“Quilt” debut a moving, musical display

Melissa Schorr

Friday, June 26, 1998 | 12:21 p.m.

You do not have to be an activist to appreciate "Quilt...A Musical Celebration." You do not have to be gay. You do not have to have AIDS.

All you have to do, in fact, is enjoy an honest, exhilarating night of musical theater seldom seen on this city's stages.

"Quilt," which debuted for a small crowd Thursday night at the Las Vegas Performing Arts Center, is performed by the Las Vegas International Arts Exchange, a talented troupe of area high school and college students and local amateurs, each better than the next.

It is being held in conjunction with the AIDS Memorial Quilt Display's third stop here (through June 28, 9 a.m. - 10 p.m., in the Las Vegas Academy's adjacent gymnasium) since its inception over a decade ago.

The show itself was seamless and stunning, featuring poignant and powerful vignettes giving us the names and faces and stories behind its 41,000 -- and growing -- patches.

With moving songs like the soaring "In the Absence of Angels," sung in a star-is-born turn by Academy senior Joanna Russell, and the touching "Autobiography," sung by the talented Brian Dermody, the show can at times be a three-hankie production.

The HIV-positive Wes, played flawlessly by Steve McMillan, carries the show's dramatic storyline as the head of New York City's Names Project, which organizes the memorial quilt, and helps others salute and then surrender their loved ones while struggling with his own mortality.

But don't cheat yourself out of this opportunity for fear of a depressing evening. "Quilt" manages to be uplifting and even humorous despite itself, with numbers like "Living With the Little Things," delivered endearingly by Lyndsey Breslauer and "Could Ya Do Me A Favor?" sung by the soulful Amanda McKee.

Providing comic relief is Karen, played by Mary Ellis, who stumbles through the show singing clear as a bell while worrying of being mislabeled homosexual if she should -- gasp! -- go to the Gay and Lesbian Center to sew a quilt for her friend.

Like Karen, you shouldn't worry what people will think if you show up to see "Quilt." You should worry more if you miss it.