Charles Koehler 0:00 Hi. I'm Charles Koehler, and this is Lambda Reports, a program by and for the St Louis lesbian and gay community. Our guest today has been called talented, perceptive, controversial, energetic, musical, prolific, but never boring. We welcome to Lambda Reports, the multi-talented playwright, lyricist, actor and musician and St Louisan, Christopher Jackson. Good morning. Christopher Jackson 0:30 Good morning. I love that part about never boring. That's the only part that troubles me the moment. Everything else I loved, all the talented bit and everything. But I hope I won't let you down? Charles Koehler 0:40 I'm sure you won't. Well, you produced so many musical productions, I hardly know where to begin. What do you want to talk about first? Christopher Jackson 0:48 Well, I would like to talk a little bit about the show that I have running right now, which is Urban Affairs, subtitled The Musical with Brains. Charles Koehler 0:56 How did it get that title? Christopher Jackson 0:58 Well, brain sandwiches happened to be a big part of South St Louis upbringing. And I did not grow up in South St Louis, but Elaine Viets, who is the columnist, and I based my play on her book and columns, did grow up in South St Louis, and I just thought it would be a funny play on words to call it the Musical with Brains. That show is going to be coming back. It did nicely at the History Museum, and we're going to bring it back at the Other Fox through March 11, maybe longer, who knows, but it's all about interesting anecdotes about the city. The infamous No Tell Motel is also covered in a song called the Choral Court Tango, which is performed by Julio and Iglesia, two Spanish dancers, and it's all about the incognito nature of the trysts at the Coral Court, because it is now an architectural landmark, as I understand, because of its art deco design. But of course, what made it the most famous were its garages that made the parked cars invisible so that the businessmen could go there on their off hours. So there's a line in the song called that says, the lady you're with here should maintain her disguise. There are more Mrs. Smith's here than a freezer of pies. And then there's, of course, Charles Koehler 2:26 Great. Christopher Jackson 2:27 Thank you. Then the Brain Sandwich Fugue, of course, is treated with the contestants who have, they're in a contest that Elaine ran with the Post Dispatch to find the best brains in St Louis. And we say in the play, finally, an election based on brains, where the contestants all have a brain sandwich cook off on the steps of the Old Courthouse, and some of the judges include Vince Bama Rita, who owns townies and and Alderman Red Villa, among others. And it's treated in the show as a elegant Mozartian fugue, you know, which is rather incongruous or given the subject matter. And then there's a song about the St Louis Stop, which, as probably you and all your listeners know, there is no such thing as a St Louis Stop. We all roll right through those stop signs. And that's done as sort of an Elvis Presley kind of number by flashing red and the moving violations, you know, so it's fun. Charles Koehler 3:24 Seems like you really stretched your musical expertise in writing and all of these different musical motifs. I understand that the musical got quite fine reviews, as a matter of fact. Christopher Jackson 3:36 Yes, it was well received. Had a nice mention the RFT and the Post and on some radio stations. So we were very pleased with the critical and the audience response. And the first production was a workshop production, which means it's a work in progress. It's a very common occurrence in New York to do, to workshop everything that's new from Chorus Line right on down, but it doesn't happen very often in St Louis that you workshop a new musical. So it was a great chance to be able to fix and change things with Elaine on the premises, and of course, with the wonderful theater factory staff, the show was directed by Hope Wardak, who is, I think, the best director in St Louis, and we had a great time working and fixing it. So we've taken a few suggestions that the audience made, because after each show, it was open for audience comment and discussion. And of course, you know, you quickly learn in that kind of situation that everyone's a critic, and you don't, you take everything with a grain of salt, and you don't change everything, but you, you know, you learn to change the right thing. So we've, we've taken a few of the suggestions and and gone with it. One suggestion I remember that was made that we didn't change was about a favorite song of mine in the show called Who Will Buy My House, where a woman is selling, an older woman is selling her home to Elaine and her husband, Don. And there's a line in the show, in the song about a gay couple that owned the house nearby, and it goes, my neighbor down the street, Miss Emily Ann had to move now that Fred had passed, do you understand. She sold to the nicest young men, Rick and Dave, they seem very close. Well, I think they're that way. A few eyebrows were raised. Some didn't think it right. But Emily Ann had found her white knights. And someone thought that that I was being racist when I said White Knights. And I thought, you know, I mean, there's always gonna, there's always gonna be something. I mean, never did that ever occur to me, in my mind and in my heart of hearts. I think if anyone, it's not racist, it's me. And so one has to take, you know, has to be careful not to let your original conception be watered down, because people will tend to pick up little things and that that song is staying as is, because I won't change it. Charles Koehler 6:07 I'm anxious to see it myself, and I haven't seen it, but I, again, I've heard very good things about it. Well, just, just real briefly, what was, what was Elaine working like, working with? Christopher Jackson 6:16 oh, Elaine was fabulous. We hit it off right away. We both sort of have the same sense of humor, which is sick, and and we we really got to be very close friends in addition to being working partners. And I think that that the key to the humor in the show is that it it just stopped short of being cruel or making fun of people. So I think some of the early David Letterman jokes where he would go into a store where the people spoke bad English, and he always came in there and sort of made fun of the fact that they didn't spell signs correctly. He's sort of given that up now, but I remember in the early days he was sort of making fun of lower class people, and Elaine not being, of course, lower class but, but coming from the South St Louis background and working class environment is of them, rather than looking down, yes, part of our heritage and, and part of mine also. And so I think we identify with that and, and we, we don't, I don't think, take a malicious tone with the material. Charles Koehler 7:26 Well, let's talk a little bit more about about some of the other plays that you passed. There's one that you've done last year, an autobiographical review called Any Day but Sunday. Can you tell us a little bit about that? Christopher Jackson 7:40 Yes, that was sort of when I opened up my songwriters trunk, and I took all the songs I'd always wanted to to have performed and never had the vehicle to do them, and I put together a show at the Other Fox last year. A lot of it was autobiographical, lot of it was gay material, and I was wondering how it would go over. And I, I was delighted by the response. I mean, I didn't have anybody you know, walk out and in disgust, not that there was anything in the show that was that controversial. But, I mean, I had a couple of things about relationships that I've had in the past, and I really sort of laid bare my soul for one of the first times, because in some of the other shows I've had, you know, a lot of gay material in my in my productions, and I, I wrote a song in my last show, Wish upon a Star called Fire Island, which was sort of a metaphor for the way that we all sometimes feel isolated as a community and as people from from the outside world, so to speak, and the song said something to the effect of walking down city streets, people you'd like to meet whisper and say that I'm a freak while I keep it inside and turn the cheek at Christmas and other holidays, family reunions, how I pray someone had something nice to say, but they never do anyway. So it's all about sort of the isolation one feels for being gay. But it was, of course, sung by a character in the show. So it wasn't me, per se, well, in any but, any day but Sunday, it was me, and I was I was in the show as well. And so there I was on the line, on the line, looking out into an audience. Sometimes of friends, I know people from school, church, and they would come up to me later and say, I just wanted to tell you how much I really enjoyed that show. So I sometimes think honesty is the best policy. And it was time for me to kind of, you know, let it, let it all hang out. There's a number in the show called you mustn't blow your cover, which is about keeping a low price profile and making sure that no one knows who you are. Like don't do this. And don't quote Sondheim songs by heart. Don't know too much about modern art, you know. Or you might blow your cover, you know. And don't stand up for. Your friends in jail, you know, don't be seen walking down the nature trail, you know. So that kind of thing. And we performed it in trench coats with sunglasses and big floppy hats, like we were all, you know, maintaining a very low profile. So I figure you better practice what you preach. And it was time for me to take a stand and to let my voice be known, and I never regretted it for a moment. Charles Koehler 10:23 Great, great. Let's talk just a little bit about one of your earlier plays in 86 the which you claim is the most controversial you've written, Three Boys. Christopher Jackson 10:34 Yes, yeah, Three Boys, I think is my favorite show of anything I've done, it was a true story based on a friend of mine with whom I did also have a relationship. And many songs I've written all through the years have been about this person. And so someday, someone will will probably look through my collection of songs and say, Who was this person? Because he keeps popping up in a lot of different shows of mine, and people who know this person say, often say to me, what did you ever see in this person you know? And because he does kind of get to be rather glorified and larger than life. But that's, that's what theater is all about. Theater is larger than life. Charles Koehler 11:25 Sometimes life is that way too light. Christopher Jackson 11:28 Yeah, and, and, you know, it was in my head for a long time that maybe it was distorted beyond its proportion. I mean, maybe I was making a bigger deal out of this whole relationship than it actually was, but it's sort of immortalized forever and preserved in these songs, and that's what I like about it. So when I, you know, hear the songs about this, I always think fondly back and and remember that it was, it's probably better than it was, you know, but what the heck? So Three Boys is based on a story that he told me once about going to school in a fundamentalist Bible college in the Ozarks, which shall remain nameless, as it does in the show, although it's we sort of hint at what the what the school really is. And it was here that he had an instant attraction to another freshman at this school. Well, of course, being the sort of Jim and Tammy Jimmy Swaggart Bible thumping background of the school, it was rather frowned upon, but it was like their their attraction for each other was stronger than any bond that could separate them. And there was a third student who was jealous of their relationship that was also interested in this fellow, and he ratted on them. He turned them in to the school's headmaster, and in the show, the headmaster is also hypocritical, because he, too, we found out, is somewhat of a closet case, and he's never seen in the show, only heard. He has a big, booming voice, and his name in the show is Dr Gabriel White, and he's the head of the school, and he's based on all the television evangelists that we've known, and that's that show says sort of a lot about homosexuality and religion, which I did a lot of studying about. I don't think it's necessarily hypocritical to be a Christian and to be gay. And there are a lot of books I read about the subject, former ministers, former people of the cloth, all of whom you know are gay, and it doesn't necessarily you know conflict. So that show has, is very important to me, and it's going to be done again in Des Moines this summer. So I'm great, happy about that. Charles Koehler 13:42 Great. Well, we have about 30 seconds. Christopher Jackson 13:44 Do we really? Charles Koehler 13:45 The whole 30 seconds. Just in a nutshell, what advice would you have for our listeners who are interested in pursuing a career music or plays? Christopher Jackson 13:53 Just keep going. And if you're if you're turned down, go on. Because the man who wrote The Wizard of Oz went to every publisher in the circuit and was turned down by every one of them went through a second time, was turned down on the third time, one person liked it, and the rest is history. So never, ever give up. And the important thing is to get your shows produced, get people to see them, no matter where it is, tiniest church, biggest theater doesn't matter? Charles Koehler 14:22 Great. Unfortunately, that's all the time we have for today. I'd like to thank our guest, Christopher Jackson, for being with us. It's been a pleasure. Christopher Jackson 14:30 Been great. Charles Koehler 14:31 I'd also like to remind our listeners that the production, Urban Affairs, the Musical with Brains, will be running through March the 11th at the Other Fox and show information is available by calling 832-1919, that's 832-1919, this has been Charles Koehler for our Lambda Reports. Join us again. Same time next week. Transcribed by https://otter.ai