You've Got It Backwards :: Cheyenne Jackson And Sandra Bernhard Join Forces To Raise Money For The Center At Broadway Backwards 4

Every theater queen has stood in front of the mirror and belted out "And I am Telling You I'm Not Going" to some no-good man who's just given him the axe. For gay lovers of Broadway musicals, it's not uncommon to change the pronouns of a love song in order to cast oneself in the role of being loved-or wronged-by the leading man.

Thanks to Broadway Backwards, there's no pretending anymore. An idea concocted as a fundraiser for The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, this annual show features the best and brightest on Broadway singing songs that are traditionally performed by someone of the opposite gender-so the boys sing songs written for girls and vice versa.

For the show's fourth year, director Robert Bartley and co-chairs John Kander and Terrence McNally have set the date for Monday, February 9 at the American Airlines Theater, which will be filled with the talents of Tituss Burgess, Mario Cantone, Len Cariou, Alan Cumming, Gina Gershon, Whoopi Goldberg, Florence Henderson, Rue McClanahan, Sally Mayes, Jai Rodriguez, Christopher Sieber and Ugly Betty's Becky Newton and Michael Urie as well as host of others. Oh, and did we forget to mention that Cheyenne Jackson and Sandra Bernhard would be in the show too? We don't know what everyone's going to be singing, but we know this is sure to be a hit.

Broadway Backwards 4 switches things up Monday, February 9, at 8pm at the American Airlines Theater (227 W 42nd St). Visit GayCenter.org for more info.

Cheyenne

Don't worry about the Great White Way's biggest hunk. Even though Cheyenne Jackson's most recent show, Xanadu, closed in the fall, he's had plenty to keep himself busy (including time with his boyfriend, so stop drooling, boys).

"I can't do a show for more than a year, I get bored and feel stifled," Jackson says jokingly. "We did 15 months, which is 14 more months than anyone expected."

Well, just like Deena and the Dreams, he has one night only at Broadway Backwards, an event that he's very familiar with.

"I did the very first one four years ago now," he recalls. "It was in The Center's multipurpose room, where they have bingo and stuff. It's come a long way. I did 'We Kiss in a Shadow' from The King and I with Matt Cavenaugh."

When it came to choosing a number for this year, Jackson wasn't sure what he wanted to sing, but he knew he wanted to include Sandra Bernhard somehow. "I had gotten to know her a bit and I had been a fan of her chutzpah and musicality," he says. "She's not afraid to put it out there and I like the way she blends her spoken word into song. She has a surprisingly big, beautiful voice."

Good thing Mr. Jackson gets to rehearse for his one-night act, because he also has a single performance of his one-man show, Back to the Start, coming up at Feinstein's at Lowes Regency on March 2.

"It is the first time I put my thoughts out there and told my own story," he says of the show, which he debuted last fall at a benefit performance in New Hope, Penn. "A couple of years ago I didn't have something to say. Now I just have a perspective and something to share."

Well, fans are going to get more than their fair share of Jackson this year. Thanks to the inspiration of President Obama, he is ramping up his already ample charity work, and he just signed on to be the new ambassador for the Hetrick-Martin Institute, which runs the Harvey Milk High School for gay teens in New York. He's also appearing as a glam rocker on ABC's Life on Mars and he just finished filming a television pilot that's so hush-hush he can't even talk about it.

Like we said, don't worry about Cheyenne Jackson at all!

Visit www.CheyenneJackson.com for more info.

Sandra

Though she's been a smash on Broadway, singer/comedian/gay icon and general rabble-rouser Sandra Bernhard doesn't get to see many shows these days.

"I kind of nail it down to things I really want to go to," she says. "Mainly, when I'm home I want to be home with my daughter. Of course there are tons of things I'd love to see if I was 21 and white, but for a working black mother...."

Oh, that Sandra, always a kidder. But she is a working mother, and right now she's in talks to bring back her groundbreaking one-woman show, Without You I'm Nothing, this spring or early summer to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

Of course, the material isn't going to be exactly the same. "I wouldn't be happy doing the show verbatim," she states. "It's pieces from the original show surrounded with new material. I'm constantly refreshing my inspirations."

Like most of the country, one of her new inspirations is Barack Obama. "I think it's a fabulous opportunity for people like Obama to do things that should have taken root 10 or 15 years ago like fixing the environment and women's rights and reproductive rights, and hopefully it will spill out into gay rights," she says, adding that she thinks our gay leaders need to organize better to fight the big battles.

"When you have an opposition that is religiously based, you have to get out there and roll up your sleeves and really go for it."

Just as things are getting exciting in the country, so is the theater scene as well.

"There's a whole new crop of people coming up," Ms. Bernhard says. "I think some of the big commercial stuff doesn't belong on Broadway. I would love to see it filled with things that challenge you intellectually and emotionally."

But Bernhard has a lot of respect for the old guard, and Liza Minnelli's recent engagement at the Palace Theater was a must-see show for her. "That was one thing I couldn't miss. I thought it was fantastic. She is one of the last great performers," she declares. When asked if she hopes to be on stage when she's Liza's age, Bernhard quickly jibes, "It's not that far away! I fucking better be!"

Our thoughts exactly.

Visit www.SandraBernhard.com for more info.