Cheyenne Jackson has several songs planned for his performance at MetroBall on June 5, including one he wrote himself.
TAMMYE NASH | Managing Editor
Nash@DallasVoice.com
The Greg Dollgener Memorial AIDS Funds promises “a night of celebration, music and community impact” on Friday night, June 5, when the organization kicks off Pride Month in North Texas with MetroBall 19, GDMAF’s annual signature event raising funds to benefit people in North Texas impacted by HIV/AIDS.
Actor/singer/songwriter Cheyenne Jackson headlines this year’s party, with hometown hunk Kameron Ross and South Florida vocalist Brian Mason also on the bill. Aerial artists Ashlee and Brady return to open the show.
“MetroBall is much more than a night of entertainment,” GDMAF officials said. “It is the largest annual fundraising event for GDMAF, a 100-percent volunteer run 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to helping people living with HIV/AIDS in North Texas when other resources have been exhausted.”
Since its founding in 1996, officials noted, GDMAF has provided more than $2.5 million in emergency financial assistance to meet critical needs such as rent, utilities, medication and other essentials.
MetroBall 19 returns to the event’s home at S4, 3911 Cedar Springs Road, and the venue is open to ages 18 and older from 6:30-10 p.m. General admission tickets are $40 in advance, available in advance online at GDMAF.org/MetroBall. General admission tickets at the door are $50.
VIP ticket packages start at $400 for four people.
CHEYENNE JACKSON
Cheyenne Jackson is the very definition of a Renaissance man, having found success as a singer and a songwriter and an actor, from Broadway to the big screen to the TV screen. He has appeared in more than two dozen theatrical productions on Broadway and beyond, and he is currently performing on Broadway in the role of “Mary’s Teacher” in the dark comedy Oh, Mary!
And that’s just his stage work. He has been in about two dozen movies, including playing gay rugby player and 9/11 hero Mark Bingham in United 93, and he has some 40 TV credits to his name, including regular guest appearances on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
But wait — there’s more! Jackson has released three studio albums and four singles, and he has performed on three original Broadway cast albums — one of which earned a Grammy for best musical theater album — and two movie soundtracks.
In between all of that, Jackson still manages to make time to be a husband and a father, and to do his part for charity and as an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community. That includes being an international ambassador for amfAR and a national ambassador and spokesperson for the Hetrick-Martin Institute which serves LGBTQ+ youth. And he was still able to squeeze in some time to answer a few questions for Dallas Voice leading up to his headlining performance at MetroBall 19.
Dallas Voice: Hi Cheyenne. You will be here in Dallas on June 5 for MetroBall. What can your fans expect to see and hear from you that night? Cheyenne Jackson: Yes, I’m very excited to be in Dallas on June 5! Well, I’m gonna be doing a few songs — one is an original, and we’ve done an arrangement and built it out to include the chorus. So I’m really honored and excited about that. It’s always wonderful to hear something you’ve written and have somebody else flesh it out musically.
Performing at MetroBall will likely be a big change from being on stage in a big venue or working in a movie or TV program. What are you looking forward to the most about performing in this more intimate kind of venue? I’m used to being on stages of all different sizes — big, small. Sometimes I’ll do little clubs like 54 Below, and, you know, it holds just a couple hundred. And sometimes I do Carnegie Hall which holds almost 3,000. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Jackson has actually sold out Carnegie Hall twice.]
I really like to morph and change depending on the venue and the energy. Whatever size it is, I like to just give my all and really connect with the people.
MetroBall is a fundraiser for The Greg Dollgener Memorial AIDS Fund. Do you do fundraising events like this often? Is it important to you to participate in fundraisers like this, and if so, why? Oh, I LOVE performing fundraising events and charity events! I’ve just always felt like even if you don’t have the means to give a lot of money, you can give your time and you can give your energy! So I’m very honored to be performing for GDMAF, because if I can show up and they’ll make extra money just by me being on the bill, that is wonderful! Charity work, I think in general, is really more for the person doing it! Of course it’s wonderful to give and to help whichever organization, but you feel so good when you give your time and you give your spirit.
Switching gears a little bit: You’re in the middle of a Broadway run of OH MARY! Tell us about that. Oh my gosh, I love OH MARY! I’ve been obsessed with this show for a long time. This is actually my third little stint. I did it with Jane Krakowski for three months, and then they asked me to stay and perform with Jinx Monsoon. Then I went home, and then they asked me to come back just for two months with Maya Rudolph, and I could not say no! I love Cole Escola; I love Sam Pinkleton, and I just think it’s the most delicious, absurd, subversive play to come around in years, and I’m thrilled to be a part of it.
I’m really just soaking up my final two months on Broadway for a while. I think this is it for me for a while, because my kids have had it. I will have been gone for six months of this year, and that’s a long time for a dad with little kids.
What projects do you have coming up? Let’s see … a lot of concerts! I have many-many-many concerts coming up this year. I’m really thankful to be booked. I do have a film coming up that we’re shooting in August. And I’m writing! I’m doing a ton of writing, and that’s kind of my next chapter — pun intended.
On your Instagram, you often talk about your two kids. What is your favorite thing about being a parent? And what is the one thing you worry about most as a parent? What advice do you have for other parents in the LGBTQ+ community? Oh, I couldn’t pick one. Being a parent is something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted to do for sure besides being an artist. So it was inevitable. What is the thing I worry most about as a parent? I mean something happening to my kids, of course. That’s just the deal.
I have so much advice, but what I always try to do is just live authentically, no matter what. Protect them, but also give them the wherewithal. Because you’re not raising kids, you’re raising people. They’re only kids for a little bit, so I want my kids to be strong. I want them to be independent. I want them to be free thinkers. I want them to explore and figure out what it is they want in this world. And I just want them to feel loved and confident and truly themselves — whoever that may be.
We are living through some very uncertain times right now, and our community has really come under attack over the last couple of years. As an openly LGBTQ+ entertainer, do you feel like you have a responsibility to be visible and to speak out on issues facing the country? Or do you see your role as focused more on entertaining, on giving folks a break from all the political doom and gloom? Do I feel a responsibility? I suppose. It’s who I am, and it’s who I’ve always been. I’m 50 years old, and I came out publicly when I was — well, I’ve been out since I was 19, but I came out publicly, I suppose, when I was in my mid 20s, and then big time when I was 27 in the New York Times and I was doing the Elvis show.
It’s just always who I’ve been, and I believe visibility is very, very important. And so that is part of my activism — just to be out and proud and live my life. I’m not standing on a soapbox every other day talking about this and that; I’m just being myself, and I believe that is the biggest way you can be visible and be an advocate and make a change in the world — just by saying, “Hey look, I’m a dad, and I’m a husband, and I have problems and flaws just like everybody else, and we’re all the same.” It’s the human experience, right?