More than a year before the Stonewall rts changed the face of gay activism the U.S., Mart Crowley put homosexualy center stage 1968’s The Boys the
Contents:
- THE 10 BT GAY MILS OF ALL TIME
- WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE GREAT GAY PLAY? EVERYTHG.
- WHY IS THE THEATER SO MEANGFUL TO GAY PEOPLE?AN INTERVIEW WH JORDAN ROTH.
- AN EPIC NEW BROADWAY PLAY ON MORN GAY LIFE ASKS: N WE LOVE OURSELV?
- MEET THE ALL-STAR, ALL-GAY ST OF BROADWAY'S UPG REVIVAL OF THE BOYS THE BAND
THE 10 BT GAY MILS OF ALL TIME
Gay-themed Broadway mils have e a long way the past fifty years. The on are the bt. * broadway gay *
AdvertisementSKIP ADVERTISEMENTCric’s NotebookIn recent shows, ias of gayns are expandg, bg and disappearg all at WisemanI don’t know whether was bee my parents were jt generally open-md, or bee they had a specific, kdly yet mortifyg agenda, but one of the first Broadway plays they took me to, June of 1977, was way too gay for fort. The first phas of the gay play, ccial their moment, which broadly speakg enpassed the send half of the 20th century, are over. Some, like “A Strange Loop” and “Fat Ham, ” dramatize how the experience of racism amplifi that of homophobia, and vice fy expectatns by makg sexual orientatn a distctly sendary ncern among characters who “happen to be” gay or lbian, as “A Case for the Existence of God” and “At the Weddg.
When a (male) love tert enters the picture, and they sg Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” as a duet, you feel somethg new has happened, as ntroversy melts to a blissful cloud of nonbary bubble is the equalizg, homogenizg fluence of pop culture at work — an fluence that some queer people unrstandably mistst. Jackson’s “A Strange Loop” go further, makg the cross-pollatn of inty the prime source of s nflict, as the ma character nonts both the homophobia of his Black fay and the racism of his queer one. (One of the songs is lled “Exile Gayville.
) Its body, race and orientatn issu are left a kd of stalemate that suggts what might happen if a foundatnal gay play like “The Boys the Band” (which had only one Black character) were multiplied fun hoe mirrors ad fum. That the Hamlet figure, lled Juicy, is Black and gay, wh an termtent csh on a Laert-like iend, suggts that the queer theme will domate, yet don’t; “Fat Ham” is really a play about Black masculy and, even more broadly, the vlent herance all men mt renounce.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR THE GREAT GAY PLAY? EVERYTHG.
In recent shows, ias of gayns are expandg, bg and disappearg all at once. * broadway gay *
” Beltran portrays a gay Black man hopg to adopt the young girl he’s been Klwich/The New York TimMy other favore queer plays of the past year likewise offer no bands; their gay characters (there are still far too few lbian on) operate as if their gayns were mostly ternal and pletely irrelevant. Hunter’s heartbreakg “A Case for the Existence of God, ” that turns out to be an illn, as a gay Black man, after fosterg a ltle girl for more than three years, fds his plan to adopt her undone at the last mute. If there are subtle ways which their sexual inti affect their character or behavr, they were too subtle for me; miss a le or two and you may not even know that gayns is a part of their makp at mak sense plays about cris that threaten to oblerate a person entirely: genr, race, orientatn and all.
WHY IS THE THEATER SO MEANGFUL TO GAY PEOPLE?AN INTERVIEW WH JORDAN ROTH.
Jt bee pri weekend is past don’t mean the celebratns of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people on and off Broadway are over. * broadway gay *
Francis, the closeted llege stunt “Gemi, ” probably did; if he lived through AIDS, I expect he achieved full five-star gay privilege, plete wh marriage, children and Crate & Barrel chee boards. ) What about the gay characters who, lackg whe sk, almost never appeared on mercial stag those supposed great gay play s?
AN EPIC NEW BROADWAY PLAY ON MORN GAY LIFE ASKS: N WE LOVE OURSELV?
’The Inherance’ is a portra of lennial gay male life New York Cy, and is a picture both celebratory and utnary. * broadway gay *
Why Is the Theater so Meangful to Gay People? As print and majory shareholr Jujamcyn Theaters, he ntrols five Broadway ho, makg him the New York theater world’s third-biggt landlord, and as an openly gay man, he’s also one of the cy’s most proment out bsmen. I spoke to him on June 1, jt after Calyn Jenner’s Vany Fair ver was revealed, about how the theatergog experience is changg, why theater n be pecially meangful to gay people, and whether Broadway is too reliant on the Tonys.
MEET THE ALL-STAR, ALL-GAY ST OF BROADWAY'S UPG REVIVAL OF THE BOYS THE BAND
Your mother told New York magaze that she took you to the theater bee you were gay, and she thought theater would “ease your path.
And do you remend as a parentg strategy for someone who thks their kid is gay? The new jebox mil, which opened on Thursday, featur a subplot volvg Snow Whe’s eighth dwarf, Clumsy (Nathan Levy), who out as gay when he falls for Prce Ede (Ryan Steele.
This revival of Lorrae Hansberry’s 1964 Broadway play featur an out gay character — four years before “Boys the Band” shocked people Off-Broadway. David Rag (Glenn Fzgerald) is not only gay; he’s a playwright wrg a play about two men married to one another and livg a reigerator. Jt bee pri weekend is past don’t mean the celebratns of gay, lbian, bisexual and transgenr people on and off Broadway are over.