The Boys in the Band, one of the first plays to portray gay life, opened off-Broadway in 1968 and became a film in 1970, directed by William Friedkin. As the LGBTQ rights movement grew, the work received criticism for depicting gay and bisexual men as self-loathing, but it was groundbreaking for its time.
Written by Mart Crowley, Boys first premiered off-Broadway in 1968, and a film version featuring its cast was released in 1970. The 2018 revival, marking its 50th anniversary, was staged at the Booth Theatre in New York City for a 15-week run that broke sales records.
The Broadway play — a revival of the 1968 gay classic about a queer dinner party that goes off the rails — was produced with an all-star cast of out actors. The production won a Tony for Best Revival of a Play, and is being adapted into a film by Netflix and produced by Ryan Murphy.
While some of the content of Boys felt dated to some viewers — particularly the portrayal of the intense self-hatred of queer men in that era — other themes of stigma resonated with modern-day audiences. The groundbreaking play has undoubtedly retained its power.
Crowley was a well-known Hollywood raconteur and friend to many stars, including Natalie Wood, who encouraged him to write The Boys in the Band. He wrote several other plays, including a sequel, The Men From the Boys, and worked on the television series Hart to Hart.
"The Broadway cast of Boys was so important to me, and as equally groundbreaking as Mart Crowley's seminal work," Murphy wrote in the caption of the Instagram post. "Everyone in the cast was out and proud...and feeling so blessed to mark the 50th anniversary of Mart's landmark play." (Source: The Advocate)
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| Mart Crowley at left with the cast of the 1970 film of The Boys in the Band |
The original film The Boys in the Band can be watched online at nuevatematica.men
2 comments:
Vi Los chicos de la banda, la película de William Friedkin, el director de French Connection, El exorcista y A la caza, por primera vez cuando aún era muy joven para comprender el universo que retrataba. La he vuelto a ver ahora y me he rendido a sus méritos, tanto cinematográficos como extracinematográficos. Parece mentira que ya en 1970 una obra teatral, en la que está basada la celebrada película, pudiera ser tan explícita y encajar tantos personajes homosexuales y sus distintas problemáticas. Un variopinto grupo de amigos se reúne en el ático neoyorquino de uno de ellos para celebrar el cumpleaños de otro, a los que se unen un joven chapero que contratan como regalo especial para el homenajeado y el excompañero universitario del dueño del piso, que parece esconder un secreto que le atormenta y pudiera estar relacionado con una potencial homosexualidad. En ese contexto conocemos al afeminado sarcástico, el dandy incómodo con su condición, la pareja que afronta ya entonces el poliamor, siendo uno de ellos un padre de familia divorciado tras asumir su condición, y el nada amanerado que vive su homosexualidad con total naturalidad, en el que quizás es el personaje que redime todo el torbellino de traumas reincidentes en este tipo de producciones, aunque la que tratamos sea absolutamente pionera. Un trabajo actoral de primera, un guion brillante y una puesta en escena sobria capaz de afrontar su origen teatral sin complejos, consiguen un film apasionante tanto por la clarividencia con la que aborda temas todavía candentes y que preocupan a mucha gente aun en la actualidad, cincuenta años después, como por el documento histórico que representa.
The Boys in the Band was a play about homosexuals and a homosexual play. It was a work that sprang from the subculture itself and represented a bitter reflection. Society treated it as though it were a scientific expedition, but in fact it was an inner journey for countless gays who snapped to attention when confronted with the pathos of Michael's sickening routines. Many of the stereotypes put forth by Crowley were myths that gays had accepted and even fit themselves into because there appeared to be no alternative. The audience for The Boys in the Band included gay people who had grown up thinking that they were the only homosexuals in the world. The film explored passing and not being able to pass, loving and not being able to love, and, above all else, surviving in a world that denied one's very existence. But id did so before an American public that was at the stage of barely being able to mention homosexuality at all.
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