{"id":95586,"date":"2026-10-18T22:16:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T05:16:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/?p=95586"},"modified":"2026-10-18T22:16:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T05:16:41","slug":"abraham-scout-and-varla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/blog\/2026\/10\/18\/abraham-scout-and-varla\/","title":{"rendered":"Abraham, Scout and Varla"},"content":{"rendered":"

J. Harrison Ghee has bowed out of the Oh, Mary! <\/em><\/strong>national tour. He was scheduled to play Mary\u2019s husband, Abraham<\/strong>, and was then going to take over the title role in January after Alaska<\/strong> Thunderf*ck <\/strong>departs. First we learned that Ghee would miss the initial month of the tour to treat an ongoing kidney issue.  Now it\u2019s been announced that Ghee will be focusing on health issues and not appear at all.  We\u2019re sorry we won\u2019t get to see the amazingly talented JHG in either role.  However, I somehow missed that the lovely and talented Wesley Taylor <\/strong>is also a part of this tour \u2013 playing the plum role of Mary\u2019s Teacher.  Get all the dates and info at OhMaryPlay.com<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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I had a busy week in Boston.  I went to the opening night of the Huntington Theatre<\/em>\u2019s production of To Kill a Mockingbird<\/em><\/strong>.  Naturally, this was the Aaron Sorkin <\/strong>version of the Harper Lee <\/strong>book which starred Jeff Daniels <\/strong>on Broadway <\/em>(and Richard Thomas <\/strong>on tour).  It\u2019s been billed as the first regional production of this version, and it certainly fulfilled its pedigree.  The production was handsome, fluid, and directed with great care by Loretta Greco<\/strong>.  The cast could hardly be bettered, led by Karl Kenzler <\/strong>as Atticus and Karen Killeen <\/strong>as Scout.  I must also mention Patrice Jean-Baptiste <\/strong>as no-nonsense Calpurnia and Andrew Stevens Purdy <\/strong>as a mighty sassy Dill.  The show runs through November 8th<\/sup>, and you can grab tickets at HuntingtonTheatre.org<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I also caught Varla Jean Merman<\/strong>\u2019s fantastic show, Unlike a Virgin<\/em><\/strong>, which was playing at Boston\u2019s Club Caf\u00e9 <\/em>as part of her national tour.  Of course, I\u2019d already reviewed the show during its Provincetown run, and I\u2019m delighted to say it\u2019s even more outrageous and hysterical in its touring version.  But it\u2019s so much more than that.  Varla has impeccable timing.  As always, she is simultaneously clever and poignant.  You don\u2019t believe me?  Check her out if she comes to a city near you.  Full tour dates and details can be found on VarlaJean.com<\/u><\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Congratulations go out to Mark Indelicato<\/strong>, who you know from Ugly Betty<\/em><\/strong> and Hacks<\/em><\/strong>.  He recently got married and revealed that he met his spouse David Watson <\/strong>on Hinge<\/em>.  \u201cI wasn\u2019t looking for anything, and then I met my person.\u201d  Mark\u2019s Hacks<\/em> boss, Jean Smart<\/strong>, officiated the ceremony, which was also attended by co-stars Hannah Einbinder<\/strong>, Meg Stalter<\/strong>, Paul W. Downs<\/strong>, Poppy Liu <\/strong>and Johnny Sibilly<\/strong>.  I was most touched to learn that his Ugly Betty<\/em> mom, Ana Ortiz<\/strong>, hosted the ceremony in her backyard.<\/p>\n

Colton Haynes <\/strong>has been named a MISTR Ambassador <\/em><\/strong>and made his debut on the blue carpet for National PrEP Day <\/em>(which somehow didn\u2019t make it onto my calendar).  He announced his role in a campaign to promote PrEP to help prevent the spread of HIV: \u201cHow do I say this without getting in trouble?  You might be seeing some stuff involved with this beautiful company MISTR<\/em>.  A bunch of us that are here are possibly not wearing any clothes.  I would never give spoilers, but I love MISTR<\/em> and I love being part of this family.  We\u2019ll see.  Stay tuned.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

J. Harrison Ghee has bowed out of the Oh, Mary! national tour. He was scheduled to play Mary\u2019s husband, Abraham, and was then going to take over the title role in January after Alaska Thunderf*ck departs. First we learned that Ghee would miss the initial month of the tour to treat an ongoing kidney issue. <\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breaking"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"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=95586"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95586\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95588,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95586\/revisions\/95588"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.billymasters.com\/custom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}