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Journey With You (Chinese Series)

By Golu
I've always had kind of a love hate relationship with Chinese historical BLs. Some are genuinely excellent, but then there are others that cram in so much plot that keeping track of all the layers of betrayal and scheming gets exhausting, and I end up checking out mentally. Part of the issue is also just how much content is out there in this space, so something really has to stand out to keep me hooked. In this case, the production value is genuinely impressive, top tier stuff, but story wise, I just couldn't bring myself to actually care about these characters. There's a ton of political scheming and backstage manipulation running throughout. Somewhere in the middle of all that chaos, a hostage ends up falling for his own Prince Charming. The show runs eight episodes, each around 50 to 60 minutes long. After spending three years guarding the border, Fifth Prince Yin Qi gets called back to the capital because of a secret letter, only to end up walking straight into a deadly...
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The Nance - Live From Lincoln Center (Stage Play)

By Golu

Watching a filmed stage play on TV can honestly go either way, but this Lincoln Center Theater production of The Nance shows exactly how to do it right. Having Nathan Lane anchor the whole thing as a Depression era comic who plays pansy parts in burlesque shows definitely helps a ton. He's genuinely fantastic in the role. That said, running close to two and a half hours, it does take real patience sitting through a stage play from your couch instead of watching it live in person. I guess what I'm getting at is this review's going to be pretty personal, and plenty of people will probably feel differently about it than I do. The Nance is set in 1930s New York City, during a time when being anything other than straight wasn't just frowned upon, it was treated as criminal. Back then there was this whole world of cheap, sleazy shows called burlesque, featuring women in revealing outfits dancing around while a lot of raunchy adult humor filled out the rest of the show. One recurring character in these shows was called the nance, basically a mocking parody of a gay man, and it was almost always played by a straight actor.

Nathan Lane plays Chauncey Miles, an actor performing the nance role in one of these burlesque shows, except with one major twist, Chauncey actually is gay in real life. He meets Ned, a guy who's just arrived in the city homeless after leaving his wife behind. Chauncey initially assumes Ned's just a curious straight guy, but Ned tells him he's actually gay too. The two of them fall into a relationship, and Chauncey helps Ned land a job at the theater. Meanwhile, Mayor La Guardia's cracking down hard on burlesque as morally corrupt. Ephraim, who manages the theater, warns Chauncey that being openly gay is drawing attention from both gay audience members and the police. Chauncey, who's actually a Republican and supports La Guardia politically, assumes it'll all blow over eventually. During one show, with police sitting in the crowd, Chauncey defiantly plays up the nance role and kisses Ephraim right on stage, which leads to the theater getting raided. Chauncey gets thrown in jail briefly, and rather than feeling proud, he resents being treated like some kind of hero, growing increasingly bitter as burlesque keeps getting shut down further. His relationship with Ned starts falling apart as he drifts back to anonymous hookups in the park. Ned, who's become much more comfortable in his own identity by this point, asks Chauncey to commit to monogamy. Chauncey agrees, then breaks that promise almost immediately. When Ned catches him cruising again, Chauncey coldly pushes him away, admitting he actually wants to be used and thrown aside. Sensing that burlesque is basically finished anyway, Ned takes a touring job elsewhere and makes one final offer for Chauncey to come with him and actually try being monogamous. Chauncey turns him down, admitting to deep self hatred, and kisses Ned goodbye, only to get arrested for public indecency moments later. Later on, Chauncey performs in full drag and has a breakdown mid performance. The theater eventually shuts down. Facing charges as a repeat offender, he's offered a lighter sentence if he names Ned, but he refuses to give him up. Standing alone on stage as everyone around him leaves, he sings his signature song while part of the ceiling collapses nearby, and the curtain falls with him standing under a broken spotlight.

What really drives this play is the unlikely bond between these two men and the internal battle Chauncey fights, a man so weighed down by self loathing that he struggles to love anyone or believe he even deserves love himself. Ned, who left behind a marriage upstate to explore who he really is, falls for him completely, and his emotional openness and unwavering devotion slowly chip away at Chauncey's guardedness. Both lead actors do a genuinely excellent job portraying how their romance develops. That said, for me personally, the burlesque comedy and song interludes that satirically mirror what's happening in Chauncey and Ned's story started to drag after a while, though honestly that might just be my own attention span talking. The performances themselves are excellent, and I'm pretty sure I would've enjoyed this a lot more watching it live in a theater. The production quality is genuinely top notch, and so is the acting across the board. It's really just my own personal limitations that kept me from enjoying this as much as I probably should have. Chauncey Miles might be ahead of his time in some ways, but he's also stuck in it, chasing something he can't quite name, content for now to just stay hidden in the shadows. (5/10)

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