Too gay to play straight? (LAT, THR, NW)

By Gary North

This might be a tempest in a media teacup, but when you have a musical star (Kristin Chenoweth) defending her Broadway co-star (Sean Hayes) against the criticism of a contributing commentator (Ramin Setoodeh) in a major(?) magazine (Newsweek), or rather its website, suggesting (in the eyes of some) that gay actors shouldn't play straight roles, and the commentator self-identifies as gay, and then you have the Oscar-winning writer of "Milk" (Dustin Lance Black) and the president of the showbiz-friendly Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (Jarrett Barrios) saying in a showbiz daily (The Hollywood Reporter) that Newsweek should at the very least apologize -- and you also have the creator of the gay-friendly hit TV phenomenon "Glee" (Ryan Murphy) calling for an immediate boycott of Newsweek (which is for sale, has no buyer, and has been losing readers by droves anyways) -- well, how long could we ignore all that here, huh?

These things take on lives of their own and might otherwise have been ignored. But given the imprimatur of the commentary's venue and the prestige of the notables involved, plus the fact that this has been building since April 26 (including GLAAD weighing in on Wednesday, preceded by commentaries in THR and elsewhere on Tuesday), it's not going away and indeed has generated renewed examination of the role "illusion" plays in acting, and the role that audience members must play in accepting the fact that what they are witnessing on stage or screen is indeed just that -- an illusion: Regardless of the actor's politics, religion, sexual orientation or whatever, does the thespian do a good enough job to make you believe for the moment that he or she is in the role being played?

Of course, this whole brouhaha again opens up that OTHER can of worms -- ethnic/racial political correctness: Who should NOT play whom? Should Olivier NOT have played Othello? Should Yul Brynner NOT have played the King of Siam? Nothing new there, either: Should men NOT have played women in Shakespeare's plays way back when? ... Then again, let's not go there today.

Related Links

Glee's' Ryan Murphy says boycott Newsweek for its mind-blowing bigotry (LAT)
'Milk' scribe joins GLAAD against Newsweek (THR)
Straight Jacket: Heterosexual actors play gay all the time. Why doesn't it ever work in reverse? (NW)
Statement from GLAAD on Newsweek Article �Straight Jacket� (GLAAD)
Why Newsweek need not apologize to GLAAD (THR)