The Boys in the Band and Representation in the Theater

Earlier this week I saw my first show of the 2018-2019 Broadway season, and The Boys in the Band was quite a way to kick it off. The show had its Broadway premiere on May 31st of this year after first opening Off-Broadway in 1968. It is the story of a gay man in New York who is throwing a party for another gay man and who receives a surprise guest in the form of an old college friend who is quite shocked to see the gay lifestyle his former friend tries, but fails, to hide. It is a story set in 1968 that, sadly, still feels mostly at home in 2018. Themes of self-love and self-loathing, love lost, the power and pain of friendship are universally human.

In addition to the strong, relatable themes, this play had some really, really powerful performances. Jim Parsons, perhaps best known for his role on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, plays the alcoholic party host who is at times comical but also caustic. It’s Parsons’ role that keeps the momentum of the play rolling—both in comedic moments and painful ones. Zachary Quinto (Star Trek) plays the birthday boy, Harold, with wit and comedic timing that is akin to launching a sarcastic grenade at the most opportune moments. The fact that Quinto claims to be ugly and fading with age is a bit of a stretch, but he is in some pretty thorough makeup. Perhaps the best acting is done by Robin De Jesus whose Emery shines as both the funniest character but also has the brightest moments of resilience, courage, and defiance.

The play was good—the performances were great—but it wasn’t perfect. In spite of the strength of the individual performances, I’m not sure they meshed as well as intended. We are supposed to get a group of individuals who despite their spitting of venom love and know each other more than their own respective families. Why put up with such vitriol from those who don’t know you so well? It was hinted at in lines—including Quinto mentioning “I’ll call you tomorrow” moments after eviscerating Parsons, but it just never got all the way there for me. The parts were incredible but the sum was not greater.

A fun side note—look at this Playbill and any of the advertising done for this show. All of these actors are great, but it feels like the casting director tried his best to say “we need 5-6 attractive white men who look exactly the same.” Parsons, Rannels, Bomer, Quinto—all cousins? Brothers? Clones? Throw them in a turtle neck and a similar pose and I’d believe it.

Waiting in line to enter The Boys in the Band, a march passed by that was done by women in Equity to protest the need for higher representation of women in Broadway. It was a well-timed protest as people are naturally waiting in lines for shows and would see the protestors. It also really got me thinking, as I stood in line for a show that featured 9 actors, all men, 7 of which were white.

First, let me say that this show in its necessity had to be men. They also explained in the text the purpose of them being mostly white and it added a painful, powerful dynamic to the group and to the one friend who was black, played passionately by Michael Benjamin Washington (whom I previously knew only from his role as Tracy Morgan’s son on 30 Rock.) It is also incredible that this play featured 9 men who are openly gay. The 1968 off-Broadway opening featured several gay men who, though playing gay men, felt they had to live their own lives in the closet. Not a single actor in the original off-Broadway performance was openly gay. I think The Boys in the Band is a great sign of the progress, albeit slow, of LGBT representation in media.

But it isn’t perfect, and that is what makes representation so interesting, so complex. The Band’s Visit won the Tony Award for Best Musical as well as a slew of others. Ari'el Stachel won the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical and summed up the importance of representation that this musical played for so many. He said for years he would deny his Middle Eastern heritage and would even not let his parents come with him places, especially post-9/11 because it was easier to hide who he was. In a powerful, tearful speech he gave a lesson to kids out there who might have needed this very musical to see themselves on stage: “I want any kid that's watching to know that your biggest obstacle may turn into your purpose.” But you could even pick apart this musical for lacking proper representation—Katrina Lenk won the Tony for Best Actress but she was the only female character who was given any power or agency at all. The other women, of which there were few, operated solely as the object of the male desire or as a plot point to show a man struggling.

The Bechdel test, named after and created by Alison Bechdel who is perhaps best known for theater-goers as the basis and subject of the 2015 award winning musical Fun Home, gives us an easy test to look at the representation of women in fiction. It is three simple parts. A piece of fiction must have (1) at least two women in it (2) who talk to each other (3) about something other than a man. It is obviously a simple test that has some flaws but it's a pretty low bar. The Band's Visit fails the Bechdel test pretty thoroughly. That doesn't mean it isn't worth celebrating for the diversity and representation it does have. Again—this is complicated.

Another award darling, Once on This Island, was a great musical of this past season that featured not only predominantly people of color but also had two roles cast by people whose gender doesn't conform to the way the play was originally written. It was a fun play, and I listen to the music a lot. When the musical was announced as the Tony winner for Best Revival the award was accepted by mostly white men. Representation on stage matters but so does representation off the stage.

I like to think Broadway, and the entertainment industry more broadly, is taking steps to better show diverse faces, stories, and voices. There is reason for skepticism, of course, but there is also occasionally a reason for hope. The Boys in the Band isn't perfect in its representation, but it is promising to know that 50 years after its original performance the men who perform in the show don't also have to perform a character in their personal lives. They can be who they want and love who they want. Here's to hoping it doesn't take another 50 years for us to see further representation problems addressed.