Gayfest NYC 2008 - "Steve Hayes' Hollywood Reunion"

The second production in the studio theater for Gayfest NYC 2008 is "Steve Hayes' Hollywood Reunion."  Steve Hayes is a real one-man band here, having written the show and being its sole actor.  Hayes is a talented monologuist and dedicated "old movie" queen, and he held an audience enthralled for 90 minutes at the late afternoon performance today.  Everybody seemed to be amused, and many were simply in stitches much of the time.  I thought plenty of it was laugh-out-loud funny.  The premise is that Hayes received a phone call from an old buddy and fellow movie queen who lives in California, inviting him to come out to spend the holidays, after both have suffered losses.  Hayes had just suffered the end of a relationship, and his friend had lost a long-time lover to death.  The monologue is the story of Hayes' decision to go and then an account of his week-long visit in La-La-Land.

I had a great time, and I think the rest of the audience did as well.  Hayes is totally charming, a great story-teller, and has that gift of making you, the audience member, feel like he is talking directly to you and confiding in you as he goes along.  The production is simple, with lighting and music well-coordinated with Hayes' monologue.  It is not boring in the least, time seems to fly by, and one receives a liberal education on the great movie divas of the golden age of film as well.  There will be additional performances June 13-15, so check out the GayfestNYC website and be sure to see it!