[OutVoice] Fire Island, NY: "Estrada is Arts Project's Last Rose of Summer"

[TheChorusBoy at aol.com]

QOnStage.COM 
ESTRADA IS ARTS PROJECT’S LAST ROSE OF  SUMMER 
By BRUCE-MICHAEL GELBERT 
Jade Esteban Estrada as Mark  Bingham in ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History 
of the World, Vol. 2 at the Cherry  Grove Community House in Fire Island, New  
York. Photo by  JOSEPH R. SARPARITO 
Read it online: 
_http://www.qonstage.com/QOnStage_articles/2008IconsII/art_tpl_w-196.html_ 
(http://www.qonstage.com/QOnStage_articles/2008IconsII/art_tpl_w-196.html)  
FIRE ISLAND - Jade Esteban  Estrada, who limned memorable portraits of 
Sappho, Michelangelo, Oscar  Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Rivera and Ellen 
DeGeneres in his solo musical  comedy "ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the 
World, Vol. 1" (2002), given  here last August, returned to the Community House, 
under the auspices of the  Arts Project of Cherry Grove, on September 20, to 
dazzle us with "ICONS: The  Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 2" (2004), 
saluting another  half-dozen of our ancestors and contemporaries "for their 
courage and  contribution to the advancement of mankind." Sherri Rase took 
responsibility for  sound and lights.

Jade began this second gallery of "ICONS" with  Alexander the Great, singing 
mournfully of the loss of his "very special friend"  Hephaestion, keening for 
his deceased love, and lamenting, "I can't conquer the  world without you." 
After a period of seclusion, his Alexander allows himself to  be cajoled back 
into action, facing the enemy, Persia, in a rocking number, in response to the 
people's call of  "you'll rule Macedonia, you'll be  great." He muses, "I want 
to leave my mark upon the world: greatness takes time"  and, pointedly, "I 
want to be president or dictator or Sarah Palin," as he  morphs into a frisky, 
nervously giggling Queen Christina of Sweden, donning the  crown and taking up 
the scepter on her 18th birthday and echoing Alexander with,  "I want to make 
history now."

Thirty war-torn years pass and toughen  Christina in the course of Jade's 
mini-rock opera about the monarch, who sings,  "Sweden, oh my Sweden ... unearth 
me now." As peace prevails, she abdicates in  favor of her cousin, Charles 
Gustav; decamps for Rome, leaving behind her beloved, Elba; and, now Catholic, 
incurs  the Pope's wrath as she confronts him about his practice of genocide 
against the  Jews.

Saluted next is Susan B. Anthony, in modest shades of gray and  blue-gray, 
declaring, in a gospel-style anthem, "the next step is the right to  vote." 
"What we need is a revolution," she sings, noting, in her earnest ballad,  that, 
"The politics of inclusion/don't allow female intrusion." With  determination, 
she casts her vote in Rochester in the  presidential election of 1872 and is 
promptly arrested and fined. Women's right  to vote would come in 1920.

Our hero changes before our eyes into  "outstanding athlete of the world" 
Billie Jean King, racket in hand, giving  herself a pep talk: "Focus. I know I 
can beat this man," Bobby Riggs; vigorously  fighting "the battle of the sexes" 
on the tennis court and overcoming the  popular myth that "women can't volley 
at the net;" and letting loose with an  exuberant victory shout on winning.

King mentions the places that she  loves, including San Francisco, and that 
is the cue for a visit with a dapper  fellow, soliciting votes for City 
Supervisor and, with some fancy hoofing,  promoting himself with "I'm Harvey Milk, 
I'm a hell of a guy." Finally winning,  after several unsuccessful attempts, 
Milk embraces his responsibilities as "The  Mayor of Castro Street" and 
recognizes that "We just made history now." In less  than a year's time, assassin Dan 
White's bullets ring out.

The final icon  Jade presents here is Mark Bingham, a jock, lauding, in a 
gently jubilant  number, his dear mother, his "superstar;" his love, Matt; and 
the "beautiful  American day"-that fateful day, September 11, 2001-when he 
boarded flight 93,  the scene-and the musical-ending with, "Our plane's being 
hijacked. We've got to  fight back!" 

We look  forward to seeing “ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, 
Vol. 3,”  which Jade introduced in 2006. 
Find other reviews of Jade Esteban Estrada at _www.getjaded.com_ 
(http://www.getjaded.com/) .



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