The Boys in the Band: A Play in Two Acts

Several gay friends and lovers gather in an apartment for a birthday party in 1960s New York City. The first act leavens their inherent angst with humor. The second act is all angst and raw emotion. An outsider, ostensibly straight, propels the plot by injecting the type of hypocritical disapproval they have banded together to repel. An emotionally complex play from a different time, but it still resonates.

In its day a wild ride through the lives of several gay men, this book exposed a language and culture that exploded "after Stonewall" with stylized camp and sexual mayhem, but for all the humor and ribaldry in this story, ultimately ends in tragedy.

Mart Crowley's (then) controversial play about a homosexual party and the relationships between the attendees. A little stereotyped in its archetypes, but at the time these may not have been perceived as such. At any rate this is a well-written, sad/funny look at the attachments and sadness of a group of mixed-up folks who happen to be homosexuals.

A pioneering effort. In one production, every gay stereotype was assembled on the stage at a time when Broadway was still tippy-toeing around skeletons in the closet and such like. From a midnight cowboy to a flaming queen to a self-loather to a "mature and loving" couple, we got it all.

Read because I saw the play at college in about 1973.

Versione italiana "Festa per il compleanno del caro amico Harold"