The Big Gay Musical. Distributed by Embrem Entertainment and TLA Releasing.
DVD Review for
This Week In Texas by
Duane Simolke.
Summary:
A musical stage production within a movie helps provide the comical soundtrack for The Big Gay Musical. Adam and Eve meet Adam and Steve for an upbeat message about love and acceptance.
Review:
Fred M. Caruso produced, wrote, and co-directed The Big Gay Musical, a movie that lives up to its name by providing a staged musical within the movie and a surprisingly fresh look at coming out. Casper Andreas, the director of Between Love & Goodbye and A Four Letter Word, co-directed. Caruso also contributed to those two Andreas films, but The Big Gay Musical fully reveals his talents. He even co-wrote some of this film’s charming and humorous songs.
Daniel Robinson plays Paul in the movie and Adam in the off-Broadway play, Adam and Steve Just the Way God Made Them. Paul wants to bounce back from a relationship by going from settled to promiscuous. Joey Dudding plays Eddie in the movie and Steve in the play. Eddie goes from waiting for the right guy to engaging in unprotected sex. Both men find themselves unsatisfied by their new approaches to dating.
Eddie’s parents are as religious and homophobic as the televangelists and the ex-gay campers in the play, so they react badly when he finally comes out to them. The play, however, features a jovial, gay-friendly God replacing the rebellious Adam and Eve with Adam and Steve. The exaggerated, campy characters in the play tend to mirror their offstage counterparts, but Caruso keeps those offstage characters in a more believable reality.
Combined, the cast has appeared in nearly fifty Broadway musicals. That fact shows in their polished numbers. Those strong musical performances also help deliver some of the most touching moments on a different stage, during “Mostly Sondheim” open-mike nights at a local piano bar.
Separately or together, the two leads always connect the different storylines and locations into a single experience. Their frustrations with many aspects of both religious culture and gay culture will resonate with countless viewers.
For eye-candy and fun music alone, many of the people who purchase this movie might wear out their copy. However, The Big Gay Musical also draws strength from a positive message, strong production values, funny lines, and the universal need for love and acceptance.
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