesus”’s?

Despite feeling as though set in the1960’s, MN&N takes place in asmall1950’s Texas town. Twelve year oldBen Marvin lives with his aunt Ida Ray afterthe death of his parents. Gussie Black, hisbible-thumping paternal grandmother,came to look after her ailing daughter-in-law and stayed on after her passing.

Nerves are becoming frayed in thisunhappy trio. Ben would like his grandmato stop threatening him with the road toHell. Gussie wants her bookish grandsonto become a preacher. Ida Ray wishes

[continued on Main-26]

Brian Peterson & Brad CaldwellTHE TITANIC ADVENTURES OF THE LOVE BOAT POSEIDON!

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