The Power of Two

In October, I saw the Broadway revival of Finian's Rainbow, a silly but exuberant 1940s musical that was also a silly but forgettable 1960s movie with Fred Astaire and Petula Clark (directed by Francis Ford Coppola!) that, despite its forgettability, I remember seeing with the family when I was a kid.

The New York production stars the talented Cheyenne Jackson, an openly gay actor (and not an obscure one either; he got praise for the Broadway hit Xanadu, and he played gay rugby player/9-11 hero Mark Bingham in the movie United 93) who recently released a CD with openly gay cabaret singer/musician Michael Feinstein called The Power of Two.

It's very pleasant and fun to listen to (it helps if you have an affinity for show tunes and old chestnuts like "Me and My Shadow"), but it's truly extraordinary in that it's a record by two successful, mainstream, openly gay male artists singing love songs to and with each other. Think of how rare that is -- and I'm not counting subtexty stuff by people like Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

The title song, a duet, is a lovely cover version of an Indigo Girls song. Another good and poignant one, particularly for gay men d'un certain âge, is "Old Friend," a solo by Feinstein. Cheyenne Jackson does "Old Devil Moon" from Finian's Rainbow.

I give a standing ovation to both of these men for making this record not a matter of bravery but a matter of artistry and of joy . . . and of fact.