AfterElton Briefs: The "American Idol" closet, the trouble with gay plays, and more!

Cheyenne Jackson at a NY screening of I Love You, Man (Photo: GETTY)

Following this assortment of carefully-selected news items, interested readers can find a refreshing pic of a hot man in underwear after the jump. Yes, we're serious.

• If you (like me) missed Cheyenne Jackson's cabaret show, this positive review will hurt all the more. Favorite line: "He noted that he began in summer stock with the Carrousel Players in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, where he 'slept through all seven brothers' in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."

• The LA Times says that American Idol needs to open the closet door. Either that or it needs to close the other door, open a window, and jump out, hopefully landing on a sundial and impaling itself so that its reign of terror can continue no further.

• Out filmmaker Paul Etheredge (who brought us the first gay slasher, Hellbent) has an interesting new project that's just been released: An online action series starring Zoe Bell (Grindhouse) and Lucy Lawless (Xena) called Angel of Death created by comic book writer Ed Brubaker (Criminal, Captain America). Check out the series here and an interview with Lawless about the project over here.

• Above, 365Gay News reports: The musical Rent is now being licensed for high schools, and some are questioning whether the material is appropriate for young actors and audiences. And in related news, a stage adaptation of Alex Sanchez's The God Box by a gay-friendly church was shut down by the Archbishop of San Francisco.

• And finally, Brazilian voice-dubbing artist Marco Ribeiro, who has supplied the Portuguese voice-over for Sean Penn in such classics as All the King's Men and 21 Grams, is refusing to do the job for Milk, because he is a pastor and it does not feel comfortable even providing the voice for another guy who kisses James Franco. Also, his replacement, Alexandro Moreno, "does a much better Gay Long Island Jew."

And today's Briefs are brought to you by...

This guy!