The Boys in the Band
Written by Mart Crowley
Directed by Joe Mantello
BoothTheatre
August 1, 2018
Production website
💉💉💉 out of 5.

I have always had a morbid fascination with cutters.  Who in their right mind would pick up a sharp object and stab themself in the arm or leg over and over?  Crazy.  I mean seriously crazy.  As best I can tell the cutter wants to FEEL something and to be the one in charge as to why and when it will be felt.  The ORIGINAL Boys in the Band that I saw decades ago felt like that.  Why would gay men put themself in such places of self-hatred and why would they continue to remind themselves how ugly and unloved they are- – – or at least were in this revival of the classic from the gay theatre of the 1970’s.

I was interested to know what I would feel sitting in the seats of this widely celebrated revival.  Would it be bit of nostalgia of gay days gone by or would it have found a new resonance with the audience of today?  To me it fell a bit flat.  It neither had the true bite and ugliness that the script delivered to its original audience – nor did it seem particularly relevant to the audience of today.  There was quip after quip – a regular smorgasbord of “gay shade.” – but then hasn’t that all been said freely on TV shows like Grace?

Of course it had a true star-studded cast and more, they were happy in publicizing themselves as gay actors.  I was very glad, though that I came with my husband.  Boys in the Band was a full hundred minutes of gratitude for all that has happened over the past few decades for the gay community.   How lucky we are to be where we are!  The other take home message i got from the play was that the most viscous and dangerous homophobes  – are other gay men.  Be very careful.  They can be very cruel.  They know where it hurts.