Annoyed with Frustrated Attachments

I'm watching CNN right now, and Anderson Cooper is discussing Ted Haggard's interview on Larry King.

Larry has so far asked such questions as:
Do you think this would have been different if Mike Jones had been Michelle Jones?
Do you consider yourself gay? Bi?

Haggard has said he's been to a couple counselors, who have defined his condition as Heterosexual with Homosexual Attachments (attachments? Like on a vacuum cleaner?)
He made the point that when a gay man has an affair with a woman, people don't demand that he admit he is heterosexual.

Am I the only one who thinks these are the wrong questions???

Who cares what Haggard calls himself? He has admitted that he doesn't feel like he fits in any of those boxes.
And, I'm sorry, but I can scarcely recall a gay man having an affair with a woman. Is Haggard really the victim here? Poor Ted, being asked to "come out."

To me, the question that needs to be asked is what kind of religion/society creates an environment that forces individuals to repress their sexual identities. Haggard is (was?) an outspoken homophobe, which clearly masked his true struggle. What was it that made it a struggle?

It actually pains me to watch him have to answer these questions and face these accusations, and I can only imagine what it must be to do this all so publicly. But this isn't helping anyone. We're only telling young boys and girls, who are experiencing the same things, that if you act on them, you're bad. Why aren't we telling them that if you REPRESS them, that is dangerous?

Larry King can be a moron sometimes, but Anderson Cooper...I would've expected more.

It's a New Dawn, It's a New Day, It's a New Life For Me...

And I'm feelin' good.

The Closer

A lot people that I grew up with will remain fairly unaffected by the current recession. I tease people saying that I will be unaffected, as well - "I was poor before, I'm poor now. What's the difference?"

The difference is this.

Today, Sunday January 4th, marks the beginning of a slew of closes on Broadway. More shows closing in one month than ever before in Broadway History.

Yesterday, I saw two of Broadway's strongest shows: All My Sons, and a rapturous Gypsy, starring the truly incomparable Patti LuPone. Both houses were packed full. I had to stand for All My Sons. Both of them close within the month.

The Tony Award for Best Musical is currently represented by 7 different shows, still playing. 4 of them - Hairpsray, Avenue Q, Spamalot, and Spring Awakening - will all close.

The Tony Award winner for best play and the Pulitzer Prize winner in 2008, August:Osage County - the most exciting new American drama Broadway has seen in a decade - will close.

As well as 13, The 39 Steps, Boeing, Boeing (Tony Winner for best play revival 2008), Dividing the Estate, Grease, Young Frankenstein, and Equus.

Compound that with two christmas shows that were always due to close (White Christmas, and Slava's Snowshow) and you've just closed 16 shows! With not so many left. Think of how many actors will be unemployed tomorrow.

Dark days lie ahead, and I don't just mean the marquis.

Happy New Year

So it's here, and for some reason I have a feeling that 2009 is going to be a great year.

Not for you.
For me.
For all I know, this could be the worst year ever for you. I'm sorry about that. But that's just how these things fall.

First of all, in about two weeks, we're going to finally have a new president. That's very exciting.
Second of all, in about three weeks, my musical DARLING will premiere as a reading as Pace University in Manhattan - where I currently am.

Beyond that I got nothing. Nothing, but a good feeling.

I love New York a lot. Everytime I walk out of my friends' upper-west side apartment, I get a little jolt of excitement. I'm in New f*cking York!

I haven't done much, yet. I've been swamped in re-writes ever since I got here. But I finished those last night and I think tonight I'll finally start seeing some Broadway shows.

Lots of things are closing on Broadway, which I know scares some. But I'm a writer. And now there are a ton of dark theatres that need really great shows to premiere. Hellloooooo!

I think I'll go see The 39 Steps tonight. That will be the beginning of me spending lots and lots of money that I don't have. Ah, well. Write offs!