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“For those unfamiliar with the Stefano legend, Stefano, born Nick Iacona, ran away from his Philadelphia home at the age of 16 and became a gay porn sensation with the aid of adult film director Chi Chi LaRue. Lowe's play is a successfully layered work that begins by focusing on Stefano's boyish charm and limitless libido, even though it concentrates primarily on narrative exposition rather than dramatic tension. Instead of exploring Stefano's psyche. Lowe has opted for a wittier stance, revealing inside tricks of the porn trade and by writing lines such as, "When it comes to bottoms in this industry, I'm the top."
“Lowe's intent is slowly to reveal the darker side of Stefano's personality as his star rises and falls and his drug addiction escalates to dangerous proportions. In the process the shabbier side of the industry is revealed, from the hustling on the side to the scuffling among the stars, and the often fleeting brushes with fame.”
- Jameson Currier, NEW YORK BLADE, 2 July 1999 (p18).
"When it comes to bottoms in this industry, I'm the top."
Homme Fatale, written by Australian Barry Lowe and performend by Chicagoan Joe Waterman, spends little of its 80 minutes on Stefano’s onscreen successes, but rather on his excesses and addictions to sex and drugs. Addressing the sold-out San Francisco audience directly, Waterman as Stefano, parades around a stage set up like a trashy bachelor pad as he recounts and acts out Stefano’s life. The well-tanned and toned Waterman performs in various stages of undress, including total nudity, as he seeks to capture the essence of a beautiful but out-of-control young man consumed by the very industry that gave him fame and (fleeting) fortune … Waterman’s performance connects best when the script lets him wallow in the darkest moments of Stefano’s short life. Ultimately, and sadly, Homme Fatale shows that, in Stefano’s words, “Image can be a hard motherfucker to live up to.”
- Keith Hollar, Unzipped, 9 May, 2000
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| PROMOTIONAL MATERIAL FROM NEW YORK PRODUCTION |
"Joe Waterman brings not only a stunning physique to the stage but a revealing portrayal of Joey Stefano’s dark side in Homme Fatale: The Joey Stefano Story. This is edgy theater at its best. Many gay men wil recognize the name Joey Stefano, a beautiful boy and porn performer who died of a drug overdose in 1994. His story is not an unusual one, but the poignancy of the take has been brought to the stage by Australian playwright Barry Lowe."
-San Francisco Frontiers. 9 March, 2000
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| PROMOTIONAL POSTER - BRISBANE PRODUCTION |
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| PROMOTIONAL POSTER - NEW YORK PRODUCTION | |
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| CAMPAIGN COVER FEAT SHANE C. RODRIGO AS JOEY STEFANO. |
Homme Fatale: The Joey Stefano Story starring Joe Waterman is a mesmerising and emotionally complex look into the life of a star who literally slept his way to the top … Joe Waterman is magnificent and intense in his portrayal of Stefano … [he] becomes Stefano, in mind, body and soul. Even though he may actually be a little better loking than his subject, his character transformation of the porn star is hauntingly mesmerizing and sometimes grotesque … Though the real Stefano died of a drug overdose in a seedy rat-infested motel, his legend continues to live. Hopefully so will this play and the painful message it sends to anyone who wants to be a star.
-David Alston, San Francisco Bay View, 29 March, 2000
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| POSTER - BRISBANE PRODUCTION |
“Barry Lowe's script doesn't gloss over or revel in Stefano's troubles. In fact, he crafts an engaging and honest portrait of celebrity, one that Joe Waterman and director Brian Kirst present with candor and sensitivity and without the expected sensationalism or overabundance of male flesh one might expect. Theirs is a thoughtful, often intriguing tale, told simply and directly, chronicling a wasted life in a way that I think Nick would have approved of."
- Jeff Rossen, CHICAGO TRIBUNE.
Barry Lowe's Homme attempts to find some literary worth in its much befucked subject; however, as an exercise in lurid burlesque, the show is shamelessly arousing, at least judging from the frothing middle-aged men who sat around me. And Stephen Porcelli is a sporty Stefano with varsity blues. More important, he's cute. Could you imagine a bigger tragedy if he weren't?”
- Gregory Young, HX MAGAZINE, 16 July 1999.
Raunchy, bitter and sensational, the drama Homme Fatale: The Joey Stefano Story is not for everyone. Although Joe Waterman’s portrayal of a gay porn star’s drug-assisted flameout is a compelling performance, the subject matter is suitable only for audiences with cast-iron sensibilities.
- Joe Zink, Florida
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| POSTER - SAN FRANCISCO PRODUCTION |
From the advertisements featuring Joey Stefano (not actor Joe Waterman who portrays him) to the superfluous tagline “Warning: Nudity-Language” to the subtitle The Fast Life and Slow Death of Gay Porn’s Brightest Star, they push the prurience button as often as possible. But in going for the hat-trick they’ve missed the point of Barry Lowe’s play. Of course, there’s nudity, coarse language and action. Try making a play about pornography without it. But unlike Making Porn, they aren’t celebrating gratuitous nudity, and unlike Naked Boys Singing, they aren’t lampooning it. In fact, the nudity isn’t gratuitous at all; it’s rather brief and integral to the point of Lowe’s extended monologue.
If you’re drawn in by the advertisements you deserve to be disappointed. This play isn’t so much about pornography as it is about human nature. It’s a lurid and unflinching account of an abused an somewhat clueless kid who ODs at age 26.”
- Paul Gallotta, City Link (Florida) 8 December, 1999 |
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| PROMOTIONAL POSTER - CHICAGO PRODUCTION |
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| PROMOTIONAL POSTER - ITALIAN PRODUCTION |
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The theatre (Chicago’s Bailiwick Repertory Theater) also presented Homme Fatale: The Joey Stefano Story, and a local observer Myke Silo reported, “A celebrity biography is daunting for any writer to condense a person’s life into a two-hour window, and virtually unheard of in the world of porn. But Barry Lowe defies convention and manages to put together a satisfying glimpse into the sensational life of Nicholas Iacona in Homme Fatale: The Joey Stefano Story … Lowe takes his audience on a titillating and sometimes graphic ride through Nick’s discovery at the tender age of 9 of his father’s adult video tapes and Hustler magazines through his success as a gay porn star to his tragic death at 26. The defining moment seems to be the death of Nick’s father when he was 15. The event launched the trek to New York where he met Tony Davis after a live show and intensified his pursuit of man-to-man sex.
“His father’s image and death seemed to haunt the young star throughout his short life, even to the point of attributing to him his win of a gay video trophy for the film, ‘More of a Man.’
“The obvious pain he felt, accompanied by his identity fluctuation between Joey Stefano, porn legend, and the son of Nicholas Iacona Sr., was covered up and complicated by his constant use of a variety of drugs. And how do you portray this complicated, sexually aggressive, lonely and hurting young man with a serious drug habit? With a tremendous amount of energy by star Joe Waterman in what is truly a brutal tour de force performance. Dark-haired, lean and fit, Waterman literally throws his nearly naked body on the hard wooden platforms, shocking the audience with bone shattering smacks.
“Yet there is plenty of chuckles, teasing references to other luminaries such as Jeff Stryker and Chi Chi LaRue (whose real name is Larry), and, of course, the illusion of uninhibited sex. Waterman luridly (and, if you can believe it, tastefully) displays Joey’s uncontrollable itch for self-gratification as well as his celebrated gift of oral lovin’ and well-rounded, sought-after ass. But more importantly, Waterman effectively portrays Stefano’s erratic behaviour.
“As did Joey, he enjoys his body and looks, relishing the shocked reaction when he spreads peanut butter all over his bare chest.
“Waterman’s performance reaches a climax when ‘Joey’ makes two important discoveries: 1) that as a ‘bottom’ he wasn’t making nearly the money that ‘tops’ were, making him feel cheated and used, and 2) his own body had ‘turned into poison’ with HIV, making him afraid to eat his own goo (a Stefano trademark and porn ‘first’). He attacks such industry issues as ‘gay for pay’ actors. Condoms off the set (literally), and ‘queen’ models who can’t or won’t perform rough sex. His use of needles increases proportionately to the decreased use of his services by the studios, ultimately leading to his painful, wide-eyed final gasp.
“As a Stefano aficionado, I missed the familiar shrunken-head bicep tattoo and seductive bedroom eyes that made the ‘real’ Joey such a sought-after partner. Perhaps it was Brian Kirst’s direction, but Waterman’s portrayal was almost too cocky and edgy. What rocked Joey’s early fans and was so much a part of the Stefano mystique was his easy blending of the shy, boy-next-door image while boldly daring his partner(s) to have the nastiest, hard-pounding sex imaginable. A hint of that demure quality would’ve added more weight to Joey’s own confession: ‘I’m not in porn for the money, but for the sex!’”
- The Best of the Super Stars 2000: The Year in Sex, edited by John Patrick, STARbooks Press, Sarasota, Florida. Pps 141-142 |
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| PROMOTIONAL FLYER - UK PRODUCTION |
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| PROMOTIONAL FLYER - UK PRODUCTION |
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| PUBLICITY SHOT OF STUART HALUSZ AS JOEY STEFANO FOR THE PERTH PRODUCTION OF HOMME FATALE | |
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| PROMOTIONAL POSTER - PERTH PRODUCTION | |
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| PROMOTIONAL POSTER - SYDNEY PRODUCTION |
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