Nude musical
review scheduled to resume Milwaukee run next month

A musical revue featuring nudity that was shut down last month at the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center after officials said a necessary theater license had not been obtained is now scheduled to resume its run. Performances of Naked Boys Singing! will begin again October 29 and run through December 31, Paul Masterson, the center's director, said Wednesday. The center debuted the show August 11, and it was scheduled to run through September 3. But police vice officers told officials on August 18 that they needed the theater license, according to a claim filed August 23 by Gay Arts Center attorney Richard Hart. The officers ordered the center to shut down the production immediately or face the possibility of prosecution, according to the claim. Naked Boys Singing! has run into trouble with authorities before in such cities as Provincetown, Mass.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Atlanta. Eventually, all three cities held performances of the show. Hart said the center received a letter from the city's license division late last month indicating that officials believed the center's nonprofit status meant it did not need a theater license after all. Masterson said some of the performers joined other projects after the original run of the show was cut short in Milwaukee, which accounted for the late October starting date of the resumed run. "We're excited to get all this behind us," he said. "It was really not our intention to have anything like this happen, and we regret that we were singled out for the hostility from whatever quarter this came from." The center will continue to pursue legal action to recoup losses, Masterson said. Its claim, filed with the city, seeks about $630,000 in punitive damages, legal fees, and lost revenue. (AP)