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| Dreamy Zach Quinto in a German GQ photo shoot. |
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| Mmmmmm…glasses are HAWT! |
Actor Zach Quinto has intrigued us since we first spotted him in “Heroes” five years ago. He played the evil Sylar and managed to turn the villain AND the actor into a fan favorite which ultimately led to his casting as Spock in the reboot of “Star Trek” for director J.J. Abrams. “Heroes” is gone and it’ll be a while before we see him in “Star Trek 2” but diehard Quintophiles can always check him out in the revival of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America which is opening this coming Thursday, at the Signature Theatre Company’s Peter Norton Space in New York. It’s the first New York revival of the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning duet of plays, (Millennium Approaches, Part One, and Perestroika, Part Two) since the original productions with Ron Leibman, Stephen Spinella, Marcia Gay Harden, and Jeffrey Wright and directed by George C. Wolfe in 1993.
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| Zach in a a sauna (left) in a still from that cheesy Tori Spelling show he made pre-Heroes fame. |
Quinto plays Louis Ironson, the Jewish intellectual lover of Prior Walter. When Prior struggles with AIDS, Louis panics and abandons his lover, finding himself both relieved that he doesn’t have to cope with the pain of watching a loved one succumb to the disease, and ashamed and angry at his own callowness and moral ambiguity. It’s one of the toughest roles in the play; it’s difficult to balance the various aspects of Louis’s character so as not to turn the character into an unsympathetic villain. I was privileged to be able to experience the original Broadway production of “Angels in America” in 1993 and witnessed Joe Mantello’s brilliant and ultimately sympathetic portrayal of Louis. I’m also a huge fan of Mike Nichols’ adaptation of the plays for HBO but I don’t think actor Ben Shenkman was entirely successful with his interpretation of the character. My primary problem with the HBO “Angels” is that Mr Shenkman’s Louis ended up being too unsympathetic, while Patrick Wilson’s closety Mormon lawyer, Joe Pitt was portrayed too sweetly. I think Mr Kushner’s intent was just the opposite; Louis does some awful things, but atones for them and ends up a better person, but Joe also does awful things, suffers a bit, but ends up doomed to repeat his failings as a closeted, Mormon, Republican doing the bidding of a political party that persecutes LGBTQ citizens. Hopefully, the Signature Theatre production doesn’t make the same mistake.
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| Zach Quinto as Louis and Billy Porter as Belize in the Signature Theatre revival of Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America”. Photo by Joan Marcus. |
Mr Quinto also has an interview in the New York Times to promote the new production. While Zach Quinto has been a very vocal ally for numerous LGBTQ causes, including gay marriage and the fight to end DADT, and isn’t very shy about having numerous queer friends in Los Angeles or being seen in gay clubs or at gay events in L.A., he prefers to dodge any questions about his own sexuality:
Despite Mr. Quinto’s efforts to keep his private life private, the blogosphere is rife with speculation about his sexuality, no doubt fueled by his support for gay rights and organizations like the Trevor Project. He prefers not to feed that rumor mill with either substantiation or dismissal. He speaks passionately about gay marriage, about “don’t ask, don’t tell” and about the recent wave of gay bullying and suicides.
“The fact that these things are such hot-button issues right now, socially and politically, I would much rather talk about that than talk about who I sleep with,” Mr. Quinto said. “I would love to be a voice in this maelstrom of chaos and obsessive celebrity infatuation that says, ‘Let’s talk about something that matters,’ ” he added.
I have to say that I agree with that sentiment, generally speaking, but I also have to suggest that every time ANYONE comes out of the closet, that it opens doors for more acceptance from the general population. Very few people knew, let alone liked or accepted queer people 35 years ago. The fact that millions of people have been able to come out and “expose” themselves to family, friends and co-workers, has led to public opinion on queer people changing dramatically and positively to the point where nearly half the country supports the rights of LGBTQ citizens. And, when celebrities come out, the perception that queer people are “o.k.” swells even higher…maybe John Q. Redneck in Bumfuck, Alabama doesn’t have any queer family members or acquaintances, but he might be more accepting of the queer community if his favorite actor, singer or athlete is an out gay man or woman.
And considering the thousands of pages of NSFW Slash fiction and art out there depicting the forbidden gay love of Spock and Kirk, I don’t thing very many fans of “Star Trek” would be that horrified to discover that the current Spock actually enjoys a little “Man on Vulcan” inter species buggery.
– Michael Strangeways
