Rabbit Rabbit. Welcome to the March (hare) edition of The Queer Agenda, The Queer Review’s curated monthly guide to LGBTQ+ cultural happenings in New York City, Los Angeles, London and beyond. Stay queer and fierce out there.
March 2 – Alexandra Juhasz‘s Please Hold premiere – Parkside Lounge, New York
Activist mediamaker, scholar, writer, and Distinguished Professor of Film, CUNY, Alexandra Juhasz premieres her latest experimental documentary Please Hold (70 mins, 2024) at 5pm. Before the screening, from 3pm, as part of a dynamic multisensory community-based experience, attendees are invited to bring and share among queer community objects that hold memories of HIV/AIDS, the Lower East Side, or the Parkside Lounge. Co-sponsored by the MIX Experimental Film Festival and Visual AIDS, the event will be emceed by “High-Profile NYC Drag Queen!” Linda Simpson and conclude with a live performance by CHRISTEENE, whose music is featured in the video. Tickets are pay-what-you-can and all funds will be split between MIX and helping the film travel for future installations. Tickets can be purchased here.
March 2 – 32nd annual Winter Party Festival Beach Party – Miami Beach, Florida
Produced by the National LGBTQ Task Force, Winter Party Festival’s iconic Beach Party main event returns to the sands of South Beach on March 2nd. The week-long annual dance and music festival benefits local and national LGBTQ+ organizations. This year’s “Dance is Revolution” themed celebration features an eclectic mix of music, community programming, and entertainment that embodies the mantra, “Live free. Play hard. Give back.” The Beach Party returns with DJs Micky Friedmann and Erik Vilar and is expected to attract over 3,000 attendees from around the globe. Founded in 1994, Winter Party provides a safe haven for the LGBTQ and allied communities to celebrate queer joy and live freely. The National LGBTQ Task Force donates a significant portion of the proceeds raised at Winter Party and its sister event, the National LGBTQ Task Force Gala, to like-minded community advocacy groups in South Florida through the LGBTQ+ Equity Fund, a philanthropic collaboration between the Task Force, Our Fund Foundation, and The Miami Foundation. Since 2005, the Task Force has given back more than $4 million and supported over 100 community organizations in South Florida; the Task Force also directly funds social justice causes locally and nationally. For more details and tickets head to winterparty.com.
March 6 – A Streetcar Named Desire: A Trans Table Read – The Elysian, Los Angeles
“So many trans people did not get to play formative roles when we were growing up. We did not get to explore these classic works in high school and community theater. This is our opportunity to play the classic roles we grew up on, read and saw in school and elsewhere, but did not have an opportunity to play ourselves. We are giving ourselves a chance to play in this world. With everything we were already facing—and are especially facing now—we have no choice but to stand up and be seen. Our art is our action.” – Eve Lindley, who will direct this reading of Tennessee Williams’ classic with an all-star cast featuring Jamie Clayton, Brian Michael Smith, Rain Valdez, Alexandra Billings, and Theo Tiedemann. For more details and to purchase ticktes head to elysiantheater.com.
March 8 – Amber Martin in Bathhouse Bette – Oscar’s, Palm Springs
Accompanied by her very own “Barry” on piano, powerhouse vocalist Amber Martin brings her legendary show to Palm Springs. This critically-acclaimed, loud, luminous and loving tribute to Bette Midler’s early career performances at The Continental Baths focuses on the early 70s, when a 26 year-old, hungry, as-yet-unknown starlet, Bette Midler, got her chops as the resident firecracker chanteuse singing at the uptown gay bathhouse (now a parking lot under The Ansonia). She earned her “camp” medals in the hot and steamy bathhouse, singing to men in towels, still wet from the pool and other dark spaces. Her also as-yet-unknown house accompanist was none other than Barry Manilow, with campy jokes written by Bruce Vilanch and her hairdresser, Mister Gerard. For more details and tickets head to oscarspalmsprings.com.
March 12-13 – Weill Boy / Brecht Girl / Eisler Mann – Joe’s Pub, New York
Weill Boy / Brecht Girl / Eisler Mann features performance and visual artist John Kelly with music director and pianist Mila Henry. Includes the music of Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, and Hans Eisler, among other 20th century art songs. Missives from a Divine Promiscue, songs for a new reality. For more details & tickets head to publictheater.org.
March 13 – Rosa von Praunheim’s Transexual Menace – IFC Center, New York
Rosa von Praunheim teamed up with acclaimed photographer Mariette Pathy Allen for this nuanced portrait of American trans lives and politics in the 1990s. Similar in form to Army of Lovers or Revolt of the Perverts, Transexual Menace explores the various factions of the burgeoning trans rights movement, from pioneers like Leslie Feinberg and Virginia Prince, to events like the activist group Transexual Menace’s protest at the first Transgender Lobby Day and the Southern Comfort and Fantasia Fair conferences. Woefully underseen and rarely screened, Transexual Menace is an essential piece of trans film history that’s sadly now more relevant than ever. Screening as part of IFC Center’s monthly queer series, Cruising the Movies, programmed and hosted by Elizabeth Purchell and KJ Shepherd. More info and tickets.
March 14 – Glamrou: Drag Mother – Joe’s Pub, New York
A tale of two mothers. Renowned Iraqi queen Glamrou, and renowned Iraqi queen, Glamrou’s Mother, fight for the spotlight with their competing narratives of What Really Happened. Come get lost in this drag hall of mirrors, where one queen’s truth is another queen’s fiction. Featuring live music, live comedy and live delusion, Muslim drag sensation Glamrou is here to activate your Freudian wounds. With a stiletto. More details and tickets at Publictheater.org.
March 15 – Pink Narcissus West Coast restoration premiere – Billy Wilder Theater, Los Angeles
“In 1963—the year of Scorpio Rising, Flaming Creatures and Warhol’s first films—physique photographer James Bidgood began working on an ambitious homoerotic film fantasy he called Pink Narcissus. For over six years, he filmed his star, Bobby Kendall, using 8mm Kodachrome and later 16mm Ektachrome stock on numerous lavish sets, most built in the confines of his cramped Manhattan apartment. After many delays, the film’s backers grew tired of waiting for a finished film and dropped Bidgood from the project. Bidgood repudiated their version, and when Pink Narcissus was released in 1971, his credits for producing, directing, writing and photography were listed as “Anonymous.” Nearly 30 years later, Bidgood reclaimed his role as the visionary creator of the queer cinema classic and became a major influence on artists ranging from Pierre et Gilles to David LaChapelle and Steven Arnold. Now, over 60 years after Bidgood began crafting his sumptuous opus, the UCLA Film & Television Archive presents its 4K restoration in this West Coast restoration premiere.” —Michael Lumpkin, who will take part in a Q&A with author Kelly McKaig who will sign copies of his newly released book, James Bidgood: Dreamlands. This event is part of UCLA Film & Television Archive’s Legacy Project Screening Series. Free admission with a ticket. For full details head to cinema.ucla.edu.
March 17 – Jeffery Self’s Self-Sabotage: And Other Ways I’ve Spent My Time book launch – Strand Book Store, New York
Actor and writer Jeffery Self will discuss his hilarious and heartfelt new memoir Self-Sabotage: And Other Ways I’ve Spent My Time with Oh, Mary! writer and star Cole Escola in Strand Book Store’s 3rd floor Rare Book Room at 828 Broadway on 12th Street. The book chronicles Self’s journey from small-town Georgia to New York’s comedy scene. Known for his work with Escola and appearances in shows like Search Party and Shameless, Self’s memoir blends humor with deeply personal stories about sex work, mental health, and chasing dreams. With his new film Drop on the way, Jeffery’s candid, irreverent voice makes him a perfect interview. Head here for more details and to purchase a ticket.
March 18-April 6 – Tituss Burgess stars in Oh, Mary! – Lyceum Theatre, Broadway, New York
Six-time Emmy-nominee Tituss Burges (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, 30 Rock) will take on Mary Todd Lincoln’s bratty wig from Betty Gilpin in Cole Escola’s dark comedy cultural phenomenon, Oh, Mary!, for a strictly limited three-week engagement from March 18th until April 6th, before passing that same bratty wig to Escola when they return to the role, along with the entire original Broadway cast, on April 8th. When the play first opened on Broadway The Queer Review enthused: “Delectably queer and irreverent, and supremely silly—in the tradition of the likes of Monty Python—this isn’t comedy gold, it’s comedy platinum. An electrifying example of live theatre at its finest, Oh, Mary! offers the unique joy of being part of a full-house Broadway audience joined in uproarious laughter. It’s a riot.” For tickets and more details head to ohmaryplay.com.
March 19-30 – BFI Flare: London LGBTQIA+ Film Festival – BFI Southbank, London
From March 19th to 30th BFI Southbank’s annual celebration of queer cinema returns for its 39th edition celebrating the best new LGBTQIA+ cinema from around the world. The Opening Night Gala selection, The Wedding Banquet, sees Fire Island filmmaker Andrew Ahn explore new queer family models and the pressures of cultural traditions in his loving and hilarious update of Ang Lee’s 1993 classic. While Brazilian-Italian filmmaking duo Filipe Matzembacher and Marcio Reolon’s playful and seductive erotic thriller Night Stage (Ato noturno) will close out this year’s festival. Other highlights include a Special Presentation screening of Shatara Michelle Ford’s Black queer remix of the road movie, Dreams in Nightmares, fresh from the Berlinale; Kimberly Reed’s profoundly moving feature documentary I’m Your Venus, which picks up the story of rising New York ballroom legend and trans icon Venus Xtravaganza 35 years after her death; Sam Feder’s urgent and timely trans rights documentary Heightened Scrutiny; Zackary Drucker’s Enigma, a meditation on queer survival with disco queen Amanda Lear and British trans legend April Ashley; and the UK premiere of Todd Verow and the late Charles Lum’s NSFW Super 8 shot experimental collaboration, Memorabilia. Head here for the full lineup and to purchase tickets.
March 21-September 14 – Vaginal Davis: Fabelhaftes Produkt – Gropius Bau, Berlin
Marking twenty years since artist, writer and performer Vaginal Davis made Berlin her home, Gropius Bau presents the first comprehensive solo exhibition of her work in Germany. In her expansive oeuvre, punk meets glamour, queer activism meets Black counter-culture and resistance meets desire. Vaginal Davis: Fabelhaftes Produkt features large-scale installations, paintings, video and film works, zines, writing, music and performances, offering an overview of Davis’ practice and artistic collaborations. In the exhibition, the Berlin-based art collective CHEAP presents the installation Choose Mutation, with photographs by Annette Frick. Fabelhaftes Produkt invites you into the universe of Vaginal Davis, populated by literary heroines, mythical figures and real icons. For more details and tickets head here.
March 27 – 36th Annual GLAAD Media Awards – Los Angeles
Michael Urie will host the 36th GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles, the world’s most visible annual LGBTQ awards show, honouring media for fair, accurate, and inclusive representations of LGBTQ people and issues. Cynthia Erivo will receive the organization’s Stephen F. Kolzak Award “for making a significant difference in raising visibility and promoting the acceptance of LGBTQ people and issues”. Special guests expected to attend this year’s event include Maren Morris, Jay Shetty, Doechii, Cooper Koch, Nava Mau, and the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17. Earlier this year, GLAAD announced nearly 303 culture-changing nominees across 33 categories across film, television, gaming, publishing, stage productions, music, podcasting, journalism, and more. Head here for a full list of nominees, including The Queer Review in the Outstanding Independent Journalism category.
March 27 – The Picture Of Dorian Gray – Music Box Theatre, Broadway, New York
Emmy Award-winner Sarah Snook, star of HBO’s Succession, reprises her Olivier Award-winning performance in The Picture Of Dorian Gray on Broadway, taking on all 26 roles in this endlessly inventive adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s classic, turning the tale of narcissism and vice into a one-person, multimedia spectacular. This ground-breaking production is adapted and directed by multi award-winning Kip Williams from his tenure as Artistic Director at the Sydney Theatre Company, fusing live performance and video. Previews begin on March 10th ahead of the show’s official opening on March 27th. The Broadway production will play a strictly-limited engagement for 14 weeks. Read Chad Armstrong’s review of the Sydney production, and head to doriangrayplay.com for more details about the Broadway run and to purchase tickets.
Ends March 29 – Mike Kuchar Show Off – François Ghebaly gallery, New York
François Ghebaly’s Lower East Side location hosts iconoclastic filmmaker and visual artist Mike Kuchar’s latest exhibition, Show Off. Since the 60s, Kuchar has been an influential figure in the underground film and comics scenes. Together with his twin brother George, the Kuchars gained cult recognition first in the Bronx and then in San Francisco for their over-the-top, no-budget films that sent up Hollywood epics, weepy romances, and sci-fi B movies. Throughout the 1970s, Mike began to support his filmmaking with erotic drawings that graced the pages of gay magazines and erotic comic books like Gay Heart Throbs, Meatmen, and First Hand Magazine. Spanning from the early 1980s to the present moment, Show Off gathers essential characters in Kuchar’s exuberant pinup universe—daddies, devils, buxom cruisers, and Jetson-esque ‘men of the future’. With trademark wit and incendiary flair, the exhibition underscores the desire and freedom pivotal to Kuchar’s enduring legacy. Head here for more details and gallery opening times.
Compiled by James Kleinmann
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