Bay Area Reporter

10/20/2026

When “Oh, Mary!,” Cole Escola’s wicked wisp of a comedy, debuted off-Broadway in early 2024, it played the 299-seat Lucille Lortel Theatre. Later that year, the ludicrous take on Mary Todd Lincoln transferred to Broadway’s Lyceum, which has a capacity of just over 900. That engagement is ongoing.

This September, the naughty little engine that could started steaming its way across the country on a tour currently stationed at the Curran Theatre which, at 1,667 seats, is one of the smallest venues on its nationwide route. Yet at the Curran, though, exponential growth meets diminishing returns, says reviewer Jim Gladstone.

Escola’s jokes are jaded and juvenile as ever, and the performances are models of timing and tone. Drag star Alaska Thunderf**k (Justin Andrew Honard) uses her lanky 6’1” frame and disdainful vocal inflections to bring a distinctively regal unhingedness to the title character, making the part her own rather than imitating Escola’s more impish iteration.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/171290

10/20/2026

The Ohio governor’s race became the focus of national attention October 19, after an attack ad against Democratic candidate Dr. Amy Acton featured Acton’s estranged mother urging voters to reject her daughter.

The Democratic Party has a “once in a generation” opportunity to shape the balance of power in the United States at the state legislative level, according to the president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

10/19/2026

Since we’re in the middle of LGBTQ history month, it’s time for some recordings that re-issues that are making history in their own, right. That includes music from Rachael Sage & The Sequins, the late Ed Askew, Sera Cahoone, and Wesley Stace. Music writer Gregg Shapiro shares his thoughts.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/171023

10/18/2026

Author Millie Abecassis’s intriguing new novella, “The Color of Time,” is being praised for its inventiveness and its engaging sapphic plot. It is based on Charles Perrault’s 17th-century fairytale, “Peau d’Âne” (Donkey Skin), made into an opulent, dreamlike film in 1970 directed by Jacques Demy and starring Catherine Deneuve.

The premise of this slim but powerful novella, reviewer Laura Moreno notes, involves Princess Cyrelle of Cicia, a devoted daughter, faces an impossible command from her brother King Elias who demands her hand in marriage, as recommended by his vapid advisors.

The proposition shatters Cyrelle’s world, forcing her to flee across the galaxy to the distant planet Phau disguised in animal skins. She finds an environment gripped by problems, foremost division, class disparity and a brewing uprising.

In the traditional French fairytale, the princess demands three impossible gifts in an attempt to stall and evade an unwanted marriage of similar although different circumstances: a dress the color of the moon, one the color of the sun, and one the color of the sky/weather, which Abecassis interpolations into the color of time.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/171022

10/17/2026

Author, actress, and film historian Illeana Douglas has written a must-have for every film buff’s library with “Jungle Red! The Making of MGM’s ‘The Women.’” This smart, insightful, meticulously researched book is the definitive behind-the-scenes account of the 1939 classic that’s especially beloved by gay film fans.

Like the hit Broadway play by Clare Boothe Luce on which it’s based, “The Women” shocked and delighted audiences at the time as it comedically ripped back the curtain on the private lives of high society New York matrons as they battle for power, position, and men, says reviewer Adam Sandel.

The movie’s all-female cast (no men appear in either the play or the film) was packed with the top stars of the day, including Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, and Joan Fontaine, plus an army of actresses in memorable roles including Marjorie Main and the unforgettable Mary Boland.

The job of wrangling all those divas fell to the legendary George Cukor, who’d been known as a woman’s director (and had just been fired from “Gone with the Wind” for that reason). He cemented his reputation as a woman’s director as “The Women’s” director.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/171021/

10/16/2026

It’s been nearly two decades since model and media personality Anna Nicole Smith died of an overdose, yet the mere mention of her name continues to fascinate the public. Smith, born Vicki Lynn Hogan, lived for the spotlight. She seemed to have it all, yet her life was actually quite tragic.

She was only 39 years old when she died of a drug overdose only a few months after her son died, also of an overdose. After her death, the wolves came out, fighting over her estate, fighting for custody of her newborn daughter, fighting to stay in the spotlight that Smith had created, notes film reviewer David-Elijah Nahmod.

One of the things that kept Smith’s name in the spotlight was the sensational trial of Dr. Sandeep Kapoor (played by gay actor Kal Penn), a physician who had prescribed methadone to the addicted celebrity. Kapoor, along with Smith’s lawyer and psychiatrist, were all charged with causing Smith’s death by giving her dangerous drug cocktails. Based on the doctor’s memoir, the film “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor” wavers unevenly between comedy and drama.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/171075

10/16/2026

Film expert Marc Huestis was so looking forward to the Zoe Kazan’s “East of Eden” on Netflix. He says that the new mini-series more than lives up to expectations and is a fantastic companion to its predecessor. Like Todd Hayne’s “Mildred Pierce,” it brings to fore a film classic adapted from a great book and lets it breathe. And because it is in seven episodes, each an hour long, it expands the work greatly and brings home the complexity. It is beautiful to look at and epic in scope.

The1955 film focused primarily on the final portion of John Steinbeck’s novel. Kazan’s 2026 streaming adaptation covers a much broader, multi-generational sweep of Steinbeck’s original text. And if you are seeing the name Kazan two times here, it is because the series creator Zoe Kazan is the granddaughter of the great Elia Kazan, who directed the movie. In a metaphysical way, this only accentuates the familial generational nature of “East of Eden.”

Zoe Kazan’s adaptation of the Steinbeck classic is beautifully written (Episode 5 is co-written by San Francisco literary alum Alexander Chee). For those not familiar with the book, it’s hard to tell if the words come from their hands or Steinbeck’s. Whichever the source, the text soars. Some of it is pure poetry.

Read more: https://www.ebar.com/story/171024

10/15/2026

LGBTQ organizations were among those that received funding through San Francisco’s newly unified Arts Commission and Grants for the Arts.

10/15/2026

A reader suggests ways people can help boost Democratic congressional candidates ahead of the midterm elections.

10/15/2026

The last LGBTQ-themed street party of the season is here, and it’s for hirsute people and their admirers.