'Take Me Out' Review: Jse Williams Is Powerful As Gay Baseball Star

Contents:

• 'GREY'S ANATOMY' STAR JSE WILLIAMS MAK A SE FOR WHY STRAIGHT ACTORS N PLAY GAY ROL HIS BROADWAY BUT, 'TAKE ME OUT'
• IS PATRICK J. ADAMS GAY?
• NU FOOTAGE OF JSE WILLIAMS LEAKS FROM HIS BROADWAY SHOW, TAKE ME OUTEVEN THOUGH DIENCE MEMBERS ARE REQUIRED TO KEEP THEIR PHON LOCKED S THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRETY OF THE PLAY.BY SAVANNAH WALSHMAY 10, 2022BCE GLIKASSAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEFRH OFF HIS FIRST TONY NOMATN, JSE WILLIAMS BEGAN TRENDG LATE MONDAY NIGHT AFTER NU IMAG AND VIO OF THE STAR BROADWAY’S TAKE ME OUT BEGAN CIRCULATG ONLE. THE FOOTAGE H TWTER HOURS AFTER HE WAS NOMATED FOR BT PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR A PLAY AT THE TONY AWARDS.IN THE PRODUCTN, WILLIAMS PLAYS A SUCCSFUL GAY BASEBALL PLAYER WHO FAC PERSONAL AND PROFSNAL REPERCSNS AFTER G OUT AT HIS REER’S PEAK. THE GREY’S ANATOMY ALUM IS NU AT SOME POT DURG THE SHOW, WHICH WILLIAMS SAID “TERRIFIED” HIM AT FIRST. “BUT THEN I NOTED THAT THAT WAS WHAT I ASKED GOD FOR,” HE TOLD PAGE SIX OF THE ROLE. “I ASKED TO BE TERRIFIED. I ASKED TO DO SOMETHG THAT WAS SRY AND CHALLENGG AND MA ME EARN AND MA ME FEEL ALIVE AND NOT FORTABLE.”IN ORR TO PROTECT WILLIAMS AND THE PLAY’S OTHER NU ACTORS OM PRYG DIENCE MEMBERS, SEND STAGE’S HAY THEATER REQUIR ALL TICKET HOLRS TO PLACE THEIR PHON SEALED YONDR S BEFORE THE SHOW. GUTS MAY HOLD ON TO THEIR VIC AS LONG AS THEY REMA LOCKED “OUT OF RPECT AND SUPPORT FOR OUR ACTORS AND ORR TO CREATE A PHONE-EE SPACE,” ACRDG TO THE THEATER’S WEBSE.WILLIAMS RECENTLY SPOKE ABOUT THE NUDY DURG A MONDAY APPEARANCE ON WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE WH ANDY COHEN, WHICH WAS REPORTEDLY FILMED PRR TO THE LEAK. WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE DIENCE REACTN TO HIS NUDY, WILLIAMS SAID, “A NON-REACTN IS A REALLY TERTG REACTN. THE QUIET, YOU KNOW. CREAT A LOT OF SECURY.” THE ACTOR NTUED, SAYG, “I DON’T LIKE ANY OF . I’VE LEARNED MY MUT THEATER, WHICH IS ALL A FIRST FOR ME, IS DON’T TRY TO READ TO BEE JT CREAT MORE SECURY.” WILLIAMS ALSO TOLD COHEN THAT HE “WON’T BE SRED OF ANYTHG AFTER THIS [EXPERIENCE], THAT’S FOR SURE.”PATRICK J. ADAMS, WHO PLAYS ONE OF WILLIAMS’S TEAMMAT, TOLD THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS THAT TAKG PHON OM DIENC HAS “BEEN A MAGIL EXPERIENCE, JT GETTG EVERYONE OFF THEIR PHONE FOR TWO HOURS.” ADAMS ALSO NOTED THE PEACE OF MD THAT WH KEEPG VIC TUCKED AWAY. “IT’S CERTALY NICE TO KNOW THAT WE’RE SAFE ONSTAGE, BEG NAKED AND NOT BEG RERD,” HE SAID.  ON MONDAY, TAKE ME OUT RECEIVED FOUR TONY NOMATNS, CLUDG BT REVIVAL OF A PLAY AND BT-FEATURED-ACTOR--A-PLAY NODS FOR JSE TYLER FERGON, MICHAEL OBERHOLTZER, AND WILLIAMS.MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIRHOW GREY’S ANATOMY WRER ELISABETH FCH USED LI TO CREATE MT-SEE TVTHE NORTHMAN: LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT BONKERS NILE KIDMAN SCENELRA DERN, SAM NEILL, AND JEFF GOLDBLUM’S JURASSIC PARK RNNREMEMBERG MARGARET CAMPBELL, THE “HOT MS” DUCHS AT THE CENTER OF ’60S SEX SNDALMELANIE LYNSKEY ON YELLOWJACKETS, CANDY, AND AN INCREDIBLE YEAREXCLIVE: OZARK’S ENDG, EXPLAEDWEWORK’S ADAM AND REBEKAH NMANN: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?WHY STREAMERS ARE PULLG BACK FROM EDGY CONTENTJOHNNY DEPP’S TARNISHED CAREER ENTERS THE AMBER HEARD DEFAMATN TRIALFROM THE ARCHIVE: THE TWS WHO FROLICKED WH JOHN PL GETTY IIISIGN UP FOR THE “HWD DAILY” NEWSLETTER FOR MT-READ DTRY AND AWARDS VERAGE—PL A SPECIAL WEEKLY EDN OF “AWARDS INSIR.”MOST POPULARWH MATRO, LEONARD BERNSTE’S LEGACY AND LOV FALLY H THE BIG SCREENBY REBEC FORD25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSBY HILLARY BISTHE BOOK OF CLARENCE IS A BOMBASTIC JOURNEY BACK TO THE BIBLIL ERABY REBEC FORDSAVANNAH WALSH

'GREY'S ANATOMY' STAR JSE WILLIAMS MAK A SE FOR WHY STRAIGHT ACTORS N PLAY GAY ROL HIS BROADWAY BUT, 'TAKE ME OUT'

“Everythg buts, [’s] not a partial but, ” Williams joked wh ET about takg all off as Darren Lemmg, who cis to e out as a gay durg the height of his reer, oppose of Adams as his teammate, Kippy Sunrstrom, who warns him agast that cisn. Joan MarcJoan MarcFirst wrten 20 years ago, Richard Greenberg’s Tony Award-wng play explor what would happen if a player Major League Baseball had ever e out publicly durg their reer, while also tacklg them of prejudice, race and homophobia. Adams Gay?

“Gay, baseball, and naked onstage, ” he lghs, talkg recently via ’s an echo of most people’s knowledge of the show, pecially sce opened at the begng of April to rave reviews… and untls headl over the sequenc the show that fd most of the st, cludg Adams and Grey’s Anatomy alum Jse Williams, droppg their towels for a scene which the baseball team hs the scen arrive differently now than they did when the origal 2002 productn won three Tony Awards and cemented Richard Greenberg’s play as a semal work of theater that discs gay them.

But ’s that “type, ” and that particular dargns, that ma Adams so, well, sued for his role Take Me s most rctive, Greenberg’s play is the fictnal story of what happens when the star player of a Major League Baseball team out as gay. The emphasis is on fictnal as, 2002, when Greenberg first wrote Take Me Out, there was no out gay player the MLB.

IS PATRICK J. ADAMS GAY?

When Darren Lemmg, played by Williams this revival, announc he’s gay, ’s a talyst. The productn terrogat ias of masculy, homophobia, heroism, and guilt, and how, pecially now, those thgs are impossibly tangled. ” It’s Kippy who iat the tough nversatns while the st is fully nu the locker room shower, who notic the teammat’ disfort beg naked around a gay man and asks them to qutn what that means about them—what that means about .

It’s the raw stcts, both ugly and betiful, that they are forced to addrs bee there is lerally nothg to mask than a show about a baseball player g out as gay, Take Me Out is a play about what is to be human and to make cisns based on what you thk is the right thg to do, and the jtice how that uld still end up g hurt.

NU FOOTAGE OF JSE WILLIAMS LEAKS FROM HIS BROADWAY SHOW, TAKE ME OUTEVEN THOUGH DIENCE MEMBERS ARE REQUIRED TO KEEP THEIR PHON LOCKED S THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRETY OF THE PLAY.BY SAVANNAH WALSHMAY 10, 2022BCE GLIKASSAVE THIS STORYSAVESAVE THIS STORYSAVEFRH OFF HIS FIRST TONY NOMATN, JSE WILLIAMS BEGAN TRENDG LATE MONDAY NIGHT AFTER NU IMAG AND VIO OF THE STAR BROADWAY’S TAKE ME OUT BEGAN CIRCULATG ONLE. THE FOOTAGE H TWTER HOURS AFTER HE WAS NOMATED FOR BT PERFORMANCE BY A FEATURED ACTOR A PLAY AT THE TONY AWARDS.IN THE PRODUCTN, WILLIAMS PLAYS A SUCCSFUL GAY BASEBALL PLAYER WHO FAC PERSONAL AND PROFSNAL REPERCSNS AFTER G OUT AT HIS REER’S PEAK. THE GREY’S ANATOMY ALUM IS NU AT SOME POT DURG THE SHOW, WHICH WILLIAMS SAID “TERRIFIED” HIM AT FIRST. “BUT THEN I NOTED THAT THAT WAS WHAT I ASKED GOD FOR,” HE TOLD PAGE SIX OF THE ROLE. “I ASKED TO BE TERRIFIED. I ASKED TO DO SOMETHG THAT WAS SRY AND CHALLENGG AND MA ME EARN AND MA ME FEEL ALIVE AND NOT FORTABLE.”IN ORR TO PROTECT WILLIAMS AND THE PLAY’S OTHER NU ACTORS OM PRYG DIENCE MEMBERS, SEND STAGE’S HAY THEATER REQUIR ALL TICKET HOLRS TO PLACE THEIR PHON SEALED YONDR S BEFORE THE SHOW. GUTS MAY HOLD ON TO THEIR VIC AS LONG AS THEY REMA LOCKED “OUT OF RPECT AND SUPPORT FOR OUR ACTORS AND ORR TO CREATE A PHONE-EE SPACE,” ACRDG TO THE THEATER’S WEBSE.WILLIAMS RECENTLY SPOKE ABOUT THE NUDY DURG A MONDAY APPEARANCE ON WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE WH ANDY COHEN, WHICH WAS REPORTEDLY FILMED PRR TO THE LEAK. WHEN ASKED ABOUT THE DIENCE REACTN TO HIS NUDY, WILLIAMS SAID, “A NON-REACTN IS A REALLY TERTG REACTN. THE QUIET, YOU KNOW. CREAT A LOT OF SECURY.” THE ACTOR NTUED, SAYG, “I DON’T LIKE ANY OF . I’VE LEARNED MY MUT THEATER, WHICH IS ALL A FIRST FOR ME, IS DON’T TRY TO READ TO BEE JT CREAT MORE SECURY.” WILLIAMS ALSO TOLD COHEN THAT HE “WON’T BE SRED OF ANYTHG AFTER THIS [EXPERIENCE], THAT’S FOR SURE.”PATRICK J. ADAMS, WHO PLAYS ONE OF WILLIAMS’S TEAMMAT, TOLD THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS THAT TAKG PHON OM DIENC HAS “BEEN A MAGIL EXPERIENCE, JT GETTG EVERYONE OFF THEIR PHONE FOR TWO HOURS.” ADAMS ALSO NOTED THE PEACE OF MD THAT WH KEEPG VIC TUCKED AWAY. “IT’S CERTALY NICE TO KNOW THAT WE’RE SAFE ONSTAGE, BEG NAKED AND NOT BEG RERD,” HE SAID.  ON MONDAY, TAKE ME OUT RECEIVED FOUR TONY NOMATNS, CLUDG BT REVIVAL OF A PLAY AND BT-FEATURED-ACTOR--A-PLAY NODS FOR JSE TYLER FERGON, MICHAEL OBERHOLTZER, AND WILLIAMS.MORE GREAT STORI FROM VANY FAIRHOW GREY’S ANATOMY WRER ELISABETH FCH USED LI TO CREATE MT-SEE TVTHE NORTHMAN: LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT BONKERS NILE KIDMAN SCENELRA DERN, SAM NEILL, AND JEFF GOLDBLUM’S JURASSIC PARK RNNREMEMBERG MARGARET CAMPBELL, THE “HOT MS” DUCHS AT THE CENTER OF ’60S SEX SNDALMELANIE LYNSKEY ON YELLOWJACKETS, CANDY, AND AN INCREDIBLE YEAREXCLIVE: OZARK’S ENDG, EXPLAEDWEWORK’S ADAM AND REBEKAH NMANN: WHERE ARE THEY NOW?WHY STREAMERS ARE PULLG BACK FROM EDGY CONTENTJOHNNY DEPP’S TARNISHED CAREER ENTERS THE AMBER HEARD DEFAMATN TRIALFROM THE ARCHIVE: THE TWS WHO FROLICKED WH JOHN PL GETTY IIISIGN UP FOR THE “HWD DAILY” NEWSLETTER FOR MT-READ DTRY AND AWARDS VERAGE—PL A SPECIAL WEEKLY EDN OF “AWARDS INSIR.”MOST POPULARWH MATRO, LEONARD BERNSTE’S LEGACY AND LOV FALLY H THE BIG SCREENBY REBEC FORD25 PERFECT TV EPISOS FROM THE LAST 25 YEARSBY HILLARY BISTHE BOOK OF CLARENCE IS A BOMBASTIC JOURNEY BACK TO THE BIBLIL ERABY REBEC FORDSAVANNAH WALSH

What might be like to be a public figure, or the iend and lleague of a public figure, who has to weigh the cisn to e out as gay bee of how might affect their reer and the treatment they might receive om hateful people? Adams found himself this peculiar posn when he was offered the role Richard Greenberg’s “Take Me Out, ” centerg on the fallout after a biracial baseball star reveals he’s gay at the height of his reer.

“The only thg I knew is what most people know about : the gay baseball player (show) which people are naked.

In the show, he plays profsnal baseball player Darren Lemmg, who cis to e out as gay.

But Jse Williams is well st as the gay baseball superstar Darren Lemmg. "Dpe the monali, the media, cludg the New York Tim, has wonred whether Williams, a straight actor, should play a gay character. Bee straight men playg gay, everybody wants to give them an award, " Billy Porter, who is a member of the LGBTQ muny, told The Hollywood Reporter Neil Patrick Harris, who married his hband David Burtka 2014, told The Tim 2021 that he "would fely want to hire the bt actor" for any role.

"Take Me Out, " which opened April 4, centers Darren, a stellar profsnal baseball player, and what happens to him and his team — the fictnal Empir — after he out as gay. The script, viewed by Insir, lls Darren "a Black man who you uld image had never suffered" and Williams told Entertament Weekly that the character "don't nsir himself part of the gay muny" and has been "straight prentg" before he mak the somewhat impulsive cisn to share his sexual orientatn wh the world at a prs 's is a versn of a g-out story, there is no nyg that.

Unfortunately, tryg to do so, he grossly unrtimat the power of racism and homophobia.

We also see the shock Darren feels when 's clear the team manager Skip (Ken Marks) isn't gog to fight to keep Shane Mungt (Michael Oberholtzer) — the player who ed explic homophobic and racial slurs agast Darren — om beg restated on the team. Williams has a lot to prove his Broadway but as Darren, and part of the reason he's succsful bee of his platonic chemistry wh stage veteran and "Morn Fay" star Jse Tyler Fergon as Darren's bs manager Mason "Marz" role, more than Williams', benefs om beg played by an openly gay actor who knows the stggle that many young people face bee of their sexualy. Marz knows why 's important that Darren don't n away om baseball, bee he's facg the btal reali of racism and homophobia.

Gay people need Darren to keep playg so they n keep dreamg. Marz has the right to ll the gay jock out for not botherg to notice a lot of the homophobia that moners the queer muny face. The character also serv as the play’s narrator, iatg several nversatns about the toxic masculy, racism and homophobia embedd Ameri’s origal productn of “Take Me Out” buted on Broadway 2003.

Greenberg has said that when he first wrote the play, he believed wouldn’t be long before an active Major League player me out as gay the real world.

Adams is gay? Adams is gay, but their ments have no nsistency or accuracy of any kd. More and more celebri adm every year that they are gay, but this is not the se wh Patrick J.