Review: THE BOYS IN THE BAND at The Classic Theatre Of San Antonio

Before I give you the review of The Boys in the Band at the Classic Theatre from opening night, I have some exciting news to share! I have been given the exclusive honor of announcing to you:

"Due to popular demand for sold-out houses... Additional shows have been added to the run on June 27-30"

San Antonio, I implore you to hear me in my most stern teacher voice, go get your tickets to this show as fast as you possibly can! Here’s a link to help! You will want to thank me. I’ll start with a quote from the show’s director, Tim Hedgepeth, to explain why: “The boys of our play did not have a Pride month. They didn’t have a parade, they didn’t have rainbow flags to fly, and they were denied the right to marry and openly serve their country. Just like the millions of real-life gay, lesbian, and trans Americans of that time.” That is a quote from his director’s note in the program. You’ll have to buy tickets to the show and head out to The Classic Theatre’s production of this play to read the rest. Believe me, it’s worth the read. After seeing this play last night, I still find myself sitting in the loud silences of that uncomfortable play, trying to sort it all out. Trying to figure out how I could review such a play. What can I, a critic, say about a play that made me completely forget about all the things I was there to review?

Sure. I could tell you about how wonderfully realistic the set was. How their use of practical lighting drew me in like a magician’s trick. I could invite you to hear the music that sent me to another decade without me even really realizing it. I could mention how overjoyed the audience was to see Jimmy Moore starring in a production, so overjoyed, in fact, that he got an entrance applause like a Broadway star. I could tell you that each and every actor’s name was in my notes, with the word, “wow!!” next to it. I could tell you how unbelievably smart and rich the script was, wittingly alluding to post-modern playwrights left and right. I could use words like flawless, polished, and perfect to describe the production I witnessed at The Classic last night. But somehow…that doesn’t seem to quite cover it.

Because the truth is, while I was there, I kind of kept forgetting I was actually at a play. Forgot I was there as a critic. The doors closed, and somehow we were all transported to an apartment in 1968 New York, intruding on a gay man’s birthday party where we witnessed the suffocating self-loathing and shame that enveloped all of their lives. Real men, all unique in their own personalities and struggles, yet united by those things as well. When they broke out into choreography, complete with a “5,6,78…” I felt like I was back at my dear friends’ home during college. Just dancing with abandon. 

But then, we were in the room when everything unraveled, leaving all the secrets bare. We breathed in the smoke (they used prop cigarettes), held our breath in the confrontations, winced when the conflict exploded, and ached when the pain became too much. We watched as a shockingly vivid picture of what life was really like for the gay community in the 1960s came into sharp focus. How it can still be today. We sat in the deeply tense silences that somehow reached beyond the circumstances of that birthday party and called us to action. Demanded that we decide, how will we treat others? How will we treat ourselves? And suddenly…a bit of understanding. Empathy. 

This play did the most powerful thing that a play can do. It showed us a picture of the truth. The joyous, horrific, wondrous, terrifying, painful truth. It was a play about and for the gay community, an important play that exposed what those men had to endure--sometimes still endure--in hiding who they were and in feeling such monumental shame about who they were. But somehow, it was about even more than that. Somehow in the long silences that they allowed in those powerful scenes, we sat there collectively holding our breath. Uncomfortable. And reflective. 

Brilliant. 

To the entire company of The Boys in the Band, thank you. Thank you for bearing your souls so that we could see and feel this story. Jimmy, Brian, Trevor, Rick, Isidro, Joshua, James, Blake, and Kevin…wow. All of you, just wow. You each had a moment that rocked me to my core. I will be thinking about this play, and about my response to it for a long time. Thank you for that. I’m sorry I’m not giving you a typical review, but let’s be honest…you didn’t give me a typical performance. You gave me, and your whole opening night audience something so much more wonderful than a typical performance. All of you, director Tim Hedgepeth, and your whole team took Mart Crowley’s profoundly important script, and breathed life into it in the most honest and authentic way. And gave us the best live theatrical experience we could have ever hoped for. 

 

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