Let's Celebrate Gay This Pride Week....With Sheila Bryant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                    As many of you know on here, darlings, I have seen MANY Sheilas in my time, but none will ever match, the one and only, the Original, Kelly Bishop.  When I first saw "A Chorus Line" back in 1975, there were many epiphanies, as I watched, but one of these was, "Every gay man is Sheila....or at least thinks he is!"

                    I am not sure how Sheila, or Kelly would feel about this, but think about it.  Growing up gay is all about escaping the conventionality into which one feels having been mistakenly placed, especially at the hands of overbearing relations, who feel they have the right to tell you, or your parents, everything that is wrong with you!  And that extends sometimes to cousins, as in my case!

                    Sheila had to escape.  For her, it was ballet.  For me, it was "The Wizard Of Oz," movies, theater...all the Performing Arts.  And, of course, now writing about it.

                     I knew there was a lot of Sheila in me when she began her monologue, and I began to understand--REALLY understand--the song "At The Ballet," the first time I heard it!  It became an anthem for a lot of us, even if we did not follow the ballet path!

                      And Sheila, of course, is a survivor.  And gay men LOVE survivors, from Scarlett, to  Judy Garland, to Sheila.  I love the look Sheila gives Zach as she walks off at the end. Proof actions speak louder than words.

                        So, this Pride Week, let us celebrate Sheila Bryant, and thank Kelly Bishop for bringing her to life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  A source of inspiration for all gays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                          "And smoke? Can the adults please smoke?"
                              ---Sheila Bryant, "A Chorus Line"