Comments

1
I'm still annoyed that "flamboyant" is considered a criticism. I'm wearing a flowered shirt right now, dammit.
2
AGAIN?
3
Seriously? Is Balagan paying for this? Are we still flipping out about this?

Big point of order. Misha did NOT say Hoffer was too gay to play Mortiz. She said his portrayal of the character wasn't convincingly hetero for a character lusting after a woman. That is a big damn difference. Dan is saying she's attacking the actor's sexuality, when she was criticizing his acting. Take her to task for that if you want, but don't mischaracterize what she was saying.

Secondly, since he thinks it's ridiculous boycotting everyone and thing that uses the word "fag", it sure seems odd for Dan to jump on the jump on Misha bandwagon over the word "flamboyant".
4
Sure, one could re/interpret just about any male character as being a closet case, including Stanley from Streetcar Named Desire. If that interpretation improves the production or puts butts in seats, by all means, go for it.

And, if a critic feels that interpretation detracts from the play, or that the actor fails to pull it off convincingly, she should be allowed to say so without being shouted down by every A-gay in the city.
5
Is there really a "can gay actors play straight roles" argument? Two words: Rock Hudson. Hell, the entire 20th century entertainment industry was built on gay actors convincingly playing straight roles. This argument must only exist among kids born after 1985.
6
Um, gay people play straight roles all the time, and many of them quite convincingly. Unfortunately, many of their stages are what we call "high school," "family gatherings" and "work."

Oh heck yeah Rock Hudson!
7
@1: "Flamboyant" is perfectly valid criticism if it renders a character in a play unconvincing or annoying.

I think we can all agree that if Heath Ledger or Jake Gyllenhaal brought any flamboyance to the roles of Ennis or Jack in Brokeback Mountain, it would have ruined the movie.
8
Everybody who's chimed in on his Moritz has known Hoffer's Jinkx Monsoon work. There are varying levels of sophistication with which audience members who know him through Jinkx might be able to forgo watching for Jinkx's purposely overlarge gestures in Moritz. To avoid this "eye of the beholder" stuff, maybe it would be nice to hear from someone who'd never seen Jinkx. What were their impressions of Moritz?
9
Barney Stinson. QED.
10
I'll judge for myself when I go see it on the 15th.
11
Well, thanks for ruining "Dexter" for me. I just assumed Michael C. Hall was a mass murderer because you have to play what you are, right?
12
@ 5 is absolutely right. Unless "Can gay actors can convincingly play straight roles?" means "Can effeminate men convincingly play macho stereotypes," and even then that's wholly dependent on the skill of the actor in question.
13
Oh, Charles Nelson Reilly! I miss him.
14
Misha has since clarified what she meant and has updated the review from its original printing. It reads: "Less satisfying is Hoffer's overly flamboyant portrayal of Mortiz, a luckless boy plagued by shame and guilt over his erotic dreams and longings. Hoffer has a strong voice and stage presence, but he mugs and poses more than need be, when dialing it back somewhat would add more emotional layers to Mortiz's unbalanced state and self destruction."

In that context, Misha seems to be saying that flamboyant doesn't necessarily mean that Hoffer was "playing it gay" but rather he was playing it to large and broad.

I read the original review before I saw the show on Monday and, to be honest, I thought Misha was calling him out for a camp performance. I was confused as to what she saw after I watched the performance. While mostly great, I did think parts of Hoffer's performance was a little overwrought and I believe that may be more to what Misha meant.

Though, I do concede that she may be covering herself from what many have read to be a slip of homophobia on her part.
15
1. Rock Hudson.

2. Neil Patrick Harris - if you don't believe that one watch Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle and/or How I Met Your Mother. He plays a huge womanizer, Barney Simpson, and you don't even think about the fact that NPH is gay.

It's just a matter of good acting.
16
Oops! I meant Barney Stinson.
17
So, straight actors can play gay characters but not the other way around?
18
I guess I don't understand English like I thought I used to.
19
Adding to the "sexually confused" interperetation of Moritz, near the conclusion of the character's story he's offered a chance to sleep with a beautiful girl (with killer hair) and tells her to leave only to scream to himself "All I had to do was say yes." As a gay teenager I often found myself in positions with attractive women in which I wondered why I didn't seal the deal. So if you're not convinced already, Moritz absolutely could be gay.

That having been said, Jerick did not play this role in a stereotypically gay fashion. Simple as that. I've known him for a long time and when I heard he was cast as Moritz I was surprised to be perfectly honest. But once I saw him perform the role with such raw conviction any subtle mannerisms that could potentially have hampered the performance were few and far between and you would really only have noticed them if you went in with an idea about the actor already in your mind. Normally this wouldn't even be an issue but this woman has called him out him out in a similar fashion once before. When you combine that with her error in simpy identifying the character he was playing it's hard not to raise an eyebrow. If this reviewer can't manage to be correct on something objective like the show's story why would we trust her on something subjective like an actor's performance? I don't know what her motives are, maybe she's not homophobic at all. But when everyone else is giving him raves it's not crazy to think she might have an agenda of some sort.

See for yourself, the production is tremendous and the entire cast delivers. It's a shame that this is the story that's getting the most attention when really it's the show itself that deserves to be talked about.
20
1) She originally confused Jerick's character with ANOTHER character who lusts after his piano teacher, which she corrected. The whole nature of the Moritz character IS that he is confused and questioning...about everything.

2) She fixed her "Inch/Itch" boo boo but she still calls Jerick's character "Mortiz" in her review (twice) despite the fact the character is named Moritz.

3) It IS a big performance but it doesn't overshadow the musical. It is, after all, a ROCK N ROLL musical about disenfranchised, confused horny 19th Century teenagers singing pop rock songs with hand held microphones and stomping around the stage to Bill T. Jones choreography. It's not "The Secret Garden".
21
Can gay actors play straight characters?

Barney Stinson is laughing at you, dude.
22
Oh, Mr. Savage. Digger a little deeper in that Broadway vault mind of yours.

Before Cornelius, he was worried about his daughter kissing a rock star. Amusingly, Charles Nelson Reilly understudied for Paul Lynde who played the role of father Harry MacAfee in Bye Bye Birdie. CNR filled in once a week for him when Lynde was busy with the Perry Como show. CNR went on to understudy for Dick Van Dyke's character (Albert Peterson) as well.
23
Sad that some folks do not have the ability to grasp the concept of ACTING. Would they not be able to enjoy a revival of Sondheim's "Assassins" if they knew that not a single role was being performed by anyone had even attempted to kill a president? NPH did an amazing job in his portayal of Lee Harvey Oswald.
24
Hmm. Any time I am at the theater, the whole experience is so gay I would have a pretty hard time separating the gayness of any individual from the overwhelming gayness of the entire environment. Perhaps a better question is: "Can live theater convincingly portray any person as straight?"

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

25
Whatever happened to having fun just enjoying the show? Sounds like someone is a frustrated actor who didn't want to be a critic and a little jealous of the actor who they are skewering. I don't see much theater and would love to have seen this show. The actor is supposed to get creative input and interpret his character I thought . . . so what the hell is the reviewers problem?
26
@7 actually, it would have just made it a *different* movie, and if well handled and framed by the direction and other performances, could have been just as good.

to equate 'flamboyance' (by which i assume we're discussing effeminacy) with automatically detracting from a performance/piece of media reveals only bias and insecurity.
27
Every time I've taught Spring Awakening (I was a German professor for many years), there has been at least one full class period devoted to discussing whether Moritz was gay. The text is unclear on this matter; the subtext is rich with the notion that this is a legitimate interpretation.
28
@8 For what it's worth, Gus, I knew nothing of Hoffer (or Monsoon) before seeing this show, so I'll just say again "I thought Hoffer's Moritz took some interesting choices...not what I expected, but he presented such a wrathful pain, it was mesmerizing."

I always thought of Moritz as softer than what Hoffer presented, but I thought his performance was great, and it was refreshing to see a new take. His performance of "Don't Do Sadness" was more brutal (with less melody) but I thought it a valid choice, and it worked.
29
Isn't that why it's called "acting" - because straight actors can perform gay parts and vice versa?
30
Let's be honest, this actor may be too much of a ham to effectively play a nuanced, dramatic role. If that is true, it has nothing with him being too gay. Or, the actor may be mugging and posing because the director wanted it to go that way.
And the critic may be participating in some gay-actor-bashing (consciously or unconsciously) and trying to walk back her comments now.
ANYWAY, the thing I think is most interesting is the interpretations of Moritz's sexuality, which I have always questioned. I love that, depending on the day, I can convince myself that the show works best interpreting him as a repressed straight guy, a gay guy, a guy conflicted with idealizing and crushing on his best friend while still fixated on women, or a guy who is consumed with being different because he doesn't want to have sex with anyone. That is why it's a great musical based on a great play.

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