Monday, September 29, 2003

By Marylynn Uricchio, Post-Gazette SEEN Editor

Of course, people do go both ways," said the Scarecrow, a line that under any other circumstance might not have brought the house down.

	Attorney Tom Ferguson was a perfect Miss Gulch. That's Chris Criscuolo behind him as Dorothy, complete with attached tornado. (Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette)

But Thursday's premiere of "Sing-A-Long Wizard of Oz" at the Byham Theatre was a benefit for Persad, an organization that provides mental health services to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered people. It didn't matter who was what, and it was even hard to tell in some cases with so many in the audience cloaked in assorted Oz costumes. Lions and witches and munchkins, oh my! Hirsute Dorothies and Glindas as big as linebackers. The level of both imagination and effort was astonishing. Eric Gerstbrein was hidden inside a 10-foot-tall black funnel. Chris Criscuolo dressed as Dorothy with a tornado attached to his shoulder, and when the lights went down he glowed in the dark.

Emcee Alan Ball welcomed 500 ladies and gentlemen, lords and ladies, kings and queens -- "a lot of queens" -- and gave instructions on how to participate in the film. The orchestrated spontaneity that was encouraged by goodie bags filled with tiny props seemed a tad hollow (in "Rocky Horror Show" days people actually used to bring their own toast!), but the sight of so many folks visibly regressing to childhood made it worth enduring the terrible sound of the kazoo every time the Wicked Witch appeared.

High camp from grownups was fully expected. The real surprise was the number of children who came, including 1-month-old Nathan Donner, the grandson of CMU president Jared Cohon (and son of Hallie and Josh Donner). Family fun is not the first image most people have of Persad, yet more family events are what executive director Betty Hill (with partner Kathi Boyle) would like to sponsor. Increasingly, gay and lesbian couples have children, as well as siblings, parents and friends. True acceptance is the goal, and it wasn't over the rainbow Thursday night for chair Brad Yarmark and Keith Steinbeck, board president Ron Waetzman, Bob and Judy Bernardini, Jane and Michael Louik, Judge Gene Strassburger and Phyliss Kitzerow or WYEP's Katherine Lally.

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