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Song of Herself

Theatre Group re-emerges with a drag queen musical.

A A A Comments By Naomi Zeveloff Thursday, Jan 18 2007

A good torch song should make your heart weep. Think a glittery-dressed woman lounging on top of a piano, crooning about lost love. Now envision that songstress as a gay Jewish drag queen in 1970s New York. Although the medium may be different, the message within the song is the same. The 1981 musical Torch Song Trilogy chronicles the life of that drag queen, a man named Arnold who longs for love and family. But it's not all weepy: Arnold uses comedy to navigate his heartbreak. Take the scene when he finds out that his mother already knows that he has adopted a gay son.

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"Did you say 'Oops?'" he asks his boyfriend. "'Oops' is when you fall down an elevator shaft. 'Oops' is when you skinny-dip in a school of piranha…. No, Ed, this was no 'Oops.' This was an 'AAAAAARRRGGHHH!'"

"He disguises his emotions in humor that everyone can relate to, gay or straight," says Shelly Bordas, production coordinator for the Theatre Group, which is putting on Torch Song Trilogy through early October. It's a tactic that the company itself is familiar with: Theatre Group recently relocated from its South Broadway mainstay to the Phoenix Theatre, at 1124 Santa Fe Drive, after it could no longer afford the rent, and chose Torch Song Trilogy, in part, to re-energize.

"We had to come out with a big name to bring us back to life," says Bordas. Share in the renewal at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through October 6, with an additional performance on Monday, September 17. Call 303-777-3292 or go to www.theatregroup.org for more.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 7:30 p.m.; Mon., Sept. 17, 7:30 p.m. Starts: Aug. 24. Continues through Oct. 6, 2007

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