VIDEO: On This Day, May 31 - THE BOYS IN THE BAND Opens On Broadway
By: A.A. Cristi May. 31, 2020
On this day in 2018, Mart Crowley's groundbreaking 1968 play, The Boys in the Band returned to Broadway, directed by Joe Mantello and produced by Ryan Murphy and David Stone,
The Boys in the Band centers on a group of gay men who gather in a NYC apartment for a friend's birthday party. After the drinks are poured and the music turned up, the evening slowly exposes the fault-lines beneath their friendships and the self-inflicted heartache that threatens their solidarity.
A sensation when it premiered in April 1968, The Boys in the Band was originally scheduled to run for five performances at the Playwrights' Unit, a small off-Broadway venue. Overnight, the show became the talk of the town for its unflinchingly honest depiction of gay life, and transferred to Theater Four on West 55th Street, running for over 1,000 performances. The entire original company performed the show to great acclaim in London and also appeared in William Friedkin's 1970 film version.
THE BOYS IN THE BAND starred Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, and Andrew Rannells, as well as Charlie Carver, Robin de Jesús, Brian Hutchison, Michael Benjamin Washington, and Tuc Watkins.
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