Who’s The Mary?

Out actor Chad Allen discusses gay detectives, same-sex marriage, and working with Valerie Harper

By Brian Padgett

Chad Allen has been a familiar face on stage and screen for over 20 years, starring in television productions like St. Elsewhere, as out detective Donald Strachey in a series of films on here! network, and theatrical endeavors such as Looped, currently at the Pasadena Playhouse. We recently picked his brain about some projects he has in the works.

FRONTIERS: On The Other Hand, Death, the third installment in the Donald Strachey film franchise is currently airing on here! What about these films appealed to you, firstly as a gay man, and secondly, as an actor?

CHAD ALLEN: As a gay man I loved the idea of creating a monogamous long-term gay couple for television. As an actor I love the series, they are fun honest little mystery movies. They reminded me of watching Columbo… but in these, the hero gets to come home to the guy not the girl, what’s better than that?

How do you think Strachey’s marriage to N.Y. Senate Staffer Tim Callahan will resonate with California viewers in light of the recent State Supreme Court’s decision?

I think if we had more couples like Don and Tim on television we wouldn’t [have to] fight this battle as desperately as we are now. There is no difference between the love I share with my partner and the love my parents shared. ... I should be afforded the same state sanctioned blessings as well.

Do any of the people you work with grill you on how what you’re currently working on relates to the “Tommy Westphall Universe Hypothesis?” (Referencing the St. Elsewhere finale revelation that the entire series was a figment of his character’s imagination)

[Laughs] No. Most of the people I work with don’t realize I’m Tommy at all. The smart ones get excited when they find out because in my opinion that show was a high bar for TV in general.

You’re currently starring in Looped with Valerie Harper at the Pasadena Playhouse. How has this experience been?

In a word, amazing. Val is incredible and one of the most energetic, hard working and beautiful people I’ve had the pleasure of working with.

Have you ever told Valerie “I’m the Mary, you’re the Rhoda?”

Everyday. Just kidding, I don’t even know what that means. I missed Rhoda and [Mary Tyler Moore] all together, but I was around for Valerie! I used to go over to the set when I was 13 years old and… shooting Our House on the same lot. She was amazing then and I believe now a lifelong friend.

On The Other Hand, Death premieres on here! TV Friday, July 25. For more information, see www.heretv.com. Looped, with co-star Valerie Harper at the Pasadena Playhouse, closes Sunday, August 3. For more information, see www.pasadenaplayhouse.org.

LIMITED RUN

Great Expectations The Musical

Charles Dickens' tale of self-discovery is given new life in this original musical staging. Odyssey Theatre. Thurs.-Sun. 8 p.m. (3 p.m. Sun.) $20-30. 323/960-1052. www.plays411.net.

Zastrozzi

Gypsies, tyrants, and thieves are brought to life in this swashbuckling philosophical romp about antipodean forces in our lives. NoHo Arts Center. Thurs.-Sun. 8 p.m. (3 p.m. Sun.) $12.50-25. 818/508-7101. www.thenohoartscenter.com.

A Very Brady Musical

America's favorite retro family and their wacky maid are back in this extended run. Theatre West. Closes Sun., Aug. 10. (Fri.-Sun. only) 8 p.m. (3 p.m. Sun.) $30-40. 323/851-7977. www.theatrewest.org.

American Dead

Theatre Theater plays host to Rogue Machine's West Coast premiere of Brett Neveu's work examining the decay of the American small town. Theatre Theater. Through Aug. 24. (Thurs.-Sun. only) 8 p.m. (7 p.m. Sun.) $25. www.roguemachinetheatre.com.

HOMO MUST

Songs From An Unmade Bed

This solo musical journey tells the story of a gay New York songwriter searching for love in the Big Apple. Celebration Theatre. Closes Sun., Aug. 10. (Sat. and Sun. only) 8 p.m. $30. 323/957-1884. www.celebrationtheatre.tix.com.

ON STAGE

Comedy of Errors

Open Fist, through Aug. 30
*1/2

If there was a reason to pick up this Shakespearean comedy (twin masters, twin servants, separated at sea, you remember) and plop it down in an Ephesus that evokes a mid-’60s Venice Beach, it's nowhere apparent in Ron West's direction, which is notable primarily for the festive efficiency with which he moves a great many actors and props on and off stage between scenes. Each change is a mini-circus with bicycling cops, horns, and a couple of pretty neat sight gags. The performances that interrupt these transitions, however, are plodding, and the house style is barking (or, worse, struggling) actors who slow down only when the lack of lung or memory capacity necessitates it. Dylan Fergus as Antipholus of Ephesus most successfully negotiates the text, passing off verse as creditable, understandable speech, but he is virtually alone. The rest leave the audience staring through heavy-lidded eyes thinking, "I have no idea what you're talking about. And neither do you." —WENZEL JONES

Looped

Pasadena Playhouse, through Aug. 3
***

OK, let's get the important part out of the way first: Valerie Harper is astonishingly good as personality-cum-actress Tallulah Bankhead. Between the voice and the way she carries herself by leading with her pelvis, there are few traces of Rhoda to be found. If there's any fault it's that she looks too damn healthy for a woman of Bankhead's dissipated condition. I'm not crazy about the vehicle Matthew Lombardo has written for her, however. One quickly loses patience with a legion of childish ways in which the drunken Bankhead sabotages a looping session that requires but one line from her. The presence of tightly wound editor Danny Miller (Chad Allen) necessitates an exploration of his issues in Act 2 and it plays as little more than a transparent ploy to humanize Bankhead. There's an engaging back-and-forth between the two under Rob Ruggiero's direction, however, that keeps the piece alive. I'm sure it wasn't on purpose, but the virtually unseen sound engineer, drolly delivered by Michael Karl Orenstein, reminded me more than a little of Carlton the Doorman. —W.J.