Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, personal and professional partners for
25 years, won a Tony, the Oscar of the theatre world, for the score of
Hairspray which features Harvey Fierstein in drag playing a woman.
In his acceptance speech, shown live on TV, Mr Shaiman turned to Mr
Wittman and said: ”I love this man. We’re not allowed to get married in
this world … But I’d like to declare, in front of all these people, I
love you and I’d like to live with you the rest of my life.”
Shortly afterwards Denis O’Hare, who won the featured actor (play) prize
for his role in Take Me Out, about a gay baseball player, also thanked his
boyfriend sitting in the audience. At first, Mr O’Hare says, he had doubts
about whether to do so, but decided to go ahead.
”I thought, ‘No, no, no, this is the whole point.’ The whole point is
that we all have to risk something personal to make something happen. The
more it’s talked about the more it becomes commonplace, the less it becomes
freakish. I think it’s a good thing.”
It is not the first time that winners have mentioned gay partners. In 1983
a producer of Torch Song Trilogy thanked his lover when accepting the
best play Tony.
But it was certainly the most prominent assertion of gay confidence at
the awards yet, and comes at a time of a backlash against gay and lesbian
relationships. Last week John Ashcroft, the US attorney general, banned an
established gay pride event at the justice department. In April, a
Pennsylvania senator, Rick Santorum, linked homosexuality to bigamy,
polygamy, and incest.
Michele Pawk, who won the featured actress (play) award for her
performance in Hollywood Arms, praised the actors. ”I have never been more
proud to be a member of this community,” she said. ”Men kissing each
other on stage. Drag queens. Children. It’s a perfect world. As it should
be.”
Hairspray, a musical of integration and romance in 1960s Baltimore, was the
big winner, scooping eight awards including best musical and one each for
its lead performers. ”If a 4’11” chubby New York girl can be a leading
lady in a Broadway show and win a Tony,” said Marissa Winokur in her
acceptance speech for lead actress in Hairspray, ”then anything can
happen.”
It was the second time in three years that a musical from a cult film had
cleaned up at the Tonys. In 2001 The Producers became a sensation on being
adapted for Broadway from the Mel Brooks film, winning 12 awards. Hairspray
was a 1988 John Waters movie starring the late transvestite Divine and a
then-unknown actress and talk show host, Ricki Lake.
Vanessa Redgrave also made an emotional speech on Sunday, brushing aside
tears as she picked up best play actress for Long Day’s Journey into Night.
Ms Redgrave said she remembered seeing the original productionin 1956:
”I want to thank the actors who inspired me back in 1956 and just blew my
mind and let me know what theatre could be.”
Same sex kissing is not unheard of on US TV. The first, most memorable kiss
was on LA Law in 1992 by Amanda Donohoe and Michele Greene. Roseanne,
Ellen, Ally McBeal, Friends, ER, and Spin City followed suit. Gay male
affection is far more rare.
In 2000 Sean Hayes and Eric McCormack from Will and Grace shared a
memorable moment as they kissed on NBC’s Today show in protest at the
network censoring a gay kiss, leaving the anchor speechless.
Since then only Kerr Smith and David Monahan’s embrace in Dawson’s Creek
has made waves. Scott Seomin, of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against
Defamation, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune earlier this year: ”To see
two men kiss still seems to be that forbidden frontier.”
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