photo by John Shalicky, courtesy of Dixon Place
Tom Judson, with trumpet and accordion
……………………………………………………………………………….

The publicity for “Canned Ham,” written and performed by Tom Judson and directed by Kevin Maloney—at Dixon Place, the alternative and very GLBT performance and literary space, through March 26—prepares us for a diverse, one-man show that is hot—because Judson—nom de porn Gus Mattox—is; musical—he’s a composer, singer, and musician, and an array of nearly a dozen instruments, which he will go on to play, greets us when we enter the theater; sad—his lover, Bruce’s death from AIDS, at age 37, in 1996, touched off a series of additional life-changing developments, and he connects the dots between them for us in the course of the show; and entertaining—as an indeed intelligent and charming actor, writer and raconteur can make his story; but it’s also a piece that, perhaps unexpectedly, proves very sweet. Go to “Canned Ham,” and permit yourself to be seduced, in very many ways.

After we’ve taken in the French horn, tenor and alto saxophones, tuba, accordion and concertina, trumpet, clarinet, and baby grand and toy pianos—there’s a triangle, too, but we don’t see it at first—Judson himself enters, to recorded strains of Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra,” clad only in jockstrap, black leather boots, breathtaking muscles, and tattoos, so we see immediately what director Chi Chi LaRue saw in him when she facilitated his transition from playing Oscar, the rehearsal pianist, on tour in “42nd Street”—cue “Lullaby of Broadway” and “You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me—to being a star of a leathery threesome at the, for porn, advanced age of 42 and, twice the age of many of his co-stars, being cast typically thereafter, as he tells us candidly, as a “grizzled old drill sergeant,” “grizzled old school master,” or “grizzled old photographer.”

In his play, which began as a two-night workshop in 2008 at Dixon Place and continued in Provincetown last summer, Judson smoothly makes the transitions from keeping house for, and touring Europe with, Bruce to restoring houses—plus a camper he knowingly called ‘Canned Ham’—to flip them; from composing music for “Sesame Street”—he sings us his “Milk Song”—and for Whit Stillman’s film “Metropolitan”—cue theme song “Call for Me”—to touring in “Cabaret”—in which, as second cover, he had one memorable outing, singing in falsetto and dancing in drag, in the “Two Ladies” number; from playing us a Liszt Hungarian Rhapsody, as well as Chopin and Mozart, to accompanying himself, on accordion, singing Cole Porter’s “Love for Sale,” from “The New Yorkers,” to introduce anecdotes concerning time he spent “escorting” mostly married men—“I felt more like a social worker than a prostitute,” he maintains. On finally winning a Gay VN (Video News) Award, before which “I was the Susan Lucci of porn,” he left the adult film industry as abruptly as he entered it. How was he able to perform with johns and porn actors who were less than a turn on? “I’m an actor,” he asserts, in the most cultured of tones, and that covers many a trying situation.

“Canned Ham” opened on March 3rd—the second night is discussed here—and also plays on the 5th, from the 17th through 19th, and 24th through 26th. All performances are at 7:30 p.m., at Dixon Place, 161A Chrystie Street, between Rivington and Delancey Streets. For tickets, which are $15 in advance—or pay just a bit more at the door—visit www.dixonplace.org or telephone 212/219-0736. Don’t miss it.