Hundreds Protest Sacramento Pastor Roger "Blow The Gays' Brains Out" Jimenez

"Are you sad that 50 pedophiles were killed today? No. I think that's great."

Those are just some of the words used by Pastor Roger Jimenez last Sunday when he praised the massacre of LGBT people at Orlando nightclub.

From the Sacramento Bee:

More than 500 people gathered early Sunday morning outside the Sacramento church where last week a pastor gave an inflammatory sermon praising the massacre of LGBT people in an Orlando nightclub.

Chants of “Love conquers hate” rang out when worshippers walked down the police-protected entrance to Verity Baptist church in an office park on Northgate Boulevard.

Protesters with megaphones urged peace and non-violent protest when a man with a “Gay = pervert” sign approached the police barricade to debate the crowd.

Last Sunday, after news broke of the Orlando mass shooting, the worst in U.S. history, Jimenez told his congregants that he wished the shooter had killed more people in the gay nightclub Pulse. He said God has put a death sentence on gay people.

“There’s no tragedy,” Jimenez said. “I wish the government would round them all up, put them up against a firing wall, put a firing squad in front of them, and blow their brains out.”

Sacramento: Parishioners Nonplussed By Pastor "Blow The Gays' Brains Out" Jimenez

Parishioners smiled and waved at protesters at the Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, California, after Pastor Roger Jimenez told his congregation that he there was no tragedy in the Orlando nightclub shooting that left 49 dead and 53 hospitalized.

“I wish the government would round them all up, put them up against a firing wall, put a firing squad in front of them, and blow their brains out," said Jimenez.

From Sacramento’s NBC affiliate:

About 100 people protested Wednesday night outside of a Sacramento Baptist church after a pastor praised the Orlando mass shooting during his sermon. It was supposed to be a silent protest, but dozens of people shouted and sang as parishioners, with Bibles in hand, tried to make their way through the crowd.

Yellow tape and Sacramento County sheriff’s deputies kept protesters back and didn’t allow them inside. Pride flags and posters filled the parking lot of Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento as protesters tried to get the attention of Pastor Roger Jimenez.

During his sermon Sunday, Jimenez talked about sodomites and said it is “unnatural to want to be with some of the same sex.” As he continued to speak, Jimenez said he was upset more people didn’t die. The sermon was recorded and uploaded to YouTube. Jimenez briefly came outside but turned back around as protesters continued to shout.

Another protest is scheduled for Sunday.

Video Montage From "Bye Bye Birdie" At Sacramento Music Circus

"Got A Lot Of Livin To Do"

Regular readers of The Randy Report know I split my career between writing about LGBT and pop culture issues here and working in the theater.

The past two weeks my posting here has been a little light as I've been choreographing a new production of the all-American musical Bye Bye Birdie for Sacramento Music Circus. Artistic Director Glenn Casale invited me and a fab cast on a terrific journey bringing this classic to life again.

I've received some emails asking how the show went, so I'm happy to share this montage of clips from the opening night performance.

Make sure you catch the moment between my partner in crime/Associate Choreographer Kat Murphy as she reacts to "Conrad Birdie" (Nate Hackmann) at the 4:02 mark. Nate, Kat and the whole company stopped the show with that performance of "Honestly Sincere."

Loved the whole experience. If you're in the Sacramento area this week, head over to Sacramento Music Circus and see the result of our work. It's fun.

Click on any of the pics to enlarge.

"One Last Kiss"

"Healthy Normal American Boy"

"We Love You Conrad"

"The Telephone Hour"

Nate Hackmann as "Conrad Birdie"

Bye Bye Birdie Rehearsals: "The Shriners Ballet"

Rehearsing "The Shriners Ballet" from Bye Bye Birdie at Sacramento Music Circus yesterday with the fab Janine Divita ("Rose") and the men of the ensemble. )That's me in the lower left hand corner).

Today we get the drummer in for couple of hours, which always jazzes the dancers :)

The skit opens Tuesday!

Bye Bye Birdie - "Honestly Sincere"

Apologies in advance today for light posting. I'm staging three big numbers (including "Honestly Sincere") today at Sacramento Music Circus for the upcoming production of BYE BYE BIRDIE opening next Tuesday.

Thought I'd share a little of the world I'm working in right now. Happy Tuesday!

Saturday Slow Down - Pool Time

Spent the day being lazy by the pool with the hunky hubby Michael.

When he's relaxing by the pool, Michael insists on 80s rock hits - I think he was singing along to Journey here. I"m a smooth jazz kinda guy myself. Michael didn't know I was taking this pic...

He has press days coming up with celeb clients and I'm heading to Sacramento to choreograph BYE BYE BIRDIE for Sacramento Music Circus this coming week. So, might be the last lazy day for a while.

Regular readers of The Randy Report know I"m still active in the theater, and this is the third gig for me at Sacramento. I've previously posted about my experiences with CHICAGO and A CHORUS LINE there.

The next few weeks will include posts about the evolution of BBB at the Music Circus, so be prepared :)

More wine!

BYE BYE BIRDIE - This Summer At Sacramento Music Circus

I'm "Honestly Sincere" when I "Put On A Happy Face" and share that I'll be heading back to Sacramento Music Circus this summer to choreograph BYE BYE BIRDIE!

This will be my 3rd summer dancing with the "Kids" at Sac Music Circus, and we "Got A Lot Of Livin' To Do" before everything is "Rosie."

Definitely looking forward to it. As always when I'm working in the theater, The Randy Report will continue - just means some double duty for a while. But I love doing both. I'll share the backstage process of putting on a show from as many perspectives as I can.

If you're in Sacramento in early July, opening night is July 7th! Come down and say hi :)

Theater: A CHORUS LINE opens at Sacramento Music Circus

The Finale of A Chorus Line at Sacramento Music Circus

Finally getting a chance to exhale as I've spent the past two weeks in Sacramento choreographing what feels like a new, fresh and creative A Chorus Line for Sacramento Music Circus.

Uber-proud of the fab cast and crew there. We opened Tuesday night this week to excellent reviews (thank you, thank you, thank you - grateful), and now I'm back at home in Las Vegas with hubby Michael, Bruno the wonder dog and the rest of the pups.

I can only describe this as a truly calm, creative and collaborative experience working with one of the best and most respected directors in theater today - Stafford Arima. The producers of the theatre thought we would make a good team, and I'm happy to say it was a joy from beginning to end.  I think it's rare you walk into an experience with a new "team-mate" and find such a solid connection and unified artistic vision.  Everyone connected to the production from Stafford to our music director Valerie Gebert to the designers who brought the show to life were all on the same page.

I will admit there was a tiny amount of trepidation on my part in taking the job since, as you can guess, A Chorus Line makes "the line" an integral part of the show.   Staging a show that is iconically about a line -  IN THE ROUND - can make for some big creative leaps in order to honor the Pulitzer prize-winning material.

I've been associated with the show for 29 years, performing it for the first time in 1985. Since then, I've been a part of the show as an actor in many national and regional productions (with original cast members Donna McKechnie, Baayork Lee and Kay Cole), and as director/choreographer of several productions in my own right.

Releasing my decades of experience with the show could have been much more difficult, except for our secret weapon - director Stafford Arima. Stafford did not have a history with the show. And that, coupled with his innate talent for questions and creativity moved the show from just another "step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch" to a very new, "out of the box" production.

When my muscle memory would sometimes kick in, and I'd think "how do we...?," Stafford would ask "do we have to do it that way...? What if we...?  Could we...?" and suddenly new ideas became reality.

Do we have to form a single line in the finale?  Can "At The Ballet" spread out to the entire theater?  Can we use mirrors in the production without blocking the audiences view?  

"Deconstructed" became the catch word.  And as Martha Stewart would say, "This is a good thing."

The only things I made sure I brought to the production were ideas/concepts that I had learned over the years from original Broadway cast members that honored the integrity of the piece. The voice of the individual; that everyone is special.  The further and further we got into the rehearsal process, the more comfortable I was that we were doing Michael Bennett (the original Tony Award winning director/choreographer) proud in sharing the intent of the piece.  It was never about starting on the right or left foot - it was about what were we saying.  As Stafford would say over and over "Trust the text."  I would add, "the Pulitzer Prize-winning" text.

I did find one special place with which to land the iconic "logo" line of the show.  That made me happy.  To find out where, come see the show :)

Sacramento Music Circus photog Charr Crail (production pics) and cast member John Williford (rehearsal and opening night pics) shared several photos with me that I've posted here to give you a sense of the journey that is this A Chorus Line.

Should you be interested in what the critics had to say, you can read the Sacramento Bee and Broadway World reviews by clicking those links.  I'm very grateful for the kind words all around.

And, there's a video montage from the production featuring this fab cast below.

Thanks to all at Sacramento Music Circus.

 Kick, ball, change and thanks to everyone for doing "what you do for love."

"Hello 12, Hello 13" with the company

Jen Foote ("Sheila"), Juliane Godfrey ("Judy") and Katie Huff ("Kristine")

Eric Sciotto as "Zach" and Kate Levering as "Cassie"

The Finale

Opening ballet combination with Courtney Iventosch ("Lois") and Kate Levering ("Cassie")

Nick Varricchio as "Mike Costa"

Adam Fleming and Katie Huff as "Al" & "Kristine"

Xavier Cano as "Paul San Marco"

The Opening of A Chorus Line at Sacramento Music Circus

Zach (Eric Sciotto) rehearsing "One"

Taking a break with the cast during rehearsals

In rehearsal: "At The Ballet"

Drew Humphrey ("Don Kerr"), Kat Murphy ("Laura" & my associate choreographer) with me and hubby Michael at the opening night party.  More wine!

The exceptionally attractive cast of A Chorus Line at the opening night party

Even more of the gorgeous cast of A Chorus Line at the opening night party

Sign of the Day: Naked Lounge

Around the corner from my hotel - "Naked Lounge."

How did I miss this for 9 days?

In rehearsal: "A Chorus Line" at Sacramento Music Circus

Teaching the cast "Shit Richie" with my associate choreographer Kat Murphy

Hard to believe, but it was 29 years ago this summer that I first performed in A Chorus Line - "in the round" at Casa Manana in Fort Worth, TX.

And here I am choreographing the show "in the round" now in Sacramento. Carly Simon once wrote "I know nothing stays the same, but If you're willing to play the game, you know it's coming around again..." Glad to know she was right.

Sacramento Music Circus had a photographer at a recent rehearsal, so I thought I'd share a few of the pics.  Way proud of this cast.

Please note my open wide jazz hands :)

With our director Stafford Arima

Kate Levering ("Cassie") and I rehearsing "Music and the Mirror"

The cast dancing "Shit Richie"

My "temple"

Thanks for indulging me, faithful readers. I'm currently staging A Chorus Line at Sacramento Music Circus.

This is the closest thing to a "temple" in my life.

This is seriously where I love to be.

Video montage of CHICAGO the Musical at Sacramento Music Circus

I've gotten some emails asking about video from my recent production of CHICAGO the Musical at Sacramento Music Circus. Well, they've just posted a montage of clips from the show. So, here you go.  Check out the video below. 

From Sacramento Music Circus:

The Music Circus production of the musical "Chicago" at the Wells Fargo Pavilion August 20-29, 2013. Directed by Ron Kellum, choreographed by Randy Slovacek. Brenda Braxton (Velma Kelly), Lindsay Roginski (Roxie Hart), Tom Hewitt (Billy Flynn), Roz Ryan (Matron "Mama" Morton), Ric Stoneback (Amos Hart).

First time ever at Music Circus, the sizzling, sexy Kander and Ebb smash hit, newly choreographed by Randy Slovacek in the style of Bob Fosse. An edge-of-your-seat story of sin, corruption, betrayal and all that jazz, with knockout dancing and one show-stopper after another. Featuring the songs "All That Jazz," "Razzle Dazzle," "Cell Block Tango."

And in case you're interested, here's what the critics had to say - no editing, just the full reviews:

Sacramento Bee

Sacramento Press

Appeal Democrat

BroadwayWorld

The critics have their say about CHICAGO at Sacramento Music Circus

Congrats to the entire cast and crew of CHICAGO the Musical at Sacramento Music Circus! Well-earned 4 star review. Very proud of you all.

And there's something nice said about me, but that's not the point :)

All that Fosse. And yes it can be said here, “All that Jazz” has finally come to the Music Circus. The deconstructed but still fully entertaining 1996 revival of the Bob Fosse, John Kander and Fred Ebb musical “Chicago” almost nonchalantly sizzles as its sexy cast struts across the circular stage. From the first entrance of Aaron Felske’s bare-armed announcer there were hoots and wolf whistles from the crowd, and that could have gone on forever as the cast supplied beefcake and cheesecake all night long.

That type of purient sexuality would eventually become part of the production’s furniture (if the bare set actually had any beyond a few chairs) because the seductive boudoir-based costumes never change. The women in black bras, garter belts and stockings don’t ever cover up. The men in black trousers and open black vests never change, either. Still, to focus solely on the Fosse-centric celebration of the flesh would miss the point. The greatness of this revival remains how it distills the spectacular original 1975 production and somehow, less really does become more.

Based on a 1926 play called “Chicago” by Maurine Dallas Watkins, a journalist turned playwright and screenwriter who covered the real-life sensational murder trials that form the basis of the fictional story, Fosse seized on the satirical possibilities. Watkins’ reporting and play focused on two accused women who claimed to be corrupted by men and the breathless coverage their “stories” in Chicago’s seven daily papers of the time. Fosse turned it all into a cynical, winking homage to vaudeville and show business.

(Roz) Ryan confidently belts “When You’re Good to Mama” while the beautifully voiced (Tom) Hewitt has superb turns on “All I Care About” and the comic masterpiece “We Both Reached For the Gun.” Ric Stoneback’s Amos Hart takes on the somber Bert Williams tribute “Mr. Cellophane” and Hewitt nearly stops the show with “Razzle Dazzle.” The ensemble’s fabulous Fosse-inspired dancing was finely choreographed by Randy Slovacek.

It’s hard to believe the Music Circus has never staged “Chicago” before, but this top-shelf, extended-run production makes up for much of that omission.

FOX40 had this to say: "Had a great time at Sacramento Music Circus' last show of the season - CHICAGO was awesome. This is the first time that 'Chicago' has been performed in the round. If you've seen 'Chicago' before, you've never seen it like this!"

UPDATE: A few more reviews have come in, so to be fair, I thought I'd include them also:

Sacramento Press

Appeal Democrat

BroadwayWorld

It's the Day of Show in Sacramento!

The show photographer snapped this of me while I was checking some lights during a final tech rehearsal

CHICAGO the Musical opens tonight at Sacramento Music Circus! What an adventure this has been. Big thanks to Glenn Casale and Scott Klier for giving me to opportunity to play in their sandbox. The cast and crew have been uber-amazing and I couldn't be more proud of the work they've done. And of course, my director Ron Kellum.

Thank god for my associate Kathryn Murphy for her great work not only on the choreography side of things, but her fab performance as "Hunyak" - easily one of the high points in the show.

Lindsay Roginski is gorgeous, and Tom Hewitt deserves every praise and accolade (and Tony Award nomination) you've ever heard about him. He is a god among "Billy Flynns." It goes without saying how great it is to reunite with Brenda Braxton and Roz Ryan. As expected, all hold the audience in the palm of their hands each time they take the stage.

And then there's the ensemble - the backbone of the American Musical, as I like to call them.  I've done the show with so many of this group as a fellow actor; getting to explore this piece with them now in the role of choreographer has been a gift.  Mark Reis, Juliet Fischer, Christine Bokhour, Chris Holly, Destan Owens, Chuck Seculla, Evelyn Tonn, Melanie Waldron, Leslie Stevens, Adam Pellegrine, Aaron Felske and Chris Houston.

If you're in the Sacramento area, please come see these fab creative folks.  More info about the show on the Sacramento Music Circus website.

I salute all of you who did not panic or crack under the pressure of this pretty tight rehearsal period.  You rock.

Kick, ball change kids.

And all that jazz...

Cocktails with Brenda Braxton and Roz Ryan

Brenda Braxton (L), me and Roz Ryan (R) drinking, boozing, having a few laughs...

I'm currently in Sacramento, Calif, choreographing a new production (in the round; with a stage that often spins) of CHICAGO the Musical at Sacramento Music Circus.

On a lightning fast schedule, we've already staged half the show (Overture, All That Jazz, Cellblock Tango, All I Care About, Both Reached for the Gun, Roxie, Tap Dance and My Own Best Friend) in three days. Whew!

Great cast and crew here, especially two of my FAVORITE peeps from my CHICAGO past - the fab Roz Ryan and Brenda Braxton - who I had dinner and drinks with last night as we head into our one day off before opening. Love these two stunning, talented ladies. I can't imagine a better time anywhere than laughing with them.

From cocktails with the ladies I got back to my hotel, showered up and headed to the Music Circus's closing night performance of The King & I, which featured old friends Alan Ariano and Telly Leung. Amazing production. Looked great in the theater, the cast was fantastic, and the theater of over 2,000 looked to be sold out! Congrats to Music Circus.

So proud of NYC bud (and former gym partner) Alan Ariano - his performance
in The King & I was fab!

Time for a day off....

Forward.