‘The Boys in the Band’, now streaming on Netflix, was originally a 1968 play by Mart Crowley. While there had been plays in the past that referenced homosexual issues in a heterosexual world, such as Lillian Hellman’s ‘The Children’s Hour’ and Robert Anderson’s ‘Tea and Sympathy’, Mart Crowley’s play was one of the first works to present a story unflinchingly centred on homosexuals and their lifestyles of the time.
At a birthday party in 1968 New York, a group of seven friends, all of whom are homosexual, find themselves dealing with the party host’s straight friend from student days who has turned up unexpectedly. The ensuing evening is fraught with desperate and ultimately vain attempts to hide the truth about themselves from the initially puzzled straight guy. Concealed feelings amongst the friends bubble ferociously to the surface.
The play premiered Off-Broadway in 1968 and was instantly controversial. The original Australian production of ‘The Boys In The Band’ in Melbourne back in 1969 saw three of the actors in that production being charged with the use of obscene language in a landmark legal case. It was the first time the F-word had been used onstage in this country and it was both shocking - and, at the time, rather thrilling - to hear it.
The play was successfully revived on Broadway for its 50th anniversary in 2018. This time the entire cast considered it a plus to be open about their own homosexuality, a declaration that would have been a career killer back in 1968 when homosexual acts were still illegal and frowned on by society in general.
The full roster of the cast of that 2018 stage production has repeated their performances in the new Netflix film with the same director, Joe Mantello. It’s been given a fine production and the performances, polished by the Broadway run, shine with authenticity.
Jim Parsons as Michael, the party’s host and catalyst for most of the drama in the play and Zachary Quinto, who plays his nemesis, Harold, whose birthday is being celebrated, give the most outstanding performances. Brian Hutchison, as Michael’s straight and married friend from student days gives a fine enigmatic performance in which his sexual preference is not clear.
The rest of the cast, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Carver, Robin de Jesus and Tuc Watkins all give impressive performances of great conviction.
The first half of the film is very funny with some classic one liners. It’s only as the story progresses and skeletons come rattling out of the closets that the drama really kicks in strongly. The film has no shock value at all now, of course, but it’s an important work that enables today’s audiences to understand what it was like for gay people to live and find happiness in such an oppressive era.
The film was dedicated to the memory of Mart Crowley who passed away in March 2020.
It’s currently available for streaming on Netflix.
