The Boston Globe - 30.08.2019

THE BOSTON GLOBE FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2019 | BOSTONGLOBE.COM/ARTS

Weekend

G

H

e may be on top of the world right now, but
for years, Billy Porter wondered if his time
would ever come. A time when he could
play the kinds of characters that were as big
and complex as his own larger-than-life per-
sonality and reflect his own unique experi-
ences.
Before winning a Tony Award for playing indomitable drag
queen Lola in “Kinky Boots” on Broadway, before he became a tele-
vision star thanks to his Emmy-nominated role as the flamboyant
emcee on pioneering LGBTQ television series “Pose,”
and before he shot into the pop culture stratosphere
as a red carpet sensation, Porter was an actor with a
stalled career, living from meager paycheck to meager paycheck,
filing for bankruptcy and crashing on friends’ couches when the
going got especially tough.
“My 30s were an uphill climb. I had moments of feeling like a
breakthrough would come, and a lot of moments where I didn’t,
and I got very comfortable with it not coming,” says Porter, now on
the cusp of 50. “It’s taken a long time. Should it have happened
earlier? Was it long overdue? Yeah, yeah, yeah. But it’s here now.”
Despite his front-of-the-camera stardom, Porter is in Boston
this summer working behind the scenes, directing a new play by
Dan McCabe, “The Purists,” for the Huntington Theatre Company.
Centered on an unlikely clutch of characters, including a rapper, a
DJ, and a show tunes-loving gay man who hang out and debate
music and life on a stoop in Queens, “The Purists” receives its
world premiere at the Calderwood Pavilion, beginning Friday.
Wearing his signature oversize glasses, Porter relaxes on a
PORTER,PageG3

Billy Porter’s

wait is over

Now directing ‘The Purists’ at the Huntington, the ‘Pose’ star and Tony

winner is savoring the breakthrough he wasn’t sure would ever happen

Billy Porter (above and top, directing actors

Morocco Omari and J Bernard Calloway)

during a rehearsal of “The Purists.”

BY CHRISTOPHER WALLENBERG | GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

PHOTOS BY MATTHEW J. LEE/GLOBE STAFF

THEATER

By Ty Burr

GLOBE STAFF

‘B

rittany Runs a Marathon” is a

crowd-pleaser that earns its run-

ner’s high step by sometimes

awkward step. A New York City

empowerment fable, it’s based

on the experiences of a party-hearty friend of

writer-director Paul Downs Colaizzo — she pops

up under the end credits — who got her health

back and life together by setting out one hun-

gover morning for a run.

Thankfully, the movie approaches this sub-

ject the way one might a used car, with suspi-

cion and an extra helping of mordant humor. It

just folds in the endorphins gradually, until you

understand why audiences voted it their favor-

ite film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

It matters, too, that the movie’s Brittany is

played by Jillian Bell, a comic actress best

known for the Comedy Central series “Worka-

‘‘BRITTANY,’’PageG7

Lacing

them up

ANNA KOORIS/AMAZON STUDIOS

Jillian Bell with Micah Stock in “Brittany

Runs a Marathon.”

MOVIES

By Lauren Daley

GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

W

hen Neil Young fan Bradley

Cooper went to the Desert

Trip in 2016, he stumbled

upon inspiration.

The music festival’s line-

up also included Bob Dylan, the Rolling

Stones, Paul McCartney, the Who, and Roger

Waters — but it was the young, long-haired

guitar virtuoso holding his own with Young

that caught Cooper’s eye.

Soon, the actor and director was tapping Lu-

kas Nelson to be his “authenticity consultant”

for his character Jackson Maine in what would

become the Oscar-nominated “A Star Is Born.”

Nelson showed Cooper the ropes, worked

NELSON,PageG5

The stars have

aligned for

Lukas Nelson

JOEY MARTINEZ

Lukas Nelson leads Promise of the Real.

MUSIC

AUG30

• OCT6

“SWEET, MELODIC, F

UNNY, AND...

TASTY!”–LATIMES

KATRINA Z PAVAO

& DAN PRIOR

NILE SCOTT STUDIOS

BOOK & LYRICS BY

HOWARDASHMAN

DIRECTED & CHOREOGRAPHED BY

RACHELBERTONE

BASED ON THE FILM BY

ROGER CORMAN,SCREENPLAY

BYCHARLES GRIFFITH

MUSIC BY

ALANMENKEN

MUSIC DIRECTOR,

DANRODRIGUEZ

COPLEY SQUARE

617.585.5678