JADE ESTEBAN ESTRADA in:
"ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World Vol. 1"
Opening Night - November 10, 2002 - The Producer's Club, NYC
Review by Robert Urban, Urban Productions NYC
NYC based musician/writer
When's the last time you heard a street-wise Latino drag/hustler name-drop British philosopher Alfred North Whitehead? Or learn the mythic secrets of the ancient Japanese Samurai from a source more "Gilda Radner" than "Joseph Campbell" in spirit? Or witness ancient SAPPHO stride across a stage poetizing... with just a touch of Joey Heatherton in her gait?
The answer, my friends, is JADE ESTEBAN ESTRADA's charming, ambitious and... yes! - scholarly one-man show "ICONS" currently touring the U.S.
Though I had only heard of him as a musical performer, JADE appears perfectly at home on the theatrical, (and especially the comedic), stage. With a keen, coy and sometimes wicked wit, he skillfully blends gay silliness with academic erudition in a way that both entertains and educates.
Through song, dance, clever costume changes & monologues, Jade gleefully channels such famous characters as Sappho, Michaelangelo, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein, Silvia Rivera (of Stonewall Rebellion fame) and even Ellen DeGeneres. He lovingly takes on the personnas of these historic "icons"; and relishes speaking their great thoughts aloud.
Onstage, Jade carries himself thru his characters with a self-assured, flowing body language. Amusingly, he has the ability to come off as both innocent and naughty at the same time - with a kind of Barbara Eden-as-Jeanie demeanor. He delivers his icon's thoughts via beautiful smiles and loving eyes... (so much so that when, late in the show, he arrives at the ultra-deadpan aura of Gertrude Stein - the change comes as a shock).
Here and there, to punctuate an poignant idea or to make us laugh - He purposely steps out of character to briefly deliver a side-comment or wise-crack using his own sweet personality - with great effect. As some of his icon's lived hundreds, even thousands of years ago - Jade is thus time-travelling at high-speed all over the stage.
ICONS emphasizes the UNIVERSALITY of each gay/lesbian icon's contribution to the world; in that each icon's life & thoughts are of great value not not just to glbt people, but to ALL people. Indeed, the message of Jade's play may well be - ALL our lives and thoughts are of importance to ALL people. I particulary enjoyed the choice of quotes in ICONS. It managed to create more than a few "I never knew that about him/her" murmurs among the packed opening-night house during the evening.
In this day and age, it's heartening to see a young person so "into" the teaching, awareness and appreciation of the humanities and world history. While ICONS will surely succeed in it's current tour of theatrical entertainment venues across the U.S., I hope Jade also gives a thought to it's potential in colleges and schools as a valuable tool for educating students in both glbt history AND the humanities.
It is a show worthy of a grant.
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Book, music and choreography by J.E. Estrada
Directed by Aliza, Costumes by Aliza
Additional musical arrangements by Tracey Stark
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