In the beginning God created Adam and
Eve. But Eve was bad, and they were banished from God's garden. God
then made Adam and Steve. And they were good. Looking into the
garden, Eve wrote the Breeder's Informational Book of Living Examples
(BIBLE) so future generations would hate the gays.
That's the start of Adam &
Steve: Just the Way God Made 'Em, an off-Broadway musical
starring Paul (as Adam) and Eddie (as Steve) in co-directors Casper
Andreas' and Fred Caruso's The Big Gay Musical. Yes, the
movie is a musical within a musical.
At the start of the film, the stage
production of Adam & Steve is in previews and the movie
ends as the curtain drops on opening night. In between those hectic
days, our homo heroes belt out plenty of show tunes – on and off
the stage.
Gay Musical is campy gay music,
but Andreas and Caruso save most of the fluff for the stage. More
powerful performances are tucked in between the folds of the stage
musical. And it's the real lives of the actors that make the movie
worth watching.
After heartbreak, Paul (played by
Daniel Robinson) decides to give up dating for more immediate
pursuits. He announces his change of heart in typical campy fashion:
a show tune about being a slut.
“To hell with romance, just drop your
pants,” Paul sings as he caresses the microphone at Mostly
Sondheim, an amateur program of show tunes he co-hosts at a local
piano bar. “You be the grill, baby, I'll be the meat. You don't
have to be all that buff or a jock boy. Let's cut to the chase,
let's see your cock boy. I want to be a slut.”
Meanwhile, Eddie (played by Joey
Dudding) is haunted by the thought of coming out to his
Bible-thumping parents. Adam & Steve is his first
starring role and his proud parents are on their way to see the sassy
musical numbers that include bikini clad, tap dancing gay angels.
The musical stage productions set a new
bar for camp. One over-the-top example would be the Foundation
Against Gay Society (FAGS) retreat number. It includes a hunky camp
counselor dressed in khaki shorts and a tight pink t-shirt singing,
“Here at FAGS camp we're on our knees, but it's just to pray.
We're gonna learn to be rugged
and butch, so when we pray to Jesus we can say: I'm going to go
straight … to heaven. I'm never gonna be gay, be gay again.”
But when the pink glitter gloss of Gay
Musical is washed away, the film is ultimately a sticky sweet
love story.
As Paul cruises Manhunt for action, he
dismisses the casual, on the street flirtations of a handsome man.
But love catches up to Paul one night as his suitor takes to the
piano: “There are forces at work that we don't understand, but
they're bringing us closer as if it were planned. If someone wiser
knows we would be good together, it's not a place to ask why. And I
think we should give it a try.”
As its title suggests, Gay Musical
is pretty gay, campy and totally queer-sided. But for the film's
target audience, that's something they're sure to cheer.
The
Big Gay Musical arrives on
DVD April 6.