My Top Three This Week - PRIDE Edition
Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. It is that time of year again. Pride season. And this special edition will highlight some of my favorites for 2019. Happy Pride everyone! Remember that it is not all rainbows and glitter. Many of us have lived through horrific decimation of our gay logical families and understand that everything we have been given can be taken away at any time. So as you are out there celebrating take a moment of those that are no longer with us.
1) Armistead' Maupin's Tales of the City screening on Netflix is a beautiful continuation of a most beloved series of books (and a personal favorite of mine) and the mini series that started it all on PBS. Mary Ann Singleton ( national treasure Laura Linney) is back at Barbary Lane for the 90th birthday celebration of Anna Madrigal (Olympia Dukakis). New characters are introduced and our favorites are brought back as Michael Mouse and Mary Ann and Brian and Shawna try to reconnect. And of course there is a mystery (there is always something mysterious surrounding Anna Madrigal! ) One of the most interesting is how Anna arrived at Barbary Lane and the beginnings of the first trans woman introduced into main stream tv.The San Francisco we see at that time was not an accepting place for trans folks and the Compton's Cafeteria Riot that preceded Stonewall by three years. Ellen Page as Shawna Hawkins is fantastic and Murray Bartlett as the newest incarnation of Michael seems to be the perfect fit. Watch them all and then watch this to see the perfect Tales of the City.
2) Pose on FX should be considered the biggest jewel in Ryan Murphy's crown. This is the must see series for every community. Now in its second season it still soars when it portrays the lives and loves of the beautiful community in the underground balls in New York's bars. The separate houses vie for trophies for realness and all the categories of the lives they are unable to live out in the real world. Season two brings world of balls to a somewhat mainstream society via Madonna's smash hit Vogue. Embraced by everyone in straight bars and gay bars alike , Madonna owned it and it opened up doors for this dance sensation. The cast ( Billy Porter, MJ Rodriquez, Dominique Jackson, Indya Moore and a host of others are the heart and soul of this show. The real surprise should be no surprise is that Sandra Bernhard is stealing scenes as Nurse Judy. Category Is : Family Realness.
3) Wig on HBO is the perfect documentary for the summer of a 50th anniversary of Pride. Based on the annual celebration of Wigstock which ran for 20 years. The legendary Lady Bunny started it all with a friend in 1984 and it ran for years. Look for all the footage of a very young Rupaul and a baby faced Bunny. It is a great snapshot of wonderful drag community and New York. And Bunny is bringing it back for Wigstock 2.0 with a lot of the contemporary queens out today who have brought life into the New York scene . Lady Bunny has always been the heart of Wigstock and of New York in my opinion. I was lucky enough to dance with her when she deejayed at the Monster for Tea Dance recently. Watch closely and you sill see Varla Jean, Bianca Del Rio and all of your favs.
Pride Bonus: Euphoria on HBO is a darkly twisted story of a young Rue Bennett (Zendaya ) fresh out of rehab who befriends a young trans girl (Hunter Shafer) as they both grapple with their demons and the real hell of high school. The cast is all excellent including a young Maude Apatow, Eric Dane, Jacob Elordi and Angus Cloud. It ffeels like a darker more twisted 13 Reasons Why without a morality side tale. The characters just are they are with no apologies. It is hard to watch sometimes and hard to turn away.
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