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"ESTRADA is really quite CONVINCING when in character."

  THE JADED PRINCE OF PRIDE
  Jade Esteban Estrada returns to St. Petersburg
  Tampa Bay Gazette
  By JOHN CHAMBRONE
  Photo by ANGEL HESS
  July 2006


 
Cher put it best when she sang, "If I Could Turn Back Time." International

Latin singer/actor Jade Esteban Estrada took a cue from the pop diva and actually peeled back the hands of time to portray a half-dozen important gay and lesbian historical figures in each of his one-man musicals titled "ICONS: The Lesbian and Gay History of the World, Vol. 1 and 2." Estrada begins each section portraying a pivotal gay or lesbian character from long ago. From there he moves forward in time picking out other key individuals in gay history.

     Between characters, Estrada 'travels through time' to become the next icon. Estrada prides himself on these transitions between characters, noting that for some actors that can be the most difficult part of any production, but it comes easily to him.

     "Transitions--that's my thing," he says.

     In "ICONS," Estrada begins with history's 'first' lesbian, Sappho, admitting the character is one of his favorites. From there he treats us to days in the life of esteemed artist Michelangelo, authors Oscar Wilde and Gertrude Stein, Sylvia Rivera, the teenage transgender warrior who threw the first shoe in the Stonewall Riots, and finally, Ellen DeGeneres. Writing and choreographing the show himself, Estrada is really quite convincing when in character. Once he begins, the characters seem to take on a life of their own.

     "Oh, I'm gone. I'm in the back smoking a cigarette," he says. "They become their own people."

     Estrada has a particular fondness for Oscar Wilde.

     "I can walk onstage with a 105 degree fever, I can be just waking up, or I can have not slept for 4 days and he is always the same in energy. I love that about him."

     The inspiration for these one-man, one-act plays came about from a love of history that Estrada incorporated with his other passions: music, comedy and performing.

     "I got the idea for "ICONS" because I have always loved history. I had the opportunity to do a show at the Columbus National Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival. I come from musical theatre so I thought I'd put the things I love all together in a fun way. In Spanish we say, "Ensename con quien andas y te digo quien eres," (show me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are). Well, I started to meet people from GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign in my touring and I could not help but care after a while about the gay movement around the world. So with the history I already had and my history as a singer, I came up with this."

     "They say that nothing you do in life is ever wasted and I believe that to be true. I hated tap class. In my Harvey Milk segment, I tap all the time. I used to always sing the girl part in 5th grade (before my voice changed) and here I am with Sappho remembering what it is like to be that young in my head. With Oscar Wilde, I used to live in England, so when I put this together it was like, 'If I hadn't done and experienced these particular things, I would have no clue how to do some of this stuff.'"

     Although they have not met, Ellen DeGeneres is aware of Estrada's portrayal of her-her mom told her all about it.

     "I'm friends with Betty DeGeneres. We met working together with the Human Rights Campaign. She is really into it. You know how moms can be. She's a sweetheart and a great activist in the community."

     Estrada began his career in comedy and music. Dubbed "America's Prince of Pride" by NBC News, he has participated in 168 Pride celebrations around the world in the past five years.

     "As a Latin pop singer, I love my job, but I do plan to return to stand-up comedy once "ICONS 3" opens and has had its run."

     He has performed in seven languages and in 33 countries to date. In 1995, he was awarded "Funniest Amateur Comic in New York" and has had this music featured on FX's "The Shield." He spent some time as Charo's lead dancer and has shared the stage with Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Ricky Martin, Margaret Cho, RuPaul, Jody Watley and Jimmy Somerville. Genre Magazine calls him "the most exciting Latin pop artist ever to emerge onto the music scene."

     "ICONS" was produced by Gypsy Productions at the Suncoast Resort Theatre last year. In honor of St. Pete Pride and was brought back in May, accompanied by "ICONS 2" which begins at the funeral of Alexander the Great's lover and rifles through time and characters like Billie Jean King, Mark Bingham, Harvey Milk and others. "ICONS 3" is on the horizon-Estrada plans to debut the production in the fall in Columbus, Ohio. He described "ICONS" as being in the format of "a happy cabaret." "ICONS 2" is a little darker.

     "It is the middle child so it's going to be a little different. For "ICONS 3," I'd like to put the best of what I've learned together. It is going to be a big splashy show. It's the last one in the trilogy so I want to go out with a bang."

     When in comes to the creative process, Estrada says "it" just comes naturally for him.

     "Sometimes as an artist, we don't have a choice with these things. We have to do it. It haunts us in our sleep. It pushes you off the bed until you write it down and capture it. An idea flies around in the air and searches for a place to live…it wants to live in your head. With "ICONS" and "ICONS 2" I learned so much about myself that I look forward to finding out what is behind 'ICONS 3.'"

     Estrada says he loves playing the Tampa Bay area and will definitely bring "ICONS 3" here next year.

     "I am happy to have come back to this area so many times. We have a great time. The people are awesome and very progressive in this particular part of Florida. You guys really care about equality and diversity and it's obvious. My show is interactive so I can always tell exactly where I am by the way people react. Politically or emotionally you can always tell. I always get a quick, clever audience when I come to Florida."

 


©2006 Tampa Bay Gazette

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