Review: Facing Reality with THE BOYS IN THE BAND

It's racist and homophobic. Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band is full of gay stereotypes and cringe worthy slang. It is politically incorrect in nearly every way.

But, it's history.

Boys is a snapshot into the past. A comedic, albeit bleak, look back to 1968 - before Stonewall and the major turning points in the gay rights movement. An amalgamation of nearly every negative connotation of what it meant to be a part of the gay community, Boys throws everything out like a spread of packages on the table.

What remains on the top of the heap is a gift from StageQ to our community.

Set in Michael's (Dennis Yadon) apartment, the guys are getting ready for a birthday party for their frenemy Harold (Donnovan Moen). Ready to celebrate the day are all of Harold and Michael's closest gay friends and Michael's Saturday night lover Donald (Greg Hudson). Everything goes according to plan until Michael's former college roommate Alan (Edric Johnson) comes to call. Michael has never told Alan that he is gay and knows that his old friend is a bigot. So, the party goers try to play it straight for Michael's sake which only leads to more shenanigans.

As Michael, Yadon is unprecedented. Clearly channeling some Oscar Wilde moments taken from his stint in Gross Indecency last year, Yadon's dry humor gives Michael an aloofness. Which he needs in the first act to make his gradual decline into bitterness all the more poignant. By trying to be the voice of reason for his companions, Michael gets lost in his own insecurities and tied up in the unrealistic fantasy he wants for his own life.

The life his friend Alan appears to be living.

A life of pent up, homophobic anger leads Alan to attack Michael's flamboyant friend Emory (Joshua Paffel) in a misguided attempt to hide from own his implied homosexuality. Johnson's quiet, stone faced demeanor makes the fit of rage all the more frightening particularly when paired against Paffel's pleasant and playful manner, Johnson's intensity fits like a glove.

Alan's attack is a turning point in Boys. The characters do what they can to press onward with the party as planned, but there is an unsettling discomfort in the air. It is here that the past connects wholly with the present. Gay marriage may now be legal, but misplaced anger and ignorance are still shamefully existent. And just like in the play, the LGBTQ community strives to move on from the indiscretions of the past.

Moving on, however, does not mean pretending the past did not happen.

Director Steve Noll opted to keep Crowley's play intact. Removing even the slightest bit of dated material besmirches the sanctity of this historical work. Despite whatever reaction from an audience - we should not censor our own past. History cannot rightfully be altered, taken out of context, or ignored or we are doomed to repeat it. But this same history also shows us how far we have come from just fifty years ago.

The sting of the clichés, the self-deprecating humor, and the outbursts of a raging homophobe are important - it means that we understand that these things are not okay.

That uncomfortable pain means that the show is working.

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