Veteran performer Steve Gideon celebrates the ‘60s-’70s

BY LES SPINDLE

He's one of the original cast members of the Celebration Theatre's legendary megahit Naked Boys Singing, which subsequently became a long-running Off-Broadway smash. Also at the Celebration, he co-conceived and starred in an ingenious gay adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's two-person musical Marry Me a Little, under the approval of Sondheim. He produced and starred in the gritty tuner Nite Club Confidential Off-Broadway, as well as in L.A., Long Beach and Boston (alongside stars such as Scott Bakula, Barbara Eden and Gary Sandy). He performed these same duties for the long-running L.A. hit The All Night Strut. These efforts bespeak the impressive talent and tireless drive of singer-actor Steve Gideon, who is currently gracing the local cabaret circuit with his 1960s-70s pop revue The Happening. Featuring the Harvard-trained Gideon as the star attraction, the show includes three backup singers and a four-person band, performing such evergreen baby-boomer hits as “Chelsea Morning,” “Alfie,” “Son of a Preacher Man” and many more.

The witty and upbeat Gideon enjoys relating the twists and turns of his showbiz journey: “After five years of working in New York, I came to L.A. in 1986 with Nite Club Confidential. It was a cult hit there and I thought it would be a perfect show for L.A. I raised the money to bring it here, got a partner and produced an original cast album as a backer's audition. It ran a year at the [now-defunct] Tiffany Theatre [on Sunset Blvd.]. It was a huge hit there and put Paula Holt's theatre on the map. I fell in love with the weather here and decided to stay.”

He continues, “I have always loved the particular material I do in The Happening. I thought I better do something with it now, or I never will. I have thought about doing this since the 1980s—a show in which the pop music was the basis for characters. For example, I take “To Sir With Love” and make it about a military guy going off to the Vietnam War, as opposed to a schoolroom setting. The music from the period [1960s-70s] was so strong.”

Gideon says his mentor was acclaimed director Wilford Leach of the Public Theatre (of the Kevin Kline Pirates of Penzance and more). “Yet he hated the 1960s,” Gideon adds. “He thought a bunch of spoiled brat kids all came to nothing and had dreams that didn't go anywhere. I had the exact opposite point of view, and we argued about it constantly. I always thought there were different ways to view the period. There was a lot going on, and not all for naught. Of course a lot had to do with drugs. Young people tried to expand their minds and kind of break through the Eisenhower-era constraints, yet the period has always fascinated me. I think nostalgia takes a certain amount of time before it becomes part of the mainstream. You have to get a certain perspective before you can look back and go 'wow!' I think the time is right for shows like this.”

The Happening had December and January engagements at the M Bar in Hollywood and was recently featured in Michael Sterling's new cabaret series at the Canyon Club in Agoura. “I know we are performing in what's called a Broadway series, and not really doing Broadway,” he notes, “though I include ‘The Age of Aquarius’ [from Hair]. And considering that Broadway shows now include all kinds of pop music, such as Billy Joel, what we do seems to fit.” Gideon, who gives great credit to his director Randy Brennan for the show's success, says that it will continue to make the rounds—regular appearances at M Bar and other showcases beyond that. One advantage to this kind of show is that it can constantly be revised. “I could do at least 90 different versions of it,” he says.

The Happening will return for a Feb. 7 performance benefiting the West Hollywood Recovery Center. M Bar, 1253 Vine St. mbarhollywood.com.