Manhattan Chowder, Back in the Big Apple

Patti on Betty

As I've mentioned before, I'm a fan of the ABC hit Ugly Betty. I am also a fan of Broadway legend Patti LuPone. So imagine my delight when I learned that Ms. Lupone will grace the cast of Ugly Betty with a guest appearance to air this Thursday night at 8PM Eastern. Yes, it's true. Patti and Betty--TOGETHER. A gay man's dream come to fruition hatched in the recesses of some brilliant casting director's twisted uber-homo mind, no doubt.

The episode is entitled "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Ms. LuPone will play the mother of Marc (Michael Urie), who is the assistant and "seeing-eye gay" to Willamina Slater (Vanessa Williams). Here's how the episode has been described:

"Marc, promising to help Betty with inside info for Daniel, convinces her to pretend to be his 'girlfriend' when his suspicious mom, Mrs. Weiner (LuPone), arrives in town. Things go from bad to worse when Mrs. Weiner invites herself to dinner at the Suarez home and Betty's whole family has to play along..."

Hilarity is sure to ensue! It always does, doesn't it? That wacky Betty always finds herself in a pickle! As if that weren't enough, Judith Light will also appear on the episode in her recurring role as Claire Meade, the drunk domineering matriarch of the Meade family.

But more than the sheer delight of Patti AND Betty AND Vanessa AND Judith Light appearing in the very same Ugly Betty episode is the impact the rare phenomenon of Musical Theatre royalty colliding with campy TV has on a generation of gay youth. Years from now in a bar somewhere a group of gay men will be swapping stories about "when they knew" as gay men often do, you know. And no doubt one of them will say "I knew I was gay the night I saw Patti Lupone guest star on Ugly Betty!" to which his peers will exclaim "ME TOO!" If, perchance, you overhear them, offer to buy a round of drinks, sit them down and tell them the story of the night Ethel AND Carol AND Della AND Ann Miller all co-starred on an episode of The Love Boat. Our story goes on.

Labels: Gay Culture, Humor, Pop Culture, Theatre

posted by Michael @ 11:24 PM