Tim Miller, "us"

A socially conscientious
Broadway show tune striptease
indictment of the right wing

Fast, funny and furious, Tim Miller’s newset show, “us” ricochets between Miller’s love affair since childhood with Broadway musicals to an exploration of home, exile and homophobia in the good USA. “Us” is a hilarious and pissed-off exploration of these most American contradictions as the piece careens from the little boy who did stripteases with the musical GYPSY on the record player, to memories of a 10-year-old’s plan to flee to Canada to escape the war in Viet Nam, to a surreal gay wedding day tug-of-war at the edge of America as the Niagara Falls rushes between his legs.

“South Pacific showed me you could fight bigotry while being surrounded by hunky, half-naked sailors and drag queens”.

“Applause gave me my very first glimpse of a gay bar, chock-a-block with queer boys dancing with Lauren Bacall singing “Alive!” and it showed me that my future as an Outsder-in-America would include silk scarves knotted at the neck and festive leather fringe vests.”

“Hair taught me we could confront the government, take drugs and be in theatre projects wherein the attractive young cast takes their clothes off. As a 10-year-old boy, I wasn’t allowed to have the Broadway cast album, but a friends older brother brought the record home from University and we secretly listened to it over the headphones, each of us with just one headphone pressed to a single ear. “Sodomy” was my favorite song in the show. I wasn’t sure what sodomy was exactly, but I knew it was for me”.

“Broadway shows were a crucial finishing school for my nascent gay identity – they offered me a rich tonic of diva agency and general fabulousness. Forget Marx and Engels. I had Rogers and Hammerstein!”

“Fiddler on the Roof made me want a Jewish communist boyfriend like Perchik when I grew up and it prepared me for exile, whether from Cossacks, storm troopers or George W. Bush”.

“The power of Tim Miller’s performances lies in his sharp mind and gentle heart, his capacity for being angry and funny and self-critical all at once. One senses immediately that he can be trusted, even when he leads us into unknown territory. His passion is utterly contagious.”—Armistead Maupin, author of Tales of the City

Critic Charles Isherwood called Tim Miller is “a frisky and charismatic performer. and found in Us “a sweet-spirited, honest, and seriously funny commentary on the power of popular art to shape people’s moral, social, and sexual development.”