Looking Back at 2011

 I'll be honest: 2011 is not a year that I will be looking back on fondly overall, at least not on a personal level. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't glad to see it coming to an end. Still, like any year there was plenty of good mixed in with the not-so-good.

 For instance, 2011 could be said to be the year of the people, or perhaps of the bottom 99% of them. This was the year of the Arab Spring, with popular uprisings trying- and in many cases succeeding- in sweeping away repressive regimes in the Mid East. In fact, 2011 was the year in which the likes of Osama bin Laden, Muammar Gaddafi, and Kim Jong-il ceased to exist, leaving the world that much better off.

  Here in the United States, we saw the beginnings of the Occupy movement as well as popular uprisings against unpopular measures such as the stripping away of union rights in Ohio and Wisconsin.

  For many, though, 2011 was a year of continued economic hardship. This was driven home for me in a very real way with the bankruptcy of Borders, a company for which I spent the better part of a decade working. The ultimate closure of all Borders and Waldenbooks stores by mid September left most of my former co-workers out of work and they were far from being alone. It also left a gaping hole in the middle of the book world, whatever your opinions on big box stores vs independents.

  The most high profile coming out of the year was Zachary Quinto, star of Heroes and the new Star Trek films. Quinto wasn't alone in coming out, though. This year's list also included actor Sean Maher, CNN anchor Don Lemon and sports figures Jed Hooper, Graeme Obree, Scott Norton, Steven Davies, and David Testo, covering a wide range of sports from professional bowling, rugby, cricket, cycling and American Soccer.

 Actress Evan Rachel Wood came out as bisexual and Geri Jewell, an actress and comedienne with cerebral palsy who back in the early 1980's became the first person with a disability to play a recurring character on a television show (The Facts of Life)  came out in a new memoir.

 This year saw the passing of some true legends from the entertainment world like Elizabeth Taylor, Arthur Laurents, and Sidney Lumet, and those whose lives had a far reaching impact on the world in general, like Vaclav Havel and Steve Jobs.

 In the world of daytime TV, the losses just kept coming. ABC cancelled both All My Children and One Life to Live simultaneously, though the latter won't go off the air until the new year.  For a few months, it looked like the shows had been saved and would make the jump to airing online, but in the end that deal fell through and both shows were left with cliffhanger endings that would never be resolved.

 As far as gay characters on daytime, things are looking up from last year at this time, when the total number of LGBT characters had plummeted to zero. This year we've got an out and proud Sonny Kiriakis and an about to come out Will Horton on Days of Our Lives, so 2012 looks pretty promising in that respect.

 Now, on to my picks for some of my favorite things in 2011.

*Favorite Short Story Collection I read this year:  Ladies and Gentlemen by Adam Ross

*Favorite Novel I read this year:  Started Early, Took My Dog by Kate Atkinson

*Favorite Classic Gay Fiction Book I read this year:  Two People by Donald Windham

*Favorite Modern Gay Fiction Book I read this year:  Two Gentlemen Sharing by William Corlett

*Favorite Non-Fiction (Literary) Book I read this year:  The Yellow-Lighted Bookshop by Lewis Buzbee

*Favorite Non-Fiction (Autobiography) Book I read this year:  Bossypants by Tina Fey

*Favorite Film I saw this year:  X-Men: First Class. I should note that I saw very few films this year overall; in fact, I won't be doing my usual category of Favorite Gay Themed Film because I can't think of a single one that I saw!

*Favorite TV Drama: Once Upon a Time

*Favorite Sitcom:  New Girl, with The Big Bang Theory and Modern Family tied for a very close second place.

*Favorite Supernatural Themed Drama:  Teen Wolf

*Favorite News Program: The Rachel Maddow Show. After moving in March, I discovered that my new cable package offered MSNBC. Rachel's show quickly became my new addiction.

*Favorite Show that Needs Help: Glee. A lot of fans had issues with the show's second season, and I was right there with them. It wasn't until the third season began, though, that I felt Glee was truly in danger of losing what had made it so special to begin with. When Glee is good, it's fantastic, like with the recent episode 'The First Time' and with the scenes of Santana coming out to her grandmother. Things like that keep me watching, but the uneven writing is becoming more and more of a problem. One example is the character of Mercedes who has been completely destroyed by bad writing. How many times is Mercedes going to freak out about Rachel getting all the attention, have her issues seemingly resolved, and then go through it all again five or ten episodes later as if the earlier experience never happened? It makes the character completely unlikeable. With the prospect of losing key cast members after this year when their characters graduate, I'm not sure if Glee will ever get its magic back.

*Favorite Daytime Soap:  One Life to Live remained the best written all year long. With that said, in the final months of 2011, my heart belonged to Days of Our Lives once again.

*Favorite Gay Themed Website of the year: AfterElton.com.

*Favorite Gay Character of the year (Daytime): Since Will Horton has yet to actually come out, there is only one option for this category and that's Days of Our Lives' Sonny Kiriakis.  His introductory storyline was a bit preachy and he hasn't had all that much to do since, but he's attractive, likable, and I'm sure he'll be fantastic when/if he's paired with Will.

*Favorite Gay Character of the year (Primetime): It's a tie! Kurt Hummel and Blaine Anderson, Glee. For all the show's problems, it can't be denied that Kurt and Blaine had a really great year. They shared their first kiss during the season finale last Spring and this fall they lost their virginity together in an episode that juxtaposed their experience with Rachel losing her virginity to Finn. They've even got a potential love triangle brewing with new gay character Sebastian.

 *Hottest Actor (Daytime):  It's a Tie! This year, I've been all about the Chill factor. Chandler Massey and Casey Deidrick (aka Will Horton and Chad DiMera) may never actually be able to play out a Chill love story on the show, but their chemistry is as electric as they are hot.

*Hottest Actor (Primetime): It's so hard to pick just one, as my post about the Men Who Made 2011 should demonstrate. With that said, I'm going to go with Once Upon a Time's Jamie Dornan.

  *Hottest Actor (Film): If I'm going just by films I actually saw this year, one actor who did stand out for me was Lucas Till of X-Men: First Class.

 


If, however, I'm going by film actors in general, I'd have to say that while Chris Evans may be my second favorite Evans brother, he's still one of the hottest men working in film today:

  *Hottest Out Gay Celebrity: I'm going to have to go with the newest member of the club, Zachary Quinto.

Not only is Zachary sexy as hell, but he gets to hang out with some of my other favorite hotties, like Jonathan Groff and Colton Haynes:

 Well, there we have it, 2011 in a nutshell. I hope everyone reading this has a wonderful 2012!

Groff Returns to Glee!

Yesterday I wrote about a bit of casting news that annoyed the hell out of me, but the news I read tonight had very much the opposite effect.

I'm talking, of course, about the report that Jonathan Groff will be returning to his role as Jesse St James on Glee for the final three episodes of the season!

I became a huge fan of Jonathan's during his run on the show last year. He's not only beautiful, a talented actor, and a fantastic signer, he's also openly gay, which makes him even more awesome as far as I'm concerned.

Jonathan spent some of the time since leaving the show starring on stage in Deathtrap in London's West End and while I'm sure he was fantastic in that, I couldn't exactly afford to fly over to the UK to see it, so I'm very happy that I'll be able to see him on my TV screen again.

I wonder if the show will have Rachel break out Carly Simon's 'Jesse' when Mr. St James returns to town? ("Oh mother, say a prayer for me, Jesse's back in town, it won't be easy...") The lyrics seem to work perfectly for the situation.

More to the point, will Jonathan share any screen time with Darren Criss? That much hotness onscreen at one time could be too much to handle, but I'll gladly take the risk!

Thoughts on Glee

With everything that has been going on in my life, I have yet to comment on the second season of Glee other than to note my approval of the two hot guys who joined the cast last fall. I've been meaning to blog on the subject for months and there's no time like the present, right?

To start with, I should say that Chris Colfer has continued to impress the hell out of me. I was practically jumping up and down with joy when he won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in January. I don't think anyone deserved it more than he did and his acceptance speech was the high point of the evening.

I've loved the bullying story arc that is still unresolved. It's an important story and Chris played it beautifully, especially during the scene where Kurt finally confronted his bully Karofsky in the locker room.

I think one of my favorite scenes not only of the year but from any TV show EVER has to be the scene where Kurt's Dad gives him The Talk about sex. This was such a groundbreaking moment, to see a straight father sit down with his gay teenage son and discuss not only safe sex, but the emotional aspects of becoming sexually involved with another person. I honestly never thought I'd see a scene like this on network television. If Glee had ceased to air immediately afterward, it would have earned its place in history just with that scene.

What made this all truly spectacular was Mike O'Malley and Chris Colfer as the father and son in question. They were both pitch perfect as they had the uncomfortable but important conversation, and if it were up to me they would both be showered with every award possible just for this alone.

One of the best things about the new season has been the addition of Blaine Anderson to the cast of characters. Yes, Blaine is played by the incredibly sexy Darren Criss (see above), but that's only one reason to love this character. A far better one is that Criss is a talented actor and singer who has made Blaine truly come alive onscreen.

I could cite many examples of this, but I think the best one actually comes from this past week's episode. The scene I'm talking about is the one in which Blaine is listening to Kurt perform 'Blackbird' and there's no doubt as you're watching that you're seeing him fall in love with his fellow Warbler right before your eyes. Blaine doesn't say a word, but the dawning realization is all right there on his face and in his body language.

I've loved the way in which Kurt & Blaine have become friends (although Kurt was in love from the moment Blaine sang Teenage Dream to him) and how Blaine has tried to be a mentor to Kurt, and I'm excited to see where things go from here, now that they've finally become a couple.
With that said, I'm so ready to see Kurt back at McKinley High! All of the Warbler's performances tend to start sounding the same after awhile, with so little diversity in the singing, and I just miss seeing Kurt interacting with his old friends. I've loved seeing him become closer with Rachel since his transfer to Dalton and I'd like to see how that holds up when they're in the same glee club again.

What about the rest of the show, outside of Kurt and Blaine? Well, I've got to say that I'm incredibly disappointed with the way things were written for Will & Emma. Throwing Carl into the mix and then having Emma marry him so suddenly was not only wildly out of character for her, it also sort of ruined Emma & Will for me.

I liked the addition of Holly Holliday and I have to confess that I've never liked Gwyneth Paltrow more, but I don't see her being a long term character. If she's just in the mix to get Emma and Will back together, as seems likely, I'm less than impressed.

One truly fantastic decision they made this year was the casting of Dot-Marie Jones as Coach Beiste. At first, I thought the new football coach was going to be little more than a stereotype and a joke, but I quickly lost that idea. The writing has given Dot-Marie Jones a chance to shine both as a comic actress and in some surprisingly emotional scenes.

I also very much enjoyed the addition of Chord Overstreet as Sam Evans, though for somewhat different reasons:

Yes, he's fantastic eye candy, but I also loved how secretly dorky Sam was underneath the hot jock exterior. When he spoke Na'vi and did his McConaughey impression, I melted. I was especially excited when I thought that he was coming on to be Kurt's new boyfriend. My disappointment on that front was quickly appeased by the real chemistry that existed between Sam & Quinn, though. I really enjoyed that pairing.

Since then, they haven't seemed to know what to do with Sam. They trashed his relationship with Quinn to do a Quinn & Finn retread (boring!) and then paired him up with Santana, only to have her confess her love for Brittany. There is some truly interesting story to be told with the character of Sam, his insecurity, and his overwhelming need to be popular, but will they tell it?

Don't get me wrong, though, I love the whole Brittany/Santana relationship. It will be interesting to see where that goes. I've also enjoyed the Brittany/Artie match.

I have mixed feelings on the Puck/Lauren pairing. I love Lauren's complete confidence in herself and in her sex appeal, in spite of not looking like what is accepted in our society today as 'sexy', but I just feel like the pairing with Puck is too forced to be believable. They don't quite carry it off, somehow.

Where is Mercedes? Yes, she's physically present and has had a few great songs (I loved the duet of 'Take Me or Leave Me' she did with Rachel!), but she's had no character development whatsoever this season, outside of the tater tot thing. Give her a story already!

I also think they need to be very careful with Sue. She's always been deliciously over the top and I love Jane Lynch, but some of the character's actions this season have been a tad too much, even for Sue. If they made her a complete cartoon, that would be one thing, but they continually ground her with scenes in which we see that she is indeed human. So, why would she not care if she killed Brittany to win a competition, to give one example?

Overall, the show has had some great episodes this season and a few that weren't quite all that they could have been. I hope they'll move away from doing too many more episodes that revolve around the music of just one artist. It worked beautifully in the Madonna episode last year, but... well, let's just say Britney Spears is no Madonna.

Still, at this point I'd take a less than perfect episode of Glee over almost anything else on offer. It continues to be groundbreaking and remains my favorite show.

A New Role for Chenoweth?

I've said many times since the tragic demise of Pushing Daisies that Kristin Chenoweth, whom I practically worship, should be given a starring role in her own TV show. Yes, I know that she did have a short lived sitcom called Kristin that sort of came and went back in the summer of 2001, but that was nearly a decade ago. With her Emmy winning work as Olive on Pushing Daisies and her Emmy nominated recurring role as April Rhodes on Glee, she's more than demonstrated both her comedic abilities and her dramatic talents, not to mention that incredible singing voice.

Well, we may finally be seeing her on our TV screens again on a regular basis. Cheno has landed a lead role in a soapy new pilot from Darren Star, the man who brought us the original versions of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place, as well as Sex and the City (though of course he also brought us such less memorable titles as Central Park West, Miss Match, and Cashmere Mafia).

Kristin's new show would be called Good Christian Bitches, which certainly would rank among the more memorable titles of any new season. It sounds like pure campy fun, I have to say, especially with Kristin on board as what sounds like the villainess of the piece!

Still, I'm not getting my hopes up too high until the pilot is picked up as a series. The last time I was (somewhat) excited about Kristin landing a pilot, it never saw the light of day.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to her return to Glee this Spring as April Rhodes, where she'll be singing an original song that sounds perfectly suited to her character: 'It's 10 AM, I'm Drunk'.

The Men Who Made 2010

For the past two years, I've made year end lists of what I considered to be some of the hottest guys of the year. These weren't necessarily guys who were 'new' to the scene in the entertainment world, but rather guys that had caught my attention for the first time in the past twelve months.

Being the stickler for tradition that I am, I see no reason not to continue this particular one, even if I haven't had any time at all to blog during the holiday season (I've been at the book store for more Christmas seasons that I care to remember, but this was the first year in my new position and it was way more intense and exhausting than I expected it to be).

Anyway, without further ado, here are the men who made 2010 for me:

So far, I've always opened this list with a guy from One Life to Live. In 2008, it was Mark Lawson and last year it was Scott Evans. Now, I haven't followed the stories on One Life to Live since the shameful writing out of Kish back in March, so you'd think that this year would be different.

The truth is, though, that I still record the show on my Tivo every day, simply to ogle the hot guys, and there is one in particular who has caught my fancy this year. His name is Nicolas Robuck and he plays James, one of the very delicious trio known as the Ford brothers.
While all three of the Ford brothers (the other two are played by David Gregory and Lenny Platt) are incredibly sexy, as evidenced above, there is just something about the vulnerability that Nicolas brings to the role of James that makes my heart skip a beat.
Next up is a soap hottie from across the pond. I'm talking, of course, about Danny Miller, the actor who plays gay character Aaron Livesy on the British soap Emmerdale. I was aware of Danny somewhat at this time last year, since his gay storyline was just kicking off, but 2010 was the year in which he not only impressed the hell out of me with his acting talent (seriously, this man can break my heart; I dare you to watch a scene in which the tough, tightly wound Aaron breaks down and not sob right along with him!) but also had me completely falling for him.
The last three guys from my list all came to my attention this year while starring on the same show. You probably won't be at all surprised to hear that the show in question was Glee.

First up, Chord Overstreet. Once upon a time, when I was much younger, I had a major thing for blonds. Almost all of the guys that I had crushes on, both in real life and in the entertainment world, were blond. Nowadays, though, I tend to gravitate towards men with dark hair.

Still, once in awhile a hot blond like Chord comes along and I just can't help lusting after him like it was 1999 all over again! I mean, those lips, that body, that smile! I'll let the evidence speak for itself.
Next up is Mr. Teenage Dream himself, Darren Criss. At this point, I think even people who have never watched Glee know that Darren became an overnight sensation after he debuted on the show with an incredible performance of Katy Perry's song Teenage Dream. He certainly won my heart that night and his talent, his sexy grin, and his awesome attitude definitely made him one of my favorite guys this year. I just wish some shirtless pics existed! Maybe in 2011?

Finally, I think my biggest discovery this past year was Jonathan Groff. I can't even begin to tell you how much I crushed on him during his run as Jesse St. James on Glee last spring or how much I hope to see this talented, sexy, and out gay actor in something again soon! Shirtless pics of him aren't quite as scarce as those of Darren, but they're still pretty rare.

Well, there we are. The men who made 2010 for me. I can't wait to see what hotties 2011 will call to my attention!

Thanksgiving Past

Broadway.com is honoring the upcoming Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade by highlighting one classic performance from years past each day this week.

I mention this because they started the week off by featuring a performance from the 2007 parade starring two talented people who were then little known outside of the world of the stage: the leads of Spring Awakening, Lea Michele and Jonathan Groff, both now world famous thanks to a little TV show called Glee.

It's a very nice performance of 'Give My Regards to Broadway'. It goes without saying, of course, that they sound fantastic singing together. I love that they clearly have a great deal of affection for each other.

I wonder if it's at all possible that we'll have a Jesse St. James return appearance sometime this season on Glee? I know that Jonathan is performing in London right now, but I miss my weekly fix, especially after seeing how completely adorkable he is in his winter jacket in the parade clip!

How do I get Santa to leave Jonathan under my tree this year?!

Speaking of Glee, I'm going to have a write up on my thoughts on the season so far at some point in the near future. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers!

Books and Glee

Hello again! I really miss blogging on a regular basis, but every time that I think things are about to slow down a bit for me, it turns out that I'm mistaken. "Maybe this time..." (insert mental/aural flashback to Chenoweth singing that on Glee last season!)

First up, since I just mentioned Glee, I wanted to say that I was thrilled with Jane Lynch's win for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at this year's Emmy Awards. It was a much deserved honor for her, and I hope it's the first of many. I was sad that the show didn't win for Best Comedy, but at least it lost to another gay friendly show (I really do need to check out Modern Family).

More than anything, though, I was disappointed that Chris Colfer didn't win for Supporting Actor or Mike O'Malley for Guest Actor. Their scenes together as Kurt and his father, Burt, were the highlight of the television season for me. Maybe the problem is that they were nominated in the comedy category for scenes that were pretty intense and emotional? Still, there's always next year!

The upside to O'Malley's loss, of course, was that Neil Patrick Harris won for his own guest starring role on Glee. It was the first Emmy win ever for one of my very favorite actors (who, if you hadn't heard, is going to become a parent to twins with his longtime partner David Burtka! Luckiest kids ever!!).

There are only two weeks to go until the second season of Glee starts, and I can't wait. One nice thing about having had such a busy summer is that it really still seems like the season finale just aired a few weeks ago. It doesn't feel like I had to wait at all.

Something else that I wanted to discuss tonight was books. About a week ago, Lambda Literary wrote about some of the most anticipated LGBT books coming out this fall.

Leading the pack is the book I've been excited about for quite some time now, Armistead Maupin's Mary Ann In Autumn. It's coming out in November and I've been counting the days. My plan was to re-read the entire Tales of the City series in anticipation of the release, but a few months back I found out that a friend of mine had never read any of the books, so I lent them all to her at once and now I'm not sure when I'll get them back. I doubt I'll be able to restrain myself from devouring Mary Ann in Autumn the minute it's in my hands, so that plan is probably out the window.

What a year it has been, though. A new Tales of the City book and a new Stephen McCauley. I don't think I ever followed up on Insignificant Others here after I'd read it, but I really enjoyed it a lot.

The only thing that's really missing to complete this year for me is a new novel by Alan Hollinghurst! Or, if the fates wanted to really be generous, a new collection of stories in the Buddies cycle from Ethan Mordden.

I have to say, I love working in a bookstore. I geek out over books all the time and it's nice to be surrounded by co-workers and customers who act the same way. I love the way someone's whole face just lights up when they spot a new novel by a favorite writer.

Anyway, another book on Lambda Literary list is Michael Cunningham's new title, By Nightfall. I'm a bit ambivalent about that one. I loved The Hours and A Home at the End of the World, and I've got a copy of Flesh and Blood that I've been meaning to get to since forever, so you'd think I'd be more excited.

The thing is, I was filled with anticipation back in 2005 when his last novel, Specimen Days, came out. I really couldn't wait to get my hands on it, but then once I did I didn't like it at all. To be fair, I didn't get that far before I abandoned the effort, so I may give it a try again someday.

Oh, and there's a brand new literary prize out there for gay men's books. The Green Carnation Prize came into existence in reaction to some of the more mainstream lit prizes, as the Chair, Paul Magrs, explains:

“This all came about because, suddenly it was literary award season again and longlists were getting bandied about like crazy. And it’s annoying because those lists seem a bit ready-made, middlebrow, monotonous and obvious. Anyway, late July 2010 and there’s the usual palaver about the Booker Longlist. It was obviously going to be the same old gubbins and some of the same old names. And the same nonsense about ‘literary’ fiction being a separate, rarefied preserve, quite apart from other genres.

Anyway, we thought – wouldn’t it be fun and great to do something a bit different?

And then we thought – there’s no prize yet for gay men’s books in the UK. That’s a scandalous thought. There ought to be something that celebrates and publicizes the breadth and variety of their work.

Writing by gay men can be funny, exciting, harrowing, uplifting and challenging – and it can range right across the genres. It can also be created by men from all classes and races."

I'm all for another prize that brings attention to LGBT fiction (or non-fiction, as the case may be) and gives me more books to read! They've already announced this year's Longlist:

• Generation A by Douglas Coupland
• Bryant and May Off the Rails by Christopher Fowler
• Paperboy by Christopher Fowler
  
• In A Strange Room by Damon Galgut
  
• God Says No by James Hannaham
• London Triptych by Jonathan Kemp
  
• Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin
• Children of the Sun by Max Schaefer
  
• Man’s World by Rupert Smith
  
• The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas
  
• City Boy by Edmund White
  

I loved City Boy but I haven't read any of the others yet. I did just pick up a copy of The Slap (which was also on the Booker longlist along with In A Strange Room) from the library, though.

One last thing tonight. I had an e-mail asking if I was ever going to write about the Noah/Luke/Reid story on As the World Turns again. Yes, I will. The truth is, though, that I haven't watched a single episode of the show since May. I have saved all the Luke episodes on my Tivo and I'll probably marathon them at some point in the (near?) future and write about the end of the story at that point. It's just a matter of finding the time.

Emmy Nominations for Glee

Things have been busy for me lately but I'm hoping to be able to blog again on a regular basis at some point in the near future.

In the meantime, I just wanted to mention that Glee has been nominated for 19 Emmy Awards! This includes nods for Matthew Morrison (Best Actor), Lea Michele (Best Actress), Jane Lynch (Best Supporting Actress), Chris Colfer (Best Supporting Actor), Mike O'Malley (Best Male Guest Star), Neil Patrick Harris (Best Male Guest Star) and Kristin Chenoweth (Best Female Guest Star), as well as a Best Comedy nomination.

I'm thrilled with all of these nominations, but I'm especially glad to see Chris Colfer and Mike O'Malley on the list. Their scenes together last season were so amazing and they both deserve to take home the Emmy next month.

The only thing that I'm a little disappointed with is not seeing Jonathan Groff's name among the nominees.

It should of course go without saying that if the brilliant Jane Lynch doesn't win for her work as Sue Sylvester, the Emmys will instantly lose all credibility.

Everything's Coming Up Kurt

Things are still busy and I'm trying to make time to catch up with most of my shows (I haven't been able to get to last week's LuRe episodes of As the World Turns just yet, for instance), but there is one series that I never fail to watch the night it airs. It should surprise no one that the show I'm talking about is Glee.

I really have to say that Mike O'Malley and Chris Colfer knocked it out of the park yet again in their final scene together on tonight's show. I can never get through one of their father/son moments without tears in my eyes! Don't bother voting, just send the Emmys to them now.

Kurt's insecurity over losing his dad because of his sexuality was very genuine, and I thought the show found the perfect balance between the humor of Kurt attempting to 'straighten up' and the very real emotions that were behind him feeling the need to do so. That's where Chris Colfer really shines, I think. I love his voice and he's incredibly funny, but he really kills me in the emotional scenes.

And how amazing was his rendition of 'Rose's Turn'?! One of my favorite Glee performances to date, I have to say. His butch attempt at doing Mellencamp's 'Pink Houses' in a deeper than normal voice wasn't bad at all, but it just wasn't Kurt. The minute the music for 'Rose's Turn' started, though, I gasped and clapped my hands in anticipatory glee (do you think moments like this could have something to do with why I'm still single?!).

I'm glad that Santana got to sing again in the episode, I really like her voice. I also really enjoyed there being more Puck tonight, too. Mark Salling pretty much rocks my world. The man just personifies hotness.

I did miss seeing Jonathan Groff's adorable mug as Jesse, though! (And by the way, how blind was I that I didn't see Finn's rendition of 'Jesse's Girl' coming from a mile away?)

Speaking of Jonathan, both Cheyenne Jackson and Michael Urie have joined Kristin Chenoweth in responding to Ramin Setoodeh's ridiculously homophobic Newsweek piece on gay actors being unable to successfully portray straight characters.

Michael Urie:

Look, I'm not from f*cking Vienna [He's playing a Viennese character currently on stage]. We're all actors, and the audiences get it. When I saw Sean Hayes in Promises, Promises, it was a full house and everyone was completely in love with him. And I saw it at a Wednesday matinee full of tourists. They've all seen Sean in Will & Grace, and they loved him and believed in his relationship with Kristin. It worked.

And to attack, to quote Ugly Betty, someone [like Groff] recently 'hatched from the gay egg' is unconscionable and he should strung be [up]. [Groff] made everyone want him in Spring Awakening. And Cheyenne was f*cking Elvis in All Shook Up. He was sexy and hot. He's always playing straight. And people buy tickets to see him. No straight critics accuse Sean Penn of not being able to play Harvey Milk or [criticize] Tom Hanks in Philadelphia.

Cheyenne responded with this:

''That's because when straight actors play gay, they're so 'brave.' Why is it so f*cking 'brave'? It's a part and he's a good actor. I hope we can get to the day where the best actor gets the part. End of story.''

I love that both guys are so quick to come to Jonathan Groff's defense in particular, since he is newly out and Setoodah seemed to take a special delight in ripping apart his ability to portray a straight character post-coming out (though apparently he was just fine at playing one successfully in Spring Awakening before he came out, which as Chenoweth pointed out is a pretty contradictory statement).

I think it's interesting that no one has really pointed out that if anything, it's the writing for Jesse that is making the character come across as something other than the stereotypical straight character. Jesse loves Sondheim, he refers to himself as a drama queen, he's in show choir and ballet, and he praises Olivia Newton John's 'Physical' for its groundbreaking depiction of sexual fluidity. None of that is about Jonathan Groff's personal life, that's the writer's take on the character!

Did it ever occur to Setoodah that the way Jonathan is playing the part likely has nothing to do with his own sexuality and everything to do with how he's being directed? I honestly think it would be surprising if the character of Jesse wasn't bisexual and I suspect Groff has been asked to portray him with that in mind.

What Setoodah is really saying is that no one would buy Groff as being attracted to women, and that's just ridiculous since there's plenty of chemistry between him and Lea Michele.

Anyway, next week is another Glee episode I've been waiting for with great anticipation. Three words: Neil. Patrick. Harris. Yes!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to watch Kurt's version of 'Rose's Turn' at least once more before bed.

Tony Nominations and a Bit of Homophobia

The nominees for the 64th Annual Tony Awards were announced yesterday. Over the past few years, I've really come to love watching this particular award show and getting a taste of what's going on in the theater world. Seeing songs performed from the musicals and scenes acted out from the plays during the Tonys is as close as I've managed to come to Broadway.

It can be a bit hard to get all that excited about the nominees in advance when you haven't seen any of the shows, of course, but there are usually one or two people on the list that I'm already a fan of.

I was hoping to see Kristin Chenoweth's name among the nominees this year, but it was not to be. Her co-stars Sean Hayes and Katie Finneran were both nominated, but she was not. The reviews of Promises, Promises haven't been all that great, sadly, but I was still keeping my fingers crossed for her. I have to admit that when I first heard she was doing the show I got the cast album for the original production and it honestly seemed like an odd fit for her. The original seemed to be Jerry Orbach's show, first and foremost.

Speaking of those bad reviews, one I should mention is the rather homophobic review by Newsweek's Ramin Setoodeh, who just couldn't get past the fact that an openly gay man was playing a straight role. In fact, he incorporated the review into a larger piece posing the question: "Heterosexual actors play gay all the time. Why doesn't it work in reverse?" Are you kidding me?! It's been working in reverse for centuries, pal.

Here's what he said about Sean Hayes:

'The reviews for the Broadway revival of Promises, Promises were negative enough, even though most of the critics ignored the real problem—the big pink elephant in the room. The leading man of this musical-romantic comedy is supposed to be a single advertising peon named Chuck who is madly in love with a co-worker (Kristin Chenoweth). When the play opened on Broadway in 1968, Jerry Orbach, an actor with enough macho swagger to later fuel years and years of Law and Order, was the star. The revival hands the lead over to Sean Hayes, best known as the queeny Jack on Will & Grace. Hayes is among Hollywood's best verbal slapstickers, but his sexual orientation is part of who he is, and also part of his charm. (The fact that he only came out of the closet just before Promises was another one of those Ricky Martin-duh moments.) But frankly, it's weird seeing Hayes play straight. He comes off as wooden and insincere, like he's trying to hide something, which of course he is. Even the play's most hilarious scene, when Chuck tries to pick up a drunk woman at a bar, devolves into unintentional camp. Is it funny because of all the '60s-era one-liners, or because the woman is so drunk (and clueless) that she agrees to go home with a guy we all know is gay?'

Setoodah also goes on to critique Jonathan Groff's performance on Glee in much the same fashion. I think the real problem lies with Setoodah and those like him who just can't seem to focus on anything else beyond an out performer's real life sexuality.

It's called acting, people. Would they get hung up on the fact that a married actor was playing a single ladies man, for instance? No. They wouldn't let the his personal life affect the believability of the performance in the least. But if an actor is openly gay and playing straight, it's all these guys can think about!

With Setoodah freely admitting that straight actors can successfully play gay, the issue seems to come down with his own perceptions of masculinity and what it means to be straight. In other words, manly heteros can play act at being gay just fine, but queers can't possibly fool anyone into thinking they're 'real' men. Give me a break!

At any rate, here are this year's Tony nominations for performances:

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play
Jude Law, Hamlet
Alfred Molina, Red
Liev Schreiber, A View from the Bridge
Christopher Walken, A Behanding in Spokane
Denzel Washington, Fences

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play
Viola Davis, Fences
Valerie Harper, Looped
Linda Lavin, Collected Stories
Laura Linney, Time Stands Still
Jan Maxwell, The Royal Family

Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
Kelsey Grammer, La Cage aux Folles
Sean Hayes, Promises, Promises
Douglas Hodge, La Cage aux Folles
Chad Kimball, Memphis
Sahr Ngaujah, Fela!

Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical
Kate Baldwin, Finian's Rainbow
Montego Glover, Memphis
Christiane Noll, Ragtime
Sherie Rene Scott, Everyday Rapture
Catherine Zeta-Jones, A Little Night Music

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play
David Alan Grier, Race
Stephen McKinley Henderson, Fences
Jon Michael Hill, Superior Donuts
Stephen Kunken, Enron
Eddie Redmayne, Red

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play
Maria Dizzia, In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play
Rosemary Harris, The Royal Family
Jessica Hecht, A View from the Bridge
Scarlett Johansson, A View from the Bridge
Jan Maxwell, Lend Me a Tenor

Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical
Kevin Chamberlin, The Addams Family
Robin De Jesús, La Cage aux Folles
Christopher Fitzgerald, Finian's Rainbow
Levi Kreis, Million Dollar Quartet
Bobby Steggert, Ragtime

Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical
Barbara Cook, Sondheim on Sondheim
Katie Finneran, Promises, Promises
Angela Lansbury, A Little Night Music
Karine Plantadit, Come Fly Away
Lillias White, Fela!

I love Laura Linney and Angela Lansbury (who won a Tony last year), and of course Jude Law is always incredibly sexy, so I'm glad to see their names on the list.

Here are the show nominations:

Best Play

In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play
Next Fall
Red
Time Stands Still


Best Musical

American Idiot
Fela!
Memphis
Million Dollar Quartet


Best Revival of a Play

Fences
Lend Me a Tenor
The Royal Family
A View from the Bridge


Best Revival of a Musical

Finian's Rainbow
La Cage aux Folles
A Little Night Music
Ragtime

Of all of these, I think La Cage aux Folles and American Idiot intrigue me the most. I've seen the original French film of La Cage aux Folles (I won't even mention seeing The Birdcage!), but never the musical. I'm not a big Kelsey Grammer fan, though.

As for American Idiot, a musical based on my favorite Green Day album just sounds like the definition of awesome!

Chenoweth, O'Malley, and Colfer Do It Again

Ah, Glee night. I have to admit that I was a bit nervous this week. After all, how do you follow up one of the best episodes in TV history? Last week's Madonna episode was pure magic.

Luckily, they were off to a good start tonight with the return of Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes. I still get chills when I listen to the version of 'Maybe This Time' that Kirstin and Lea Michele performed during Chenoweth's first appearance on the show.

Her return visit was just as fantastic, musically speaking, and Cheno also got to demonstrate her excellent comedic timing once again. Still, I have to say that I really enjoyed that they didn't make the whole episode about April. This show should never revolve around the guest stars and I'm glad that the writers seem to get that. April's return was just one of tonight's plots and it didn't eclipse the other stories.

Kristin and Matthew Morrison performed two more duets, Springsteen's 'Fire' and, best of all, a mash up of Burt Bacharach's 'One Less Bell to Answer' and 'A House is Not a Home'. I can't tell you how much I loved the second duet! Those two just sounded so incredible together. I once again had chills.

Kristin, with the glee kids backing her, ended the show with 'Home' from The Wiz, another great performance. Her voice is just so very beautiful, I could listen to her sing all day long and never tire of it.

By the way, if you're a Kristin fan you should check out tomorrow's Live with Regis and Kelly. They're doing Broadway Week on the show and Chenoweth will be there tomorrow doing something from her new Broadway show, the revival of Promises, Promises! It's as close as I'm going to get to seeing her in the show, so I'm looking forward to it.

As I said, April's return was just one of tonight's plots on Glee. There was also a plot about Sue trying to make Mercedes lose weight to stay in the Cheerios, which culminated in Mercedes singing Christina Aguilera's 'Beautiful', and there was the Kurt/Finn plot. I was especially looking forward to the latter story because Mike O'Malley was returning as Kurt's dad, Burt, and I've been blown away by every single scene he and Chris Colfer have done together so far.

I absolutely loved Kurt's rendition of 'A House is Not a Home', which he sang directly to Finn in front of the entire glee club. What a moment: sweet, sad, and heart wrenching. I've always wished that we'd seen Kurt sing 'I Honestly Love You' to Finn last fall in the episode entitled Ballad, but tonight more than made up for that.

Don't get me wrong, I don't want or expect a Kurt/Finn pairing at all. I do love the way they're writing this, though, with Finn uncomfortable with Kurt's feelings but not at all hateful towards Kurt about it. I think Kurt has to go through this sort of hopeless crush on an unobtainable straight boy before he can look for someone who is truly interested in him. We've all been there and it's more about us being ready for something than it is about the straight guy we think we love.

I really like Chris Colfer's voice a lot, his solo version of 'Defying Gravity' is my most played song Glee song to date and his rendition of 'A House is Not a Home' was beautiful. I love that Kurt is getting more solos at last!

The same goes for Mercedes. Of course, I'd still like to see Artie, Tina, Puck, Quinn, and Santana get more solo parts, too. One of the best things about this week was that Rachel didn't have any solos! I love Lea Michele, but Rachel and Finn get almost all the solos and it's time to spread the wealth a bit.

Anyway, tonight we found out that Kurt had set up his father with Finn's mother and the two had really hit it off. Kurt was of course envisioning himself and Finn sharing a room together (and was planning to decorate accordingly), but things took a somewhat different turn and Kurt was left hurt by seeing his father bond with Finn over sports.

Once again, O'Malley and Colfer's scene together was some of the best work I've seen, as Kurt expressed his hurt at seeing his dad bond with 'the son he always wanted'. I especially loved the following exchange:

Burt: Look, Kurt, I love you. And I am sympathetic to all your stuff. But come on, buddy, we've got a deal here, right? I don't try to change you, you don't try to change me. You are my son, and a little guy talk with some other kid isn't going to change that.

Kurt: Guy talk? I'm a guy.

Burt: Come on, you know what I mean.

What's great about this story is that it feels so realistic. Kurt has the sort of dad that many gay teens would love to have, someone who is very supportive and who truly loves him no matter what, and yet they're very different people. It makes perfect sense that Kurt would be insecure about their bond as father and son.

I seriously think that Chris Colfer should not only be nominated for an Emmy but take home the statue on the strength of Kurt's scenes with his dad alone. Mike O'Malley should get one as well. These two are doing some amazing work.