The US is in turmoil: racial discrimination is rife while immigrants arrive by the boatload to escape feast and famine in their own countries. This could describe present-day US but it’s actually the early 20th century in the new production of Ragtime now playing at The Charing Cross Theatre.
Ragtime the novel was originally written in 1975 and had its London stage debut in 2003, after it had debuted on Broadway in 1998. The revival of the show was brought back to London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre in 2012. This new version, directed by Thom Southerland, is very ambitious, with a very crowded cast of 24 on a stage barely able to fit in their singing, dancing and acting.
It’s the turn of the 20th century in New York and we are sung the story of three different groups; an upper class family, African Americans, and Eastern European immigrants, and eventually all their lives will cross in a show that packs a lot in its over two hour running time in a theatre that was too hot and a bit too uncomfortable.
The upper-class family takes from and centre. It’s the wife, who’s called Mother (Anita Louise Combe) with a young son and a husband who leaves the family behind to go on an exhibition to the North Pole. Then there’s the African Americans, fronted by Coalhouse Walker Jr. (Ako Mitchell), a Harlem musician whose girlfriend Sarah (Jennifer Saayeng) leaves her baby on Mother’s doorstep, but eventually moves in with Mother and is found living there by Coalhouse. Then there’s the immigrants – Tateh (Gary Tushaw) and his daughter (Alana Hinge) – who arrive in the big city with nothing to their name. However they don’t find their American dream in New York so Tateh decides they should go to Boston but right before their trip they meet Mother and her son. And trouble is in store for Coalhouse and Sarah who get harassed by unfriendly locals and it’s at this point when the first half ends.
The second fails to match the first half’s intensity and drama. It neatly wraps up the storylines, with themes of reunions and acceptance but it’s all a bit of a letdown after the energetic and frantic first half. The cast are all fine, with the excellent vocal chords of Saayeng and Bernadette Bangura. And Combe and Tushaw provide much dramatic acting in their roles, while Samuel Peterson is adorable and perfect as the son on the night I saw it.
If there ever was a musical that’s full of music, this is the one. It’s a good old classic American story that’s pure red, white and blue – there’s nothing as American as this show. And what a pertinent time to have on display this show of Americana, when the U.S. is going through a most unusual election, and where black men are continuously getting killed, and immigrants from all over the world wanting to live to live there. What took place in the early 20th century is still taking place today.
We have had Al Pacino in the gay leather epic Cruising and Mark Wahlberg in the straight porn classic Boogie Nights and this month gay porn hits your multiplexes in the form of King Cobra a James Franco project and you simply won’t believe its incredible back story.
CREDIT: King Cobra
This movie ripped straight from the headlines is “based on a true story” of the early career of the biggest gay porn star of the moment, Brent Corrigan. The movie stars Christian Slater (Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves), James Franco (Spiderman), Alicia Silverstone (Clueless) and Molly Ringwald (The Breakfast Club), yes this is one big expensive Hollywood cast and it contains a whole host of man on man gay sex too as we take a peek behind the curtain of the world gay porn industry.
The film which stormed the Toronto Film Festival had its European premiere at the London Film Festival recently before going on full release in Europe and across North America from 21st October. The film has stirred up a lot of controversies as it shows the discovery of Brent Corrigan before two other agents then decide to take charge of his mega career which leads to an infamous murder that shocked the porn industry, remember this is real and true life story.
The controversy has been fanned by Brent himself refusing to support the movie and worse has denounced it on social media as taking liberties with his life story and massively showing the gay porn industry which Brent is a big supporter of in a very bad light.
The film directed by Justin Kelly is based on the successful book Cobra Killer written by Andrew E Stoner and Peter A Conway. It centres on the 2007 murder of gay porn producer Bryan Kocis (played in the film by Christian Slater) by two aspiring producers (James Franco as Joe and Keegan Allen as Harlow) who wanted to buy out Corrigan’s performing contract. It is doing great business which you would expect with that A-list Hollywood cast and with the huge interest factor of being the first real mainstream foray into our hugely popular and sleazy gay porn royalty world.
The Idaho-born Brent Corrigan was coerced into the gay porn industry at the earth shatteringly underage of 17-years-old. He immediately won Best Newcomer awards but was denounced from many a porn award stage by the likes of uber-producer Michael Lucas for lying about his age to get work and also the studios that used him knowing he was too underage to have bum sex in any form never mind on film in front of millions of viewers. His boyfriend, who he met when he was 16, got him to do his first gay porn film with Bryan Kocis who was also his scene partner then immediately signed him to a six picture deal and paid him for his first scene with a second hand Vauxhall Jetta car rather than cash.
Kocis’s company was called Cobra Studios and he continued sleeping with the underage Corrigan privately as he had done with other guys as young as 15. Brent soon became unhappy at Cobra.
Writing on his blog in 2007 Brent shared,
“Every scene Bryan has had me shoot with him he insists on making the boys cum in my face. I HATE CUM IN MY FACE. I hate it. Bryan knew I hated it. I don’t care how many people out there think it’s hot, it sucks to do it on set.
“On top of it, I have somewhat of a sensitive skin type. Each time it happens, my face becomes irritated and red after the shoot.
“So basically every time you see a picture with cum on my face, just know that I’m unhappy doing it.
“I’m sure this is why since my falling out with Cobra Video; Bryan has made it a point to put a considerable more amount of pictures out there with cum on my face.”
Brent was ready to work for others and Joe and Harlow two up and coming producers were keen to make a blockbuster film with Corrigan but instead of entering into contract arrangements and sharing the rewards they cack-handedly decided to kill Kocis instead and not just any old murder we are talking decapitation here and 28 stab wounds – remember this is all a true story from the wacky world of gay ass-banging on film.
To see the whole story and what happens next go see the film that is picking up rave reviews and getting in advance of 75% positive ratings from the world’s critics. Brent went on to have the biggest career of recent times and he has a great life working with his number one passion horses in New Mexico so not all porn stars have sad tales. As we speak in October 2016 he has 190,000 followers on twitter which is the highest number of any guy doing either gay or straight porn on planet earth – he is much loved.
As we speak in October 2016 he has 190,000 followers on twitter which is the highest number of any guy doing either gay or straight porn on planet earth – he is much loved.
During the filming, Brent went on record, writing on his Facebook page, about his involvement,
“The internet has been a buzz regarding some recent news that a movie is being filmed right now in New York State chronicling the Bryan Kocis murder and the early days of my adult career. I was originally approached to be a part of the film as a consultant and the cast. I was asked to play a small part in the film and declined the role. Ultimately, I chose to move forward with my own plans to finally release my book in place of taking part in someone else’s presentation of events that I personally lived as a young adult. Even with the time that has passed, the memories are still very real and raw for me.”
“Yes, I’ll see it. (he added) Likely in the independent theatre with everyone else. I’m stubborn, but still curious. I have very poignant ideas about the screenplay, which was presented to me about 10 days before principle photography was slated to begin in New York. I met with the director and his agent. They were insensitive right out of the gate in our interactions with them. They wanted me to come on board without even considering what dredging all that up was really asking of me.”
He continued,
“When it was all said and done, I had no dealings with Franco or his people. I chose to stay out of it because it was clear to me they were not trying to make a movie that would serve gay men, the gay adult industry, or any justice with what happened to Bryan, or what I lived through with Grant [Roy]. Grant played an integral part of the investigation, He wore a wire for the feds! I was always just the bait, but Grant was the true hero. These filmmakers couldn’t even write him a part in the movie. They made it seem like I navigated it all alone and even went so far to present their version of me as extorting Bryan. I never did that. I wanted out and away, and I hid behind Grant and the law when push came to shove. I was a kid, not a martyr.”
Brent has loads more to say on his social media so go check it out about the movie and the forthcoming book which we will feature when it is published.
