{"id":94791,"date":"2026-03-01T22:32:47","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T06:32:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=94791"},"modified":"2026-03-01T22:32:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T06:32:47","slug":"friends-of-billy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2026\/03\/01\/friends-of-billy\/","title":{"rendered":"Friends of Billy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em>\u201cIdeally, I\u2019d like to date an older elegant man<br \/>\nwho speaks beautifully and is filthy rich.&nbsp;<br \/>\nThen I\u2019d like to date a 40-year-old guy who is<br \/>\npassionate about something.&nbsp; I don\u2019t care what.&nbsp;<br \/>\nThen I\u2019d like to date an 18-year-old who I see<br \/>\ntwice a week and whose name I don\u2019t know.\u201d&nbsp;<\/em><\/span><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><em><br \/>\n\u2013 <\/em><span style=\"font-family: Verdana;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><strong>Liza Minnelli<\/strong>, as told to <strong>Michael Feinstein<\/strong>.&nbsp; Although I<br \/>\nsuppose it could just as easily be a Feinstein quote.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This is supposed to be the fun, frothy, frilly column that delivers some entertainment news, some industry dish, and a few chuckles.&nbsp; So, I hate to kick things off with bad news.&nbsp; When people talk about the current government infringing on people\u2019s rights, none of us is immune.&nbsp; The latest target is transgender people in Kansas.&nbsp; If you live there and have gone through gender reassignment, you likely petitioned to change your birth certificate and driver\u2019s license.&nbsp; As of last week, those changes have been invalidated \u2013 and future changes to those documents are banned by a recent ruling.&nbsp; I can\u2019t say that this is how it begins&#8230;but this is how it\u2019s happening now.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/colorbar1.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-568\" src=\"http:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/colorbar1.gif\" alt=\"colorbar1\" width=\"500\" height=\"1\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>I am always delighted to spotlight great work of those I love.&nbsp; So let\u2019s start with the magnificent <strong>Miriam Margolyes<\/strong>, who is in the <strong><em>Oscar<\/em><\/strong>-nominated live action short <strong><em>A Friend of Dorothy<\/em><\/strong>.&nbsp; What is extraordinary about Miriam is she always appears completely authentic.&nbsp; There\u2019s no \u201cactor-y\u201d nonsense about her.&nbsp; She just \u201cis\u201d.&nbsp; As Dorothy who bonds with a teenage boy, one suspects Miriam identifies with her more than some other characters.&nbsp; But that doesn\u2019t make it any the less staggering.&nbsp; It should be noted that she\u2019s well-partnered with <strong>Alistair Nwachukwu <\/strong>as Dorothy\u2019s \u201cfriend\u201d.&nbsp; It\u2019s a sweet, touching, lovely film which you can see on <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/\">BillyMasters.com<\/a><\/strong>.&nbsp; You can also see it on Disney+.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/CMqUMXn7y5g?si=kFelVlJ341Tjb4ZM\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s my <em>Play Mama<\/em>, <strong>Jenifer Lewis<\/strong>.&nbsp; Superlatives are almost superfluous when it comes to describing her.&nbsp; Suffice it to say, she is someone whose talents are boundless and who always delivers.&nbsp; Yes, she\u2019s in <strong><em>GOAT<\/em><\/strong> playing warthog Florence \u201cFlo\u201d Everson, owner of the basketball team (fun fact \u2013 she also played Flo in <strong><em>Cars<\/em><\/strong>).&nbsp; But the big news is that she\u2019ll be reprising a memorable role when she joins the cast of the reboot of <strong><em>A Different World<\/em><\/strong> for <em>Netflix<\/em>.&nbsp; In the original, she played Hillman College\u2019s Dean Dorothy Dandridge Davenport.&nbsp; In the reboot, Davenport is still at Hillman \u2013 but now she\u2019s a professor.&nbsp; Stay tuned.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-568\" src=\"http:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/colorbar1.gif\" alt=\"colorbar1\" width=\"500\" height=\"1\"><\/p>\n<p>Then there\u2019s the divine <strong>Charles Busch <\/strong>\u2013 who I am certain would not mind being lumped in with Jenifer and Miriam.&nbsp; With his own brand of \u201c<em>je ne sais quoi<\/em>\u201d, he\u2019s carved a unique niche for himself in the theatrical annals.&nbsp; One of his biggest successes was when he wrote the hit <em>Broadway <\/em>play, <strong><em>The Tale of the Allergist\u2019s Wife<\/em><\/strong>.&nbsp; In 2019, Charles joined the original cast by taking on the leading lady role (that evening, the original leading lady, <strong>Linda Lavin<\/strong>, played the mother).&nbsp; Busch is once again slipping into the pumps of Marjorie Taub.&nbsp; This time, the venue will be Palm Springs\u2019 <em>Plaza Theatre <\/em>as part of their <strong><em>rePLAY<\/em><\/strong> series.&nbsp; This script-in-hand reading of the play will also feature <strong>Chris Carranza<\/strong>, <strong>Alix Korey<\/strong>, <strong>Lewis J. Stadlen<\/strong>, and the phenomenal <strong>Harriet Harris <\/strong>in the role created by <strong>Michele Lee<\/strong>.&nbsp; Two nights only \u2013 March 13<sup>th<\/sup> and 14<sup>th<\/sup>.&nbsp; You can grab your tickets at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.PalmSpringsPlazaTheatre.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><u>PalmSpringsPlazaTheatre.com<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of theatre, <strong>Megan Thee Stallion <\/strong>is headed to the <em>Great White Way<\/em>.&nbsp; For her <em>Broadway <\/em>debut, Meg is joining the cast of <strong><em>Moulin Rouge! The Musical<\/em><\/strong>.&nbsp; Yes, the same <em>Moulin Rouge<\/em> which recently announced it will close this summer (a coincidence, I\u2019m sure).&nbsp; Starting on March 24<sup>th<\/sup>, Stallion will take over the role of impresario Harold Zidler \u2013 the role currently played by <strong>Bob the Drag Queen <\/strong>and previously embodied by <strong>Boy George<\/strong>.&nbsp; Reflective of the times we live in, Megan is being touted as \u201cthe first female-identifying performer to play the role\u201d.&nbsp; She will stay with the show for eight weeks, wrapping up on May 17<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cIdeally, I\u2019d like to date an older elegant man who speaks beautifully and is filthy rich.&nbsp; Then I\u2019d like to date a 40-year-old guy who is passionate about something.&nbsp; I don\u2019t care what.&nbsp; Then I\u2019d like to date an 18-year-old who I see twice a week and whose name I don\u2019t know.\u201d&nbsp; \u2013 Liza Minnelli,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94791"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94791"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94791\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":94800,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94791\/revisions\/94800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}