My overall impression
You might think you’ve seen enough gay coming-out solo shows to last a lifetime, but that would be before seeing the funny, touching, and absolutely fabulous I Want To Bury My Testimony.
In fact, the only thing amiss with Hislop’s one-manner is a title that, despite being a clever take-off on the Mormon custom of “bearing testimony,” ends up too deceptively dark to describe as joyously celebratory a show as Hislop’s, despite its occasional detours into serious territory.
From Utah-born Scott’s Nevada upbringing to his discovery early-on that he was “different” to a pair of coming-outs (interrupted by a noble but failed experiment in heterosexuality) to a move to West Hollywood and a career as “Dancer-Master Teacher-Actor-Host-Producer-&-Sometimes Singer” to a happy, fulfilled, partnered life to creating and starring in his own one-man show, I Want To Bury My Testimony offers audiences of all ages and sexual orientations a fabulous 50 minutes with the charismatic, green-eyed blond ex-Mormon.
Though mostly appearing as himself (and thereby dispelling any notion that “straight-actingness” is a prerequisite for sex-appeal), Hislop also creates a pair of indelible vignettes, first as LDS-found Joseph Smith that any Broadway Book Of Mormon fan will recognize, and then, quite powerfully, as one of young Scott’s childhood tormentors.
I Want To Bury My Testimony does not shy away from the bullying, both verbal and physical, that Scott endured throughout his childhood and adolescence, nor does it let the Latter Day Saints off without a few jibes.
Still, Hislop’s solo show is a life-&-family-affirming one that pays tribute to two loving parents and ends heartwarmingly with video footage of Scott and partner Dominic Chaiduang “at home with pet pooch.”
Oh, and there’s more than a bit of singing and dancing to spice things up.
Kelleia Sheerin’s direction is as imaginative as they come, with special snaps to the show’s onstage closet and the gazillion costume changes it supplies.
Nick Drago is producer, Stella Choe stage manager, and Chaiduang technical director.
Expect to leave I Want To Bury My Testimony more than a little bit in love with the show and its star. Now if only they could come up with a better title.
