I guess one of the requirements for getting a role in NY theatre is genetically having no chest hair (save for Andy Mills) because I don't believe for a second that any of these men would shave or wax their chests.
Who cares what Norm Lewis looks like shirtless... I'm more moved by his gut wrenching Tony-nominated performance as Porgy.
What a ridiculous statement. Like the two are mutually exclusive. And don't think FOR A SECOND he doesn't notice a physically attractive person on stage. He sounds like a sanctimonious idiot.
It's a weird little culture we've created. When the curtain came down at intermission of two Broadway musicals I caught this year, those seated in front of me had more to say about the bodies of the chorus members than about the dramatic impact of the piece.
He makes it sound like this is something new. I think perhaps the objectification of men rather than women is the only new twist, but comments about sexy chorus girls and scantily clad women on Broadway have been around since the birth of Broadway. Vaudeville, Burlesque, Ziegfeld Follies...Oh! Calcutta!, Bob Fosse, Dance Ten Looks Three...the objectification of performers is as old as the hills.
I guess one of the requirements for getting a role in NY theatre is genetically having no chest hair (save for Andy Mills) because I don't believe for a second that any of these men would shave or wax their chests.
I believe a lot of them probably do. It's been very trendy for a quite a while, especially in younger men, gay and straight. I'm not a fan of the hairless craze, but just about everywhere in the performance industry (especially with chorus or smaller roles), hairless chests and meticulous manscaping is usually the majority.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
I admit, these kinds of hot lists but me, but as was pointed out, they're common to all media. And when more than half the photos are from guys' publicity photos of them in their underwear and jocks, or at Broadway Bares, you have to assume that they know what some of the attention they'll get is.
ANd I have no idea why someone would assume that none of these guys would wax, and it must be natural (unless that's sarcasm I completely missed). It always drives me crazy, and while it seems to be changing slowly (ie models are starting to show *some* chest hair--although I still remember ten+ years back the NYTims proclaiming that chest hair was officially coming back, and I waited patiently for nothing...), but...
Many shows ask their actors to shave or wax if they're performing shirtless as well (there's a hairy celebs blog that's amusing to see that certain actors will be fairly hirsute on one show, and then on another suddenly perfectly smooth)-- It's the 80s gay porn look having trickled down, like much gay aesthetics, into the mainstream over the years--but it's not all that new--during the Hayes code in Hollywood there was much attention paid to body hair and how much could be shown (apparently it was more allowed in things like religious epics where the half naked man wasn't meant to be sexualized, but seen as too sexual if they were a romantic lead--the stories of how traumatic Monty Clift found his extreme hairiness--there are a couple pics of him out there--and how often he went for electrolyses with little permanent result are one example).
I'm slightly confused by this part of the text for Andrew Garfield:
"Did you know for a short time there were two Spider-men on Broadway?"
The only thing I can think of is somehow confusing Tobey Maguire with Jake Gyllenhaal, since he was rumored to replace Maguire before the reboot was announced. Am I missing something?
I don't even think press agents were contacted. It seemed that AfterElton just copied pics off Facebook and BC/EFA pages.
But why, I ask again, 40? It seem such an arbitrarily large number, as if no real thought process was involved in the selection. Top 10 is a conventional number for a list; top 20 might indicate a lot to choose from. But once you get to top 30 or top 40, the effect is one of a lack of caring.
Last year apparently they did 39--so who knows, though I seem to remember them picking 40 before (on the far more interesting poll they used to do of fave gay novels, which they seem to have dropped several years ago for polls like this). But it seems to be getting some people totheir page so I guess mission accomplished for them. ...huzzah...
I was speaking, but shold have been clear, of movies and TV. I know a number of soap opera actors have spoken about it, as has Joe M on True Blood (of course apparently he and the other guys had to wax their entire bodies, legs, etc, for Magic Mike but apparently that's what male strippers do). I don't know if Broadway shows do, though I'm sure some have at some point--it's not all that expensive to get just your chest waxed, or shave it yourself? But if for some reason they wanted the guys to have a similar, look in a shirtless number, or--I dunno, whatever.(Obviously shows like The Full Monty probably would ask that you *don't*, but that's the whole point).
After ONE LIFE TO LIVE went off the air, one of the actors was asked "What's next for you?" and he replied, "I'm going to let my chest hair grow back!"
Ha, I remember that! Well since Exec Producer Frank Velentini was known for auditioning his male actors in their underwear, I'm not too surprised... (*has nightmares of the shiny chests of the Ford Brothers...*) I know there was some weird gossip about Trevor St John on One Life refusing to wax his chest.
Coach Bob knew it all along: you've got to get obsessed and stay obsessed. You have to keep passing the open windows. (John Irving, The Hotel New Hampshire)
So, it's only objectionable objectification when the guys are educated? That statement is part of the problem he purports to lament.. Beauty and accomplishment are not mutually exclusive. Implying that they are is dehumanizing. Acknowledging beauty is not.
Having said that, where the hell is Andrew Samonsky? The hottest guy in NY, let alone in NY theater.
"(*has nightmares of the shiny chests of the Ford Brothers...*)"
I somehow missed this two months ago, and feel the need to give it some props! They looked like a litter of hairless cats! Especially in those brotherly sauna scenes! At least they let Office Fish keep his dreamy chest hair.
Funnily enough, I though that OLTL was the most open to letting the actors keep some body hair. Sure it kind of came and went depending on the day, but at least it was there at least in the later years. Maybe budget cuts.
"Hey little girls, look at all the men in shiny shirts and no wives!" - Jackie Hoffman, Xanadu, 19 Feb 2008