Not just a couple of shelves - the whole store is for us - I do treasure that.” “I think there is something special about going into a gay bookstore. He acknowledges that having access to LGBTQ writers in mainstream or chain bookstores is vital and validating, yet he won’t deny the unique place local gay bookstores still hold. A few years after Stonewall, Weinberg was one of the founding members of the beloved Giovanni’s Room bookstore. He was not political early on, but became so when gay liberation blossomed. Weinberg, unlike Bruhs and Jean, came out in college at the University of Pennsylvania. I decided to write the musical, which was sold out at Carnegie Hall.” Jean wrote the book on their lives as our friendship was growing. Then, later on they became sort of poster seniors for SAGE. “They were pretty closeted,” Weinberg explained. Jean and Weinberg eventually struck up a friendship. Bruhs ultimately died in a nursing home, while Jean lived to be 97. That show, called “60 Years With Bruhs & Jean,” portrays a real-life couple who met in 1929 and lived together for 66 years. Another very happy memory for me was when I was commissioned to write a 15-minute musical for the New York CIty Gay Men’s Chorus.” We had 30 or 40 performances around the country. ![]() It had a terrific run off-Broadway, and a national tour. “My show “10% Review” is something I’m most proud of. “I have had what you call big moments,” he told PGN. The definition has expanded.”ĭespite the evolution, the line made famous in 1972 by Liza Minelli’s Sally Bowles still holds true for Weinberg: “I love a cabaret.” While this is a milestone birthday for Weinberg, the artist doesn’t necessarily have one “favorite,” or “greatest moment” in his long career, which is still growing. ![]() It was mostly white faces but now it’s people of color. New York has five or six dedicated cabarets. “Now, they can happen anywhere - a bar, restaurants, or in the community center. Historically the cabaret experience often featured crooners singing famed torch songs, numbers from musicals, and popular selections from the American songbook. “In Philly there were professional cabaret venues,” Weinberg said. Now he’s doing it perhaps the way he loves best, in a cabaret-style performance. The 20-song show was supposed to take place in April (Weinberg’s actual birthday month) but got postponed when the pandemic shut down live cultural events across the city. We want to see what we learn from it, both the performance and bringing people back into the Center.” Proceeds from the performances will support William Way’s Arcila-Adams Trans Resource Center. “We don’t have anything else scheduled in terms of events. Bartlett said that social distancing and masks will be strongly enforced. “This is really a pilot for us,” said Chris Bartlett, executive director of William Way. Only 25 people, including Weinberg, will be admitted for each performance. Unlike the previous shows Weinberg has brought to the Center, “SONGS at 75” will have a limited seating capacity to maintain and encourage proper social distancing. “SONGS at 75” is a celebration featuring music from the earliest days of gay liberation through the present day. Tom Wilson Weinberg will celebrate his 75th birthday with a series of cabaret performances at the William Way LGBT Community Center this weekend. Tom Wilson Weinberg in 1979 (left) and in 2020 (right).
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