By Wayman Wong
03 Jan 2005

LIFE IS A CABARET FOR THE FARLEY BROS.
Brian and Ted Farley, two good-looking young gay brothers from Manhasset, L.I., are making their New York cabaret debut, and they’re the best dynamic duo to hit Gotham since Batman and Robin. Working in perfect harmony, these lovable baritones joke about their "unadulterated loathing" for each other by singing Stephen Schwartz’s "What Is This Feeling" with Wicked glee. And you know you’re in good Company when they do a marvelous medley of "Being Alive" and "Happily Ever After." But it’s their sunny and funny chemistry that stops the show in John McMahon and Jay Jefferies’ cute and catchy comic duet, "Which Way Does He Swing?" Brian and Ted are a riot as they try to figure out whether a hottie they’ve spotted is gay or straight: "Is he into fashion or computers? Does he go to Splash or Hooters?"

Stu Hamstra of Cabaret Hotline raves, "Their vocals are top-notch, and they are so refreshingly open and honest in their delivery that you want to catch their act again and again." McMahon, their amazing musical director, adds, "They’re total dolls." Happily, the Farley brothers will return Fridays, Jan. 7, 14, 21 and 28 at 8 PM at Rose’s Turn. Brian, 31, put together the act because "I love singing with Ted. We’re gay brothers, but it’s not freaky. It’s just normal. Our show’s about acceptance of everyone." The six-foot Ted, who’s 22 and an inch taller than Brian, says: "We’ve been doing this our entire lives. When we were kids, we’d sing along to the cast album of Miss Saigon in his room. I was a mean Kim. There’s something odd about a seven-year-old singing, ‘I would give my life for you,’ but it was so much fun."

Brian’s New York credits include the Godlight Theatre Company’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Principia at the 2003 Fringe Festival. He’s got a BFA in musical theatre from Syracuse University and is a member of Equity. Ted, who interns at GLAAD, recently graduated from George Washington University with a degree in communication. While in school, he joined the GW Troubadours, a co-ed a cappella group that performed around America and toured Eastern Europe.

Growing up, Brian took to the stage ("In King and I, I was Lun Tha with a blond Tuptim") and Ted took to the violin. But they weren’t ordinary little boys. Brian says, "I was always trying on skirts and high heels, and I played Mary from ‘Little House on the Prairie.’" Ted says, "When I was little, I wanted pompoms." Though some kids at school teased them for being "faggots," the Farleys did their best to play it straight. Ted says, "I was a good prom date. What can I say? The gay ones can dance."

At 27, Brian came out and says: "It was very complicated. I was married for almost two years. And we were together for eight years before that, so it was a big deal. I was playing Tony in West Side Story [in Virginia] and fell in love with one of the Jets. I had experimented before, but I told my wife I loved her and it didn’t matter. But it really does." After Brian told his family he was gay, Ted thought "Crap! So am I." A year later, he came out to his loving older brother, who "really helped me through it. And our mom and sister have been so supportive." Brian and Ted, who are also swim instructors, each have a boyfriend and live ten blocks apart in Manhattan.

In their cabaret act, the Farley brothers croon Irving Berlin’s "Old-Fashioned Wedding" about "a groom and a groom," so what’s their take on same-sex marriage? Ted is hopeful: "I’d love to have a family, a husband and a backyard to play with my kids. That comes from the bottom of my heart. Gay marriage is like civil rights. You win some. You lose some. But eventually, it’s going to change."

For more information, visit www.thefarleybrothers.com.

VOCAL HEROES OF 2004
Among the many highlights from the great guys of Broadway and cabaret:

4 TERRIFIC TOUR DE FORCES
Michael Arden (Bare)
Tommy Foster (The Method to My Madness)
Chad Kimball (Memphis)
John Tartaglia (Broadway Spotlight, AD-LIBerty)

10 AMAZING MUSICAL MOMENTS
Tom Andersen, "I Took My Heart & Gave It to My Love" (Bradstan)
Michael Arden, "Morning Glow" (Pippin concert)
Christian Borle, "The Greatest Writer" (Snoopy! concert)
Gavin Creel, "These Four Walls" (Feinstein’s at the Regency)
Evan D’Angeles, Alvin Ing, Telly Leung & B.D. Wong, "Someone in a Tree" (Pacific Overtures)
Brian & Ted Farley, "Which Way Does He Swing?" (Rose’s Turn)
Adam Fleming & John Hill, "N & R" (Queer Songbook concert)
Christopher Sieber, "We Both Reached for the Gun" (Chicago)
Ben Strothmann, "You Can’t Get a Man With a Gun" (Cast Party)
Colm Wilkinson, "Bring Him Home" (Showstoppers concert)

1 EXTRAORDINARY ENSEMBLE EFFORT
Ryan Duncan, Cheyenne Jackson, David Josefsberg, Andy Karl and Tyler Maynard in Altar Boyz at the N.Y. Musical Theatre Festival

Got comments or questions? E-mail me at waymanwong@hotmail.com.

Until next month, let’s hear it for the "boys"!

Wayman Wong edits entertainment for The New York Daily News. He has been a movie and theater critic for The San Francisco Examiner, a writer for The Sondheim Review and a Drama-Logue Award-winning playwright.