THEATER
Beth Malone’s Molly Brown
A proud and happy lesbian takes on iconic Broadway role
BY DAVID NOH
Defi nite progress is being
made in the theater
these days when an out
gay actor like Isaac Powell
can star as Tony in the Broadway
revival of “West Side Story,”
while way downtown, at Abrons
Arts Center, out and proud lesbian
performer Beth Malone, a
memorable Tony nominee as dyke
cartoonist Alison Bechdel in “Fun
Home,” is also playing a traditional
“straight” musical role, doing “The
Unsinkable Molly Brown,” directed
by Kathleen Marshall.
The Transport Group is staging
the fi rst New York revival of this
show, which opened in 1960, won
Tammy Grimes a Tony Award, and
was followed by Oscar-nominated
Debbie Reynolds in the 1964 fi lm
version.
Molly, that legendary Titanic
survivor, Denver mining tycoon,
and bighearted philanthropist, is a
neat fi t for Malone, who also hails
from Colorado, has always considered
herself a tomboy, is active in
a number of charities, and, has,
indeed, already played the part,
in Denver as well as at St. Louis’
Muny Theatre.
“So I’ve got the woman in my
bones,” Malone told me. “Everything
about the role is as different
as can be from ‘Fun Home,’ which
really kind of put me on the map,
changed my career, and was such
a privilege to do, with everything
very specifi c in our collective desire
to honor Alison Bechdel. There
was something so special about
that show, how even when it came
out, everything seemed so positive,
what with gay marriage and more
equality — our fans were beyond
devoted as it was life-changing for
some of them, and now we’re back
in the shit.
“As opposed to Alison, Molly is
a much more traditional musical
heroine, bigger than life, although
Dick Scanlan has completely rewritten
the book, basing it more
on the reality of her life. Along with
the familiar songs from the Broadway
show, there are some brand
David Aron Damane and Beth Malone star in “The Unsinkable Molly Brown,” directed by Kathleen Marshall, at Abrons Arts Center through April 5.
new ones, adapted from the music
of Meredith Willson by Michael
Rafter. I love my new 11 o’clock
number, “Wait for Me,” which uses
a melody Wilson composed for
a commercial for the wartime
Chemical Warfare Service.”
Malone has stated that if she
must play a traditional girly-girl,
she merely channels the hyperfemininity
of drag queens.
“I’m still doing that, especially
when Molly gets all dressed up
in the big red dress for the party
scene, and I actually enjoy playing
a heterosexual woman,” she said.
“I have a great leading man, David
Aron Damane, such a beautiful actor,
and so big and handsome and
masculine yet gentle. I just have
to look up at him and done! We’re
the couple. My role is a workout, no
denying it though, and my body is
feeling every bit of it, along with the
long schlep from the Upper West
Side where I live to the Lower East.
But I’m defi nitely loving it!”
I had to hear Malone’s coming
out story, and it was a beautifully
funny/ sad account: “I was always
the class clown, trying to make
girls like me, doing something crazy
or stupid to try to make them
laugh. I didn’t notice boys at all.
They started noticing me when I
was in high school and I had boyfriends,
but one time in high school
after a rehearsal I remember being
in front of a pop machine and I
had this a-ha moment: ‘You’re gay!’
And I was like, ‘Huh,’ and then,
‘Nah.’ And then for years I didn’t
think about it until I was engaged
to a boy who I loved but also was in
love with this other girl that I was
on a tour with in FX, a rock band,
CAROL ROSEGG
which entertained the military at
bases all across the South Pacifi c
— Hawaii, Guam, South Korea.
“It was such a weird point in my
life. I didn’t know what to do with
myself, going out of my skin wanting
to do something with this girl,
thinking I’m gonna fucking die.
But I never did anything with her,
never told her because we were on
the road together in college, and
she had a boyfriend. I was 18.
“I moved to New York after that,
still had that boyfriend, but I was
also trying to fi nd like a girl to date
through the Village Voice back
pages. So tragic. I was 20 and
had a fake ID and went to these
gay bars but I was always wrong
place/ wrong time: I didn’t fi nd the
right lesbians. It was an epic fail —
➤ BETH MALONE, continued on p.29
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