Summer Down Now! Here are Frontiers’ picks for the don't-miss films, CDs, and theatrical productions of the season.

Film Preview

BY JONATHAN RIGGS

Summertime and the living is easy, but finding a good movie ain't. Let's face it, pop children, a lot of horrible trash masquerading as movies comes out each summer and they expect us to line up, buy the merchandise, and blog our brains out praising it. Use this guide for a handful of fun, gay-friendly flick.

Get Smart (June 20)

Director: Peter Segal

Stars: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, The Rock, Terence Stamp, Bill Murray

Plot: Super agents Carell (bumbling, natch) and Hathaway (glamorous, clever, capable, natch) “do the spy thang” in this action comedy based on the classic TV show.

Why We Care: Would you believe that Nick at Nite (and Inspector Gadget) turned us on to the bizarre and hilarious spy parody? It seems like a perfect fit for Steve Carell's awkward/charming manchild schtick (and he's got a boycrush on fellow agent The Rock). Agent 99 is totally a feminist heroine who deserves to be brought back to life in the glorious form of La Hathaway. Plus, Bill Murray and Terence Stamp doing it up wry-and-dry!

Mamma Mia! (July 18)

Director: Phyllida Lloyd

Stars: Meryl Streep, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan, Christine Baranski

Plot: Based on the mega-smash-hit musical, a young bride-to-be on a gorgeous Greek island tries to figure out who her father is with a little help from the music of ABBA.

Why We Care: Meryl Streep singing “The Winner Takes It All,” for one (reportedly recorded in one amazing take—is there nothing this woman can't do?! Get her a lab coat and she'll discover a cure for AIDS while subtly revealing oceans of hidden emotional depth). Handsome, talented actors singing perfect pop songs in a fun, frothy flick set against a beautiful background? Cue up the “Money, Money, Money”!

Hamlet 2 (August 27)

Director: Andrew Fleming

Stars: Steve Coogan, Elisabeth Shue, David Arquette, Catherine Keener

Plot: A never-was actor turns wannabe high school drama teacher in Tucson, Ariz. and stages his bizarre, offensive vision: Hamlet 2 complete with a French-kissing Satan and time travel.

Why We Care: Think Christopher Guest's Waiting For Guffman, but weirder and funnier, with the Gay Men's Chorus of Tucson singing original songs like “Rock Me, Sexy Jesus.” Plus, Elisabeth Shue (who we've worshipped ever since she danced into our hearts during the opening credits of Adventures In Babysitting) apparently does a meta, Being John Malkovich-y turn as herself that's so funny and sharp, the Oscar buzz is starting. We are sooooo there!!

The House Bunny (August 22)

Director: Fred Wolf

Stars: Anna Faris, Rumer Willis, Beverly D'Angelo, Katharine McPhee

Plot: A Playboy bunny gets bounced out of the Mansion for being almost 30 and lands a job as a college sorority house mother. Before you can say Elle Woods, she shows her low-self-esteem charges their self-worth and makes everything all fabulous.

Why We Care: Anna Faris is a comic goddess we'd follow anywhere, especially with the promise of her and Beverly D'Angelo catfighting as rival house mothers. Plus, OMFG, Rumer Willis! (This excites us. Don't judge.)

Another Gay Sequel: Gays Gone Wild (August 29)

Director: Todd Stephens

Stars: RuPaul, Amanda Lepore and Perez Hilton. (Of the original boys, only Jonah Blechman is returning.)

Plot: Picking up where the first movie left off, our sex-crazed boys hit the beach and play more sexual reindeer games with and without various LGBT celeb cameos.

Why We Care: More so than the first, this promises to straddle (and then some) the line between gay-positive and offensive, but at least you know you're in for a candy-colored, sexy good time. Thank God the first movie's secret weapons Stephanie McVay (Nico's mom) and Ashlie Atkinson (Muffler) are back!

Music Preview

BY JEFF KATZ

Summer is shaping up to be the season to move. Dance floor-ready albums of all sounds and genres are hitting shelves, a few from some unlikely artists. Here are the six CDs to rock out to between now and Labor Day.

Cyndi Lauper

Bring Ya to the Brink

Sony BMG

May 27

Ms. Lauper is back to song writing after a few albums of covers and reinterpretations of her own hits. Now the lifelong LGBT ally is taking it to the dance floor with Bring Ya to the Brink. The 12 beat-bountiful tracks feature an eclectic mix of producers from Basement Jaxx to Axwell and, of course, plenty of that Cyndi sass, as exhibited on the fierce foul-mouthed first single, “Same Ol' Story.”

Ladytron

Velocifero

Nettwerk

June 3

Electro geniuses Ladytron follow up their fantastic 2005 album, Witching Hour, with what is shaping up to be an equally impressive new effort Velocifero. Lead single “Ghosts” slightly slows down the pace, but keeps up the haunting vocals and fierce guitar chords, while “Black Cat” is as dark, moody, and danceable as any of their best previous work.

Alanis Morissette

Flavors of Entanglement

Warner Bros.

June 10

We like our Alanis pissed off and with stuff to get off her chest. Thankfully this new disc has all the attitude of Alanis circa 1995, but with some Y2K dance beats. May seem like a weird concept at first, but Flavors of Entanglement works some nice Garbage-worthy electro/pop moments. First single “Underneath” may have been a little soft, but “Straitjacket” serves up the bite.

Jay Brannan

goddamned

Great Depression Records

July 15

Jay Brannan has built up a cult following on YouTube with his impromptu music videos, but now the singer/songwriter/actor is going (slightly) mainstream with the official release of his first full album, goddamned. Vocally, Brannan may be best recognized for his tongue-in-cheek anthem, “Soda Shop,” although his other singing role in the film Shortbus was certainly hard to forget as well. But goddamned follows in that same guitar-pop vein, with lyrically intriguing tracks and relatable sentiments.

Summer Soundtracks

With the onslaught of gay-fave films hitting theaters this summer, producers knew they had to provide some awesome music to go along with the flicks. The Sex and the City soundtrack (May 27) is an obvious must, with 14 tracks featuring everyone from co-star Jennifer Hudson and Fergie to India.Arie and Kaskade. And the film adaptation of the hit stage show, Mamma Mia! (July), will bring back Abba classics with modern interpretations, featuring stars Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan stepping up to the mic.

Performing Arts Preview

BY BRIAN PADGETT

The Los Angeles theater calendar this summer is as scintillating as the fireworks that will dot our skies on Independence Day. From the outrageous jump start of Pride Weekend—thanks to the original renegade homo punks of sketch comedy—to the southland premieres of two biographical works exploring the intricacies of some of last century's greatest divas, there is plenty of theatrical magic to savor these long summer nights.

Love, Janis

Wilshire Theatre Beverly Hills

May 29-June 1

323/655-0111

www.wtbh.org

The hit musical that took New York and San Francisco by storm comes to Los Angeles for five performances only, closing the Wilshire Theatre Beverly Hills' 2008 season. Compiled from song lyrics, interview clips, and intimate letters the iconic Joplin penned to her family throughout her rise and fall, the prepossessing show will definitely be more than a portrait of the artist as a young woman.

Nellie-Licious!

June 5-8

Cavern Club Theater at Casita Del Campo Restaurant

323/969-2530

www.cavernclubtheater.com

Taking their name from Laura Ingalls' bitchy Little House rival, The Nellie Olesons kick off L.A. Pride weekend with a hilarious limited engagement. The original renegade homo punks of sketch comedy test the boundaries of taste with, among other things, a raucous musical rendition by the “The Veeg Sisters,” the penis-tucking, flute-playing “sister” act that delighted audiences in their short film that screened at 2007's Outfest.

The Who's Tommy

Ricardo Mantalbán Theatre

June 18-29

323/230-9819

www.thewhostommy.com

Director Brian Michael Purcell refurbishes the classic 1969 rock opera for the new millennium. Telling the simultaneous stories of a deaf, dumb, and blind boy and a post-war Britain, both struggling for identity and acceptance. Purcell uses the ultra-modern technique of 3-D sound, thus allowing audience members into the “Fantastic Journey” of Tommy's head as he encounters crack whores, celebrity, and pinball.

Looped

Pasadena Playhouse

June 27-August 3

626/356-7529

www.pasadenaplayhouse.org

The sexually ambiguous, always scandalous, and never dull Tallulah Bankhead serves as the inspiration behind this Pasadena Playhouse world premiere. Playwright Matthew Lombardo expands on an eight-hour recording session to fashion a biographical piece for the Hollywood starlight of yesteryear, whose exploits puts today's celebutantes to shame.

The Drowsy Chaperone

Ahmanson Theatre

July 8-July 20

213/628-2772

www.centertheatregroup.org

The Canadian-written homage to great American musicals of the Jazz Age makes a triumphant return to it's pre-Broadway home at our very own Ahmanson Theatre. The joyously clichéd play within a play tells the story of a chair-bound Broadway aficionado, a conceited showgirl, a sagely English butler, and gangsters on the lam—winning five Tony Awards in 2006.