t’s going to be a very big weekend at Maxim’s, Sept. 27 and 28, and you can be a part of it, whether or not you’re a can-can girl, Toulouse Lautrec, or canard a l’orange. For those who don’t know it, Maxim’s is a stunning art nouveau watering hole in the heart of the Gold Coast, modeled after its famous namesake restaurant in Paris. Indeed, it originally opened as a branch of the Paris establishment, but that was years ago and didn’t last long. After languishing unused for the longest time, Maxim’s was given to the City of Chicago and renamed the Goldberg International Center as a venue for swank receptions. You know, the kind with champagne and heavy hors d’oeuvres. And so it shall be Sept. 27-28 with back-to-back events designed to tickle any décor queen’s heart.
The incomparable and elegant singer Julie Wilson will host a soiree Sept. 27 to benefit Chicago Cabaret Professionals. The $50 ticket ($60 at the door) includes two drinks, eats, silent auction and a fabulous two-act cabaret show featuring Sharon Carlson, Nan Mason, Daryl Nitz, Suzanne Petri, Denise Tomasello, Rob Lindley, Beckie Menzie, Tom Michael and a dozen more community favorites. The evening is called We Could Go On Singing—A Musical Feast Celebrating 100 Years of American Popular Song, but Jonny thinks that’s a bit much, don’t you? The dress-up evening begins at 7 p.m. For tix or more info, call (312) 409-3106, or check online at www.chicagocabaret.org.
Now, Jonny said there will be two events. The last, drunk music queen scarcely will depart before the drama queens arrive—and Jonny knows how they like to drink—in the form of Bailiwick Repertory’s annual Larry Osburne Trailblazer Awards, highlighted by honoree Terrence McNally, the Tony Award-winning author of Love! Valor! Compassion!, Corpus Christi, Ragtime, etc. The $50 ticket includes food and drink (beginning at 6 p.m.), plus the awards presentations. In addition to McNally, Trailblazer Awards also will be given to Patricia Logue of the Lambda Legal Defense Fund, Karen Sendziak of the Gerber/Hart Library, 44th Ward Ald. Tom Tunney, Will & Grace co-creator Max Mutchnik, Department of Human Services Youth Services Director Renae Ogletree, scenic designer and Lionheart Theatre founder Rick Paul, musical director (The Lion King) and composer Stephen Bates, and to the cofounders of Amigas Latinas, Evette Cardona and Mona Noreiga. This should be a fun evening with a serious purpose: to honor members and friends of the GLBT community. Call (773) 883-1090, or go online www.bailiwick.org.
Jonny is happy to tell you that New York audiences thumbed their noses at those prissy New York critics and made a big, fat hit out of Poseidon! An Upside Down Musical, which became the top draw of the 2003 New York International Fringe Festival, and earned the Festival’s Excellence Award for Ensemble. Poseidon!, of course, is a Chicago show, the first effort of Hell In A Handbag Productions, and the product of one of our outstanding twisted gay minds, David Cerda. Chicago critics, of course, have a great deal more sense and sensitivity than those cultist, elite New York snobs. Our critics loved Poseidon! from the get-go, and helped make it a huge local hit.
Actor/singer/dancer/writer/director/producer/activist/cutie (whew! When does find time for sex?) Stephen Rader will revive his homage to Dolly Parton for two performances only at the new Speakeasy Restaurant on Devon Avenue, Sept. 12 and 19th at 10:30 p.m. Jonny knows Mr. Rader will perform with piano, guitar, fiddle and a back-up singer. Jonny does not know if Mr. Rader will perform with fake boobs and and/or a blonde wig. You may come for dinner (by 10 p.m.) and stay for the show, or just come for the show. $12 cover. (773) 338-0600.
An important and powerful mixed-culture artist, playwright Chay Yew, will be in Chicago Sept. 21 for a staged reading of his play about Chinese gay men, A Language of Their Own. A discussion with Mr. Chay, and a reception, will follow. Out artist Jay Paul Skelton is the director. Mr. Yew’s appearance is a project of the City of Chicago Commission on Human Rights as part of the City’s Unity Month programming. The performance is co-presented and produced by the Silk Road Theatre Project, a theater troupe born only last year to showcase plays and artists of Asian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean descent. The reading, discussion and reception are free—the kind of price tag Jonny loves—at 2P p.m., Sept. 21, at the Chicago Temple, 77 W. Washington in The Loop.