The much heralded movie adaption of the 2018 Broadway revival of Mart Crowley’s gay classic drama THE BOYS IN THE BAND has finally. arrived Helmed by the uber queer Producer Ryan Murphy who has a passion for period dramas, the movie has that highly polished look that we now expect from him on all his movies.
The play originally premiered Off Broadway in 1968 and was groundbreaking then for its portrayal of gay life. Well at least the lives of a group of highly strung men teething on the edges of still being partly in the closet’,
They had all gathered together one night to celebrate Harold’s birthday (” a 32-year-old ugly pock faced jew fairy”) and as the evening develops the host Michael encourages all the guests to turn on each other,
Crowley’s script (adapted for the movie by Ned Martel) is full of wonderful and vicious acerbic wit that gave us all such wonderful one-liners we usurped for years at the time. The play was transferred to a much larger theater and although mainstream audiences hated it, during its extended run attracted nearly every major NY and Hollywood celebrity to its audience.
The play was regarded as a wonderful piece of entertainment, but the effects on the LGBTQ community at the time was not nearly as positive. For those struggling with their own sexual identity with a complete lack of role models pre-Stonewall, it caused both confusion and uncertainty about self-acceptance as well as fitting in with society.
In fact in the UK at the time, where we were in our very pre-Queerguru days, homosexuality was still illegal .
With Joe Mantello directing again and reuniting the all-queer 2018 cast, sometimes the star wattage does actually overwhelm the play itself and proves too big a distraction. It’s an impressive ensemble who all give convincing performances, with the notable exception of Zachary Quinto who for simply apes Kenneth Nelson who was so excellent as the original Harold.
The main question is can we now just accept these gay self-hating stereotypes as an awkward part of our past? And will queer millennials see beyond the lacerating and often vicious dialogue to find the entertainment value in this movie? Or will they simply turn off even before the Cowboy (the only pretty thing on screen) turns up?
The last line is from Michael (Jim Parsons) the party’s host As my father said to me when he died in my arms, ‘I don’t understand any of it. I never did.’ Turn the lights out when you leave.
CAST : Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Carver, Robin de Jesus, Brian Hutchison Michael Benjamin Washington, and Tuc Watkins
THE BOYS IN THE BAND streams on Netflix from 9/30
Labels: 2020, Adaptation, Gay classic, Mart Crowley, nudity
