By Nick Pilgrim
In its seven-year history, the James Terry Collective has become the independent go-to destination for quality theatrical experiences.
Having produced left-of-centre choices like Rent (2018), Legally Blonde (2019), Next To Normal (2020/21) and Kinky Boots (2023), I was curious to see what the boutique award-winning organisation would do next.
To my surprise and delight, their latest offering’s oblique title may make it sound like yet another musical. This fascinating time capsule, however, is in fact a straight play. (No pun intended.)
How time flies.
In 2018, The Boys In The Band celebrated its fiftieth anniversary with a brand new Broadway staging and a taped television recreation using that exact cast.
Unlike those actors who were all out and proud, it should be noted that the original production’s development decades earlier is as fascinating as the show’s actual premise.
To identify as gay in the entertainment industry (beyond one’s friends and coworkers) was a career kiss of death. Many of the first members did not come out until years after the show (or the filmed version which quickly followed).
An Australian staging in 1970 also had its share of off-stage drama. Close to being banned, several cast members were arrested for the scripted profanities their characters spouted on stage each night.
Clearly, there was a public need for these stories.
That the New York City staging launched a year before the infamous Stonewall riots, details the cultural and historical significance of this piece. While it lifts the lid on gay life from a very specific time and place, The Boys In The Band unpacks social issues and stories which are universal to this day.
In short, the basic plot is dynamite with a short fuse.
Five men congregate at a sixth’s apartment one night to celebrate their seventh friend’s birthday. Told in uninterrupted real time, the one-hundred-minute narrative introduces us to each member one by one.
When the host’s old college chum suddenly arrives unannounced, the evening rapidly builds momentum before becoming an out-of-control roller coaster ride of petty jealousies, secrets spilled, relationships tested, and tables turned.
The Boys In The Band also addresses themes such as gay bashing and internalised homophobia, open relationships versus monogamy, recreational drug use, psychoanalysis, self-acceptance and civil rights. These topics are as relevant today as they were to a community finding its voice more than fifty years ago.
This is a tale which stays with you long after the lights have dimmed.
Mart Crowley’s searing text appears to draw inspiration from Broadway classics such as The Women (by Clare Boothe Luce), Stage Door (by Edna Ferber and George S. Kaufman), Cat On A Hot Tin Roof and Suddenly Last Summer (by Tennessee Williams) and Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (by Edward Albee).
Funny one minute and biting the next, the human condition was never more raw or more real. Whether by chance or by choice, those examples highlight people thrust into a glass fishbowl for all to see.
The Boys In The Band also opened the floodgates for other works such as Torch Song Trilogy (1978), Angels In America (1991), Take Me Out (2002), The View Upstairs (2017), The Inheritance (2018), and local examples including Priscilla – Queen of the Desert (1994/2006) or Holding The Man (2006/2015)
The show’s biggest strength is how audiences and the flawed yet relatable protagonists are treated with intelligence and respect. Crowley’s writing reveals enough nuggets of information about the characters and their relationship to each other, presented in dialogue and action for viewers to discover and devour for themselves.
Directed with pinpoint accuracy by Alister Smith, all credit to the nine-strong cast who relish every acting opportunity served up by this stylised theatrical showcase.
Some of the names I knew from seeing (or reviewing) previous shows, and several were completely new to me. Very much a trust exercise shared between the team, the talented cast includes:
- Maverick Newman (as Michael, the party’s host)
- Jack Stratton-Smith (as Donald, his on-again / off-again lover)
- Mason Gasowski (as Harold, the birthday boy and Michael’s bitter rival)
- Ryan Henry (as Emory, their flamboyant friend)
- Stephen Mahy (as Hank, another friend who left his wife for a man)
- Andy Johnston (as Larry, the man Hank is dating)
- Adolphus Waylee (as Bernard, their pal who must deal with racial slurs on top of his gay identity)
- Mitchell Holland (as Alan, Michael’s mysterious link from college who crashes the party)
- Harry McGinty (as Cowboy, an escort who is Emory’s gift to Harold for the night)
The Boys In The Band is very much a product of its time. From Emory’s flaming flirt to Michael’s crippled cruelty, these characters span the spectrum of known gay stereotypes or self-perception. Meaning, no stone is left unturned.
While every character has their moment or two in the sun, some of the highlights for me included:
- Hank’s speech about what Larry means to him. (Stephen Mahy, whom I had previously seen in musicals such as The Wedding Singerand Electric Dreams, will break your heart.)
- Michael’s and Harold’s cautious banter and controlled barbs which lead to a verbal showdown with pistols drawn. Newman and Gasowski are a revelation; you will clearly believe their unhinged rivalry.
- Alan’s desperate search for identity and understanding
- Emory’s politically incorrect yet outrageous party boy wit
- Cowboy’s dim-bulb humour and boyish charm
- Donald’s footloose and fancy-free approach to life
- Larry’s yearning for something more than domestic bliss
- Bernard’s regret for succumbing to Michael’s vicious party game
As support, the creative team add fabulous texture to overall experience.
Harry Gill (Set Design / Co-Costume Design) and Jessamine Moffett (Co-Costume Design) really play on Manhattan’s chic Upper West Side aesthetic. Gill, by simultaneously opening out the stage and drawing viewers into the story, takes full advantage of the venue’s tiered space.
Tom Vulcan (Lighting Design) brings out the story’s celebratory atmosphere and more intimate moments.
Sound Design by Jake Sipcic (in tandem with Jack Burmeister) is solid and clear, key to audiences catching every ounce of dialogue.
Keagan Vaskess (Intimacy Coach) provides the show’s physical depth and shocking realism where needed.
Jordan Smith (Stage Manager) and Emma Venzke (Assistant Company Manager) always keep the action smooth and fluid.
From coming out to finding one’s tribe, the LGBTQI+ experience is unique to those who walk its long and winding path. To quote a piece of dialogue from the show, “It is like passing a car accident. One the one hand, you want to turn away. But on the other hand, you’re compelled to look.”
Like The Odd Couple which successfully toured Australia in 2024, nostalgia is very much back in vogue. The Boys In The Band plays for a strictly-limited season at Chapel off Chapel until Saturday March 15.
Brave and balls-to-the-wall bold, this is a top-drawer comic-drama not to be missed.
