On February 12th, previews began at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York for a new, all-black production of Tennessee Williams’ 1955 play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that will open on March 6th.

The cast includes James Earl Jones as Big Daddy, The Cosby Show’s Phylicia Rashad as Big Mama, Dreamgirls star Anika Noni Rose as Maggie the Cat (a role made famous by Elizabeth Taylor in the 1958 film of the play), and Oscar nominee and Hustle & Flow star Terrence Howard as Brick (a role played by Paul Newman in the film).

The casting of Howard in the role is interesting, since Brick’s sexuality in the play (and even in the censored film) could be considered somewhat ambiguous. In mourning for his closeted homosexual best friend, Skipper, who has recently committed suicide, Brick is refusing to sleep with his wife, Maggie. Maggie in turn is frustrated, both by her desire for her husband, and by his refusal to give her children and therefore make them more likely to be left a fortune in Big Daddy’s will.

Last year, Howard made headlines in the gay press when he talked about homophobia in hip-hop and his own ambiguous attitude towards homosexuality, saying:

"Do I agree with homosexuality? No, I'm a Bible-based young man. But I know the Bible also speaks about homosexuality with liars, adulterers, thieves. I've lied, I've cheated on my wife, I've stolen. So how can I judge somebody for something that's mentioned in the same exact scripture? I believe we're all sinners. We're all trying to make it but our hip-hop community are a bunch of hypocrites right now."

Whether Howard isn’t aware of the homosexual overtones in Williams’ play, or has decided he doesn’t care, isn’t clear. An brief article in the new Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue, out now, quotes him as saying that it’s a “challenge” to play Brick, because Brick has a lot of “issues” - but neither Howard nor the article itself explicitly mentions the play’s homoerotic themes.

Nevertheless, it’s good to see a prominent African-American actor – and particularly a film actor – taking on a role that is anything other than strictly heterosexual. Although fear of playing queer cuts across all races in Hollywood, the pressure can be particularly acute for black actors who worry that homophobia as well as racism will limit their career opportunities. When Will Smith took the role of gay Paul Poitier in Six Degrees of Separation back in 1993, he told Premiere magazine that Denzel Washington approved of him taking the role, but advised him “Don’t be kissing no man”. Fifteen years later, neither Smith – nor Washington, nor Morgan Freeman, nor Samuel L. Jackson – has played any further gay roles.

Here’s hoping that Howard can help to lessen the taboo for African-American actors playing queer or ambiguous roles – and maybe question his own attitude towards homosexuality in the meantime.

From Rupert Everett to Stephen Fry, from Graham Norton to Sir Ian McKellen, there are several openly gay British celebrities who seem to have made the transition across the pond to American consciousness. But one who has yet to do so is 28-year-old comedian and TV presenter Simon Amstell - and in the meantime, I think Americans are missing out.

Amstell first became a part of my life as a co-host on the cult Sunday morning pop music show Popworld (2000-2006), which took an acerbic - not to say savage - approach to its musical guests, as opposed to the fawning approach favored by most TV shows. While I sometimes felt a bit sorry for the bland cheesy pop stars who trotted into the studio, only to be ripped to shreds by Simon, he was also capable of putting the boot in where it was truly deserved.

In an interview with notoriously homophobic reggae star Beenie Man, for example, Simon explained that he had just broken up with his boyfriend, and then asked for a hug. (Beenie Man said no. Simon gave him a banana with his phone number written on it). In an interview with Lloyd Banks, of 50 Cent’s macho, humorless G-Unit, Simon innocently asked “When was the last time you said ‘Come on fellas, get into the spirit! It’s gay night!’” In an interview with the fat rapper Bizarre, of Eminem’s group D12, Simon first asked to touch his stomach, and then, when Bizarre refused, said “I bet you’ve let Eminem touch it.”

That’s not to say that Amstell necessarily let his gay guests get off easily. In an interview with U.K. gay mag Attitude last year, former Savage Garden star Darren Hayes talked about visiting Popworld in order to promote his 2004 album The Tension and the Spark. Hayes was still closeted at the time, and according to him:

“I sat on Simon’s couch and we were in the middle of the interview and he said ‘so, when are you going to come out then?’ [...] I said ‘Excuse me?’ and he said ‘well, you're obviously gay, but why won't you come out?’ My reaction was so violent. Rather than deny it I said ‘Oh, you want to talk about my sex life, do you?’ [Simon] blinked and I said ‘Yeah, I like to f***, actually. I'm probably more of a top and if you lay on your back I'll show you how I like to f***.’”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this part of the interview was cut when the segment aired. While Hayes refers to Amstell as “a total prick”, he admits that this event was crucial in spurring him to come out (which he eventually did in 2006):

“I had to come out after that [...] I couldn't let any other complete stranger have that power to rubbish me in the public again. [...] I couldn't allow my sexuality to be this flimsy carpet underneath me that could be ripped out at a moment’s notice.”

This episode leaves me torn: While I don’t generally approve of forced outings, and while I’m sympathetic to Hayes, I do also have a certain sympathy for Amstell’s approach of refusing to treat homosexuality as a dirty secret that can’t be mentioned.

For more on Amstell and some clips of him on his show, click on through the jump...

We blogged last year about the first season of the British teen drama Skins. Set in Bristol, it focuses on the lives of eight friends between the ages of 16 and 18 – including an out gay character, Maxxie (played by Mitch Hewer). Although it was refreshing to see an out gay teen who was confident and popular, the ensemble nature of the drama meant that Maxxie didn’t get much development last season. And the plotlines he did have also seemed to revolve around other people’s reactions to him – his Muslim best friend Anwar’s struggle to accept his sexuality, for example, or his heteroflexible friend Tony’s experimental attempts to seduce him.

The first episode of the second season of Skins premiered in the U.K. on Monday night. And although the characterization overall on the show is pretty shallow, there are signs that Maxxie may get a beefed-up plotline this time around. In the season premiere, we saw him being homophobically hassled by a group of boys who live near him – one of whom fairly clearly has the hots for him. This was confirmed later on when, having been chased by the homophobes and got away, Maxxie finds himself tackled to the ground and kissed by the boy, Dale. Initially indignant, Maxxie said “Dale, you can’t just treat me like shit and then just…” before evidently deciding “what the hell” and kissing him anyway.

While storylines involving homophobic abuse and closeted homophobes might seem like earnest clichés for a gay teen character, Skins prides itself (sometimes a little too much) on being politically incorrect and “edgy”. Consequently, Maxxie seemed totally unfazed by the persecution, even when a whole group of boys were chasing him. Having easily escaped from them, he muttered below his breath “tossers”.

Similarly, when he kissed Dale, it came across as being less because of low self-esteem or a willingness to tolerate a closeted boyfriend, than as simple pragmatic sexual opportunism – of a kind in which the other characters in the show regularly indulge.

More on Maxxie and a clip after the jump...

If you were looking for gay men on UK TV this Christmas, there was quite a lot to keep you entertained. Here’s a rundown of the highlights:

• When Joseph Met Maria, Christmas Eve, BBC1 7.00-8.00pm 
  Presented by openly gay comedian Graham Norton, and featuring the openly gay John Barrowman as one of the panel, this Christmas special brought together the finalists of two previous reality talent competitions, How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do, whose winners have gone on to star in The Sound of Music and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, respectively. We blogged back in May about Any Dream, where several of the contestants were pinging my gaydar, although none of them were openly gay. Rather frustratingly, this special stayed true to the heteronormative pattern the shows have followed so far: John Barrowman did a romantic duet with the female finalists, while female judge Denise Van Outen duetted with the male ones (who were all expected to act interested in her). While it’s great on the one hand to see out gay male performers cast in heterosexual roles, the fact that this was a concert and not a show where the performers were playing characters, made me wonder why why all the men were expected to present their default identities as straight. 

• Strictly Bolshoi on Christmas Day, Channel 4 2.45-4.20pm 
  This documentary followed the acclaimed, openly gay choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, as he became the first Englishman to create a new work for Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet. Tensions ran high as Wheeldon’s improvisational methods clashed with the more traditional expectations of lead dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze (who was also strongly pinging my gaydar, although his sexuality was not specified in the program). The final work, ‘Misericordes/Elsinore’, performed in the last half-hour of the show, has been considered a success though – you can read about Wheeldon discussing his Moscow experience here. 

• The Catherine Tate Christmas Show, Christmas Day, BBC1 10.30-11.10pm 
  This popular UK comedy show featured Catherine Tate as Irish nurse Bernie, cluelessly hitting on guest star George Michael with the words “Do you want my sex?” (to which he replied “Do you not read the papers, love?”) She gets to kiss him in the end though, not to mention duetting with him on The Pogues’ ‘Fairytale of New York’ (which controversially includes the word “faggot”). Check out the clip after the jump.  Another popular sketch in the show was reminiscent of Little Britain’s Daffyd, as a gay man, John, comes out nervously to his family, only to find that they are intrusively and obnoxiously supportive. 

Throughout the last couple of weeks, the UK’s Channel 4 has been celebrating its 25th birthday by re-screening some of its landmark programs on its new digital spinoff channel, More4. Among them is the original British Queer As Folk, first aired in 1999.

That’s right: before Michael, Brian and Justin ever partied their way across Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, there were Vince (Craig Kelly), Stuart (Aidan Gillen) and Nathan (Charlie Hunnam) partying their way across Canal Street, Manchester, England.

Queer As Folk: the original series was a much briefer thing than the American show it spawned, running for only ten episodes. But its immediate impact on mainstream society was arguably much greater, since it ran on one of the UK’s four main TV stations, rather than on a pay-cable channel as in the US.

Predictably denounced by conservatives, as well as protested by gay activists who worried about its lack of role models, the show nevertheless became a ratings hit. It also provided a breakout success for out gay screenwriter Russell T. Davies, who would go on to helm the current BBC revival of Doctor Who, as well as creating the bisexual-heavy sci-fi spinoff Torchwood.