Goldberg Variations

Jamie Goldberg suspects his homosexuality at an early age. He manages to hide it from his homophobic Seventies Detroit community, his Jewish political activist parents, and even from himself until his rape, at the hands of a male prostitute, at the age of 16. Profoundly ashamed, he hides in two worlds. One world is an intellectual cocoon spun from music, art, theater, and literature. The other is a darker world where sadomasochistic desires attempt to obliterate his sexuality. His elaborate fantasies are no match for real life or his true affections, which blossom in spite of his constant attempts to thwart them. When his carefully constructed imaginary world begins to crumble, Jamie must face his demons, both real and invented, then the emotional sparks fly.

In the Goldberg Variations finale, Jamie Goldberg grapples with existential uncertainty and self-discovery. He starts by rejecting the gay sexual underworld he had fallen into. In turn he throws himself into his studies. Upon learning that he has been cast as Horatio in a university production of Hamlet, he experiences a surge of elation. However, this euphoria is short-lived as he realizes that he will be sharing the stage with his bully schoolmate, Ben, who will be in the lead role of Hamlet. Jamie then throws himself into politics, only to unexpectedly clash with his activist mother who still doesn't accept her own gay son. To pay for his education, he accepts a temporary job at a right-wing bank, which puts him at odds with his liberal friends, including his best friend and roommate. These attempts to evade his true self ultimately fail as he confronts the reality he has been desperately attempting to conceal and rationalize. Not unlike Hamlet, he is suddenly confronted with the undeniable truth and faces the ultimate challenge: how to accept what he finds so profoundly unacceptable.