Medlyn: These three weekend episodes have introduced a whole other unfolding drama - Pastor Rufus and his boyfriend, Chuck, from episode two. Randolph eavesdrops from a closet and later tells his gossiping wife, Rose. Rufus steps out to dump his secret lover, Chuck, over the phone. Recap: We visit Rufus’s church and meet the pastor and a stuttering pimp named Luscious. Trapped in the Closet: Chapters Eighteen, Nineteen, and Twenty are available now at IFC.com, and we’ve asked performance artist Neal Medlyn and Kenny Mellman ( Kiki & Herb), creators of the musical Kenny Mellman + Neal Medlyn = Robert Kelly, to survey the brilliant wreckage.
Kelly was hard at work this weekend, blowing our minds three times. Surely this is the most widely viewed psychedelic chitlin-circuit soap opera in history.R. But in turning Trapped into a shaggier epic, Kelly has made it into a bigger event-a milestone. (Car chases! Lesbianism! Pimps with speech impediments! Gospel choirs!) The sprawl of the story has sapped some of its oomph: Chapters 1-12, released in 2005, were tighter, with more flashes of pathos and paranoia lurking amid the silliness. The only constants are the languid, eerie beat Kelly’s casually spectacular vocal pyrotechnics (in Chapter 21, he croons goombah-style, in the voice of an Italian Mafia boss) and the singer’s desire to pile on more ludicrous plot twists. Mosley James Evans and of a crotchety old guy named Randolph. The tale has gotten more Byzantine, and Kelly has donned a wig of curly gray hair and a fake beard to play the roles of the Rev. The second batch of Trapped in the Closet episodes (Chapters 13-22) are currently screening on the IFC channel’s Web site, and it hardly seems necessary to say that they defy description, let alone summation. Whereupon it’s revealed that Big Man fathered Bridget’s child. Anyway, Big Man-so named because of his spectacular endowment-“shits himself,” takes a long draw on his inhaler, and faints. (Big Man can fit in the cabinet because he is a midget.) Did I mention that Bridget is allergic to cherries? Important plot point. James goes home and discovers that he too has been cuckolded: His wife, Bridget, has been messing around with a male stripper named Big Man, whom James discovers cowering in a kitchen cabinet. (The victim turns out to be Twan, Gwendolyn’s ex-con brother.) Sylvester is then menaced by a spatula-wielding neighbor, Rosie. James (the cop) arrives at Sylvester and Gwendolyn’s place, there is a struggle over a gun, and someone is shot in the shoulder. Chuck is a deacon at Rufus’ church, by the way). (Also, Gwendolyn’s friend Roxanne is pally with Chuck, Rufus’ man-lover. And Gwendolyn knew about Rufus’ infidelity because she went to high school with Cathy.
Lo and behold, James, the police officer who issued Sylvester’s speeding ticket, has been sleeping with Gwendolyn. Sylvester finally makes it home and-after a torrid roll in the hay with Gwendolyn-discovers a used condom on his bed. Is Gwendolyn having an affair? Sylvester rushes out of Cathy and Rufus’ place and is pulled over for speeding while en route to his house. Sylvester fires his gun in the air and then phones his wife, Gwendolyn. More bickering, more threats of violence. Rufus reveals that he has been having an affair with a man, Chuck. Rufus enters and begins making love to Cathy, but Sylvester’s cell phone rings before he can put it on vibrate, and he is discovered. He’s forced to hide in the bedroom closet when Cathy hears her husband, Rufus, coming up the stairs. Kelly) wakes up in the bed of a strange woman (Cathy) whom he picked up the previous evening in a nightclub. Kelly’s 23 “chapter” R&B opus, here’s a brief synopsis. For readers who have not yet caught up with Trapped in the Closet, R.