Stonewall

Originally published in ThreeWeeks.

This glitter-drenched production recalls the events that led to a 1969 raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York; a raid which turned into a riot, then days of riots, and then the first Pride parade. It's no Andrew Lloyd Webber - the sixties girl group soundtrack is lip synched, and the dance sequences wouldn't hold up on Broadway. But the punchlines hit home, the costumes are fabulous, and all the queens (especially Rikki Beadle-Blair, also writer and director) just ooze charisma. Blair's script juxtaposes the integrationist gay rights groups of the time with the gutsy street kids and sex workers who actually pulled off Stonewall. But best of all, this sophistication in the script didn't keep the audience from smiling, laughing, and, by the end, standing to cheer.

Seeing Rikki Beadle-Blair reminded me of his short-lived Channel 4 series, Metrosexuality, which I love love love. We like to show this series on special occasions at the anti-homophobia peer education program I used to work with in Toronto. It wish it was as well-known as Queer as Folk, because it does everything better.

Also check out Cate's post about going to see Stonewall - we went together, and it was a bit weirder than I had room to say in the review. Several groups walked out in apparent disgust...

Stonewall is playing at the Pleasance Courtyard every night at 5:50 until 17 August. Buy tickets here.