Last week was the 40^th annual Carnival celebration in Provincetown.  To commemorate the event, they had 40 Grand Marshals.  One of the honorees was the beloved Bruce Vilanch, which was fortuitous since he happened to be in town to perform two shows at The Crown & Anchor.  We recently did a Queery Q&A with Vilanch for the Los Angeles Blade, which you can read online.

Another honoree was David Drake, the new artistic director of the Provincetown Theater.  He also directed and stars in the theater company’s current offering, Terrence McNally‘s Love! Valour! Compassion!, which runs through August 30th.  This is an amazing play which has weathered these past 25 years quite well.  The production captures the magic of group of disparate gay men communing during long weekends at a lakeside summer house two hours outside of New York City (it could easily have been set in Provincetown – two hours outside of Boston). Drake’s direction focuses on atmosphere and stunning stage pictures. It’s unfussy and simply lets the story unfold. The cast is uniformly good, with special kudos to Scott Cunningham (of Scottcakes) who does much of the heavy lifting as both actor and narrator.  If you don’t know the play, the entire cast is nude at various points.  As luck would have it, some footage from the show has fallen into our hot little hands.  If I’m not mistaken, this will provide the first public viewing of the fabled Drake Dick.  And it’s just as big as you heard, as you’ll see on BillyMasters.com.

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When we’re showcasing Drake’s snake, it’s definitely time to end yet another column.  But we do have one more important thing to say – Happy Anniversary to ME!  Yes, way, WAY back in August of 1995, I was cajoled into writing my first column.  And now, 23 years later, week in and week out, we’re still here.  As they used to say in those ads that no longer run on television, “You’ve come a long way, baby!”  In fact, we’ve come all the way to our own website – www.BillyMasters.com – the site where you’ll be coming before too long.  If you want to send me a question (or an anniversary greeting) you can write to Billy@BillyMasters.com, and I promise to get back to you before I celebrate my Silver Jubilee!  Until next time, remember, one man’s filth is another man’s bible.