Bits and Pieces- By Diane Frank

Now that Victor/Victoria is over, you would think I’d have lots of time to write down everything. But I haven’t.

I had a cast party for the V/V crew at my house after the last performance, something I very much enjoyed doing. And one of the cast, as he said goodbye said he hoped I’d been treated as I’d wished to be treated. I was thinking about writing an article about this. I’m torn about a truthful as opposed to a polite answer. The truthful answer is that I wish I could have been seamlessly and invisibly a woman in that performance. But failing that, the truth is that I couldn’t have been treated better. Not once was I asked a question related to my choice of clothing or my motives. My conversations with my fellow cast members were about either the mundane details of daily life, like what we suffered ourselves to do when we weren’t acting...or about the show, or theatre gossip. Pronouns to be sure were mixed...but that isn’t something I invest any effort in trying to force. Some cast members brought their children backstage before performances or to rehearsal. No one hid me from their children or vice versa. I was always included in anything the rest of the cast did after the show. The closest anyone else came to remarking on my special status, was when I remarked to one actor that I’d left a bar early one night because I thought two particular people were there to pick a fight. He said to me, "You shouldn’t have worried , Diane, we’ve got your back". Wow!

Which reminds me of one other thing. You might be amazed to learn that I’ve never done musical theatre before. You might then want to ask all the usual questions about stage fright. But I didn’t worry, because in every scene I was working with really experience professional people who I could rely on in case I got in trouble with a line (not that I had that many....thank goodness!). They had my back there too.

I’ve talked with some of you about how one of my projects has been to define what people who crossdress, for whatever reason, can do with their lives. How often do we hear...ok I’m coming to terms with wearing a dress, now what? The business of writing articles has empowered me to go places and find that it can be done. My participation in committee work at the Akron Pride Center and the LGBT Center in Cleveland shows that there are places where we can do meaningful work as part of our self-expression. My membership in my synagogue, Chevrei Tikva, has not only been spiritually nourishing, but personally fulfilling in the friendships I’ve developed with all its members, gay, lesbian, straight (yes, there are straight members) and trans. And now I’ve found another community in the actors and players of Cleveland.

The last thing I want to imply is that this is a path that anyone else can or should follow. I hear too often that "x" means you should do "y". I don’t think so. What I hope is that people who read about my choices and experiences can find in them the motivation to take some chances themselves, to answer their own questions about "Now what do I do with this? How do I make it a positive part of my life, something that adds value to it?"

As a last note under my thoughts coming out of
Victor/Victoria I want to recognize the courteous reception I received at Nordstroms (Beachwood Place) and Solomon’s Corset shop (Eaton Collection in Woodmere). I went to Nordstroms in order to get sheer red hose to go with the red sequined outfit from the bar fight scene. Because of the all the running around in that scene I was running a pair of hose an night. I went to Solomon’s to get proper foundation garments that didn’t show through the white sequined number for the opening and closing scenes, and provided proper support during all that running around. Putting that gown on, with all that fringe added to it, was a learning experience. The gown was a pure sheath, with no zippers, buttons or hooks. But I finally did learn to get it on and off quickly without needing help. Something like a snake shedding it’s skin. Getting back to Solomon’s- I talked with the owner herself, and she told me flat out that although they couldn’t let us use dressing rooms for fittings we were always welcome there.

Nordstroms

Beachwood Place (#227)
26200 Cedar Road
Beachwood, OH 44122
(216) 378-2121
M-Sat 10:00 - 9:00 Sun 12:00 - 6:00

Solomon's Corset Shop
at Eton Collection
28699 Chagrin Boulevard
Woodmere, Ohio 44122
(216) 464-1080
1-800-829-1081 (Outside Cuyahoga County)
info@solomonscorsetshop.com


Also in town during October was a Kabuki artist from Japan who specialized in female roles- an Onnagata. I took extensive notes on the performance, but I’m going to work from memory right now and summarize.

A female prostitute in old Japan, ironically enough, originated kabuki. She apparently also did a cross gender performance, doing a bawdy impression of Portuguese sailors. Women performers were quickly banned because of the prostitution, and then the young boys who took their place were also banned for the same reason: only male actors over 25 (I think) were allowed to play women’s parts. Now Onnagata roles are passed down in families, and are heavy with tradition.

The auditorium at John Carrol was packed, and even with a TV camera projecting a large image it was sometimes difficult to make out what was going on, even with my seat relatively close to the front. There was also a lack of harmony between the translator and Mr. Umenosuke, as she was unable to wait for him to finish his very long descriptions or answers to questions, while he was unable to provide gaps in his responses for her to translate up to that point. The appearance was also covered by Carolyn Jack of the Plain Dealer, however, she wasn’t well situated and missed most of Umenosuke’s comments.

Onoe Umenosuke is in his early 40’s by my guess. His manner on stage initially was quite friendly and flirtatious. As he worked his transformation from male to female however he became more and more serious.

The makeup for Onnagata is painful to apply, and given the historical use of lead for white pigment, possibly toxic. Eyebrows are completely covered and the hair line pulled up by with a headband. Umenosuke commented that when he draws in the eyebrows, that is when he makes a psychological transition from male to female. I found this striking as to me his mannerism was rather feminine when he first appeared on stage as male, and while he put on his makeup, his manner became more stern, and I saw no transition once he drew the eyebrows in.

One remark that Carolyn Jack did pick up, that seems to demonstrate a solidarity of Onnagata with drag queens and some myopic CDs is Umenosuke’s response to a question about whether his performance as a woman was informed by modern women. Umenosuke’s reply was that Modern Women, especially those on the Ginza (I think a fashionable district in Tokyo) should learn how to be a woman from him. Some kinds of nonsense clearly transcend international boundaries.

After Umenosuke did his face makeup, he put on a Kimono in Iris colors for the Iris dance with the aid of a female assistant, followed by a heavy, highly stylized wig. Umenosuke demonstrated the characteristic gestures and movements Kabuki assigned to women of various ages pointing to themselves, and differences in gait for different women. I was struck by how accurate the movements seen in a traditional version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Mikado remain, over a century since they copied them from the Japanese Exhibiton in London. As for Mr. Umenosuke’s dancing....let us just say that it’s hard to gauge his talent as a dancer, given that the dance was structureless and repetitive by Western Standards. Or more likely, I just didn’t get it, or perhaps I was just worn out by that point in the program.

I regret to report that I was unable to attend the Eddie Izzard show, as we attended an old friend’s wedding on the West Coast that weekend. Mr. Izzard is an English comedian who is an out crossdresser and incorporates his crossdressing in his performance . There was no review, and the preview in the PD or other local papers didn’t give a whole lot of useful information other than that Mr. Izzard is now wearing breast forms, whereas before he wasn’t.