DRAMA CLUB

Shia LaBeouf, Bobby Steggert, And Getting Aroused At The Theater

It’s no secret that we love seeing shows with dandy eye candy. This week, we shamelessly spotlight some fine young men soon to grace the New York stage.

 

HE’S SO SHIA

26-year-old Shia LaBeouf is making good on his promise to forgo huge Hollywood blockbusters for artsier gigs: After his full-frontal Sigur Rós video and promise of doing unsimulated sex for the Lars Von Trier’s film Nymphomanic, LaBeouf is heading to the Great White Way to star with Alec Baldwin in a revival of Orphans this spring. Written by Lyle Kessler, the acclaimed 1983 play follows two thieving brothers who kidnap a Chicago gangster (Baldwin). Anyone know if Orphans calls for a nude scene? [L.A. Times]

 
BOBBY BABY

If all you want for Christmahanakwanzika is a cutie-patootie, check out Bobby Steggert in The Holiday Guys in Happy Merry Hanu-mas. The variety show—created by Broadway performers Marc Kudisch and Jeffry Denman—is described as bringing a “Smother Brothers-like folksiness” to the holiday season.

Running at the York Theater Company from December 18 to 31, the show’s lined up impressive guest stars in addition to Steggert, including Tyne Daly and Queer Eye‘s Carson Kressley.

Steggert became a fave among theater ‘mos after appearing in the short-lived Broadway revival of Ragtime, and the WWII gay musical Yank!

Look at that face—you know you’re buying a ticket!

 
GOLIGHTLY’S GO-TO GUY

Holly Golightly now has her leading man in the upcoming Broadway production of Breakfast at Tiffany’s: Cory Michael Smith has taken the role of Fred, opposite Emilia Clarke as Holly.

Out playwright Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out) has said that his play will stick more closely to Truman Capote’s edgy novella than the sweeter film version with Audrey Hepburn opposite George Peppard.

But the Broadway venture won’t be as authentic as we hoped: Capote wrote Fred as a homosexual, but the play, like the film, tacks on a romance between Fred and Holly.

“Everyone falls in love with Holly, including Fred,” the press notes declare, “As war rages on in Europe, Holly begins to fall in love with Fred—just as her past catches up with her.”

The whitewashing is a little frustrating but if there was a femme we’d fall for, Holly Golightly would top the list.

 

 

BARE ESSENTIALS

We’re not the only one getting hot and bothered over stage beauties: Over in The Guardian, Mark Lawson asks, “Is it all right for theatergoers to be sexually aroused by actors?”

Lawson wonders if the current trend of female audience members hooting and hollering at shirtless hunks in West End musicals like The Bodyguard and Viva Forever is too tacky. Imagine if male audience members threw dollars at Louise in Gypsy.

It’s a fair question for gay audiences, who have always clamored for beefcake on the boards—all the buzz about Cheyenne Jackson’s near-nakedness in The Performers is a prime example. (Do I even need mention Naked Boys Singing?)

So, what’s your view on male nudity in the theater? Is it okay if it makes you a bit tingly down there or is that just declassé?

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