Reviewed by Tony Annicone
MMAS’s latest production is “The Boys in the Band” by Mart Crowley. The play revolves around a group of gay men who get together to celebrate their friend Harold’s birthday in an apartment in Greenwich Village in New York City. Written in 1968, the show was groundbreaking in its description and portrayal of gay life. The 50th anniversary of the original show inspired the recent Broadway revival which is up for the Tony Awards in 2019.
In the play, Harold becomes despondent about his fading looks and his ability to attract cute young men. His six closest friends throw him the birthday party and one of his gifts is an attractive blond prostitute called Cowboy and an unexpected guest is Michael’s friend, Alan, who is married to a woman. As the party continues the nine men grow drunker by the minute, leading to some confrontations both serious and comic in nature. The brutal end to act one is handled splendidly and the evil parlor game initiated by a drunken, overbearing Michael is brutal and heart wrenching which leads to him dissolving into tears at his reluctance to fully accept being gay. Director Daniel Kozar casts these nine roles excellently and elicits fine-tuned performances from them that resonate completely with the audience. It helps us understand how everyone must be treated with dignity and not degraded because they don’t fit into the norms that society demands not only 50 years ago but today. “How can we hate ourselves so much,” utters one of the characters in the play. Thankfully we have gay marriage nowadays and a more accepting society, so the play shows us where we have been and where we need to go.
The pacing of the show needs to be picked up because some scenes seemed a little slow at times, but
Kozar explores the hidden meanings behind the lines to present a clear picture to the audience. The spectacular set is by Ted Talanian while the costumes are by Kozar. Leading the cast as Michael is Greg Smith who commands the stage in this enormous role. He becomes more mean spirited as the night goes on. Michael is a lapsed Catholic and alcoholic who is struggling with his sexual identity. Smith is onstage the whole time from start to finish and the role displays his strong acting prowess and is one of the best roles I have seen him in. As the show progresses we are introduced to each member of the cast and we learn who Michael’s friends are.
Other cast members do a great job in their roles, too. Malachi Mulrine Peters is former live in boyfriend, Donald, who is undergoing psychoanalysis to cure him of his “gayness”. Bryant Vasquez plays the detached Larry who wants to keep an open relationship with many men while Ricky DeSisto plays his lover, Hank, who is getting divorced from a woman and wants a monogamous relationship. The campy Queen Emory is hilariously played by John McElroy who delivers his one liners with glee but in the second act has a poignant story about a dentist that he fell in love with years ago during Michael’s awful phone game of calling ex-lovers or people they have been in love with.
Ibrahima Tylar Jahumpa plays Bernard, the black character who is verbally abused and made fun of by Emory but they have an understanding with each other. Michael forces Bernard to call a man that he’s had a crush on and proceeds to humiliate and embarrass him. Gary Mlinic plays the straight character of Alan who is separated from his wife, Fran. Christopher Crossen-Sills plays the pouty, sulky Harold who is depressed over his looks as he turns 32 so he takes lots of drugs to help ease the pain. His birthday gift from Emory is Cowboy, a tall, blond and handsome male prostitute who is dumber than dirt. Andre Meservey does a great job playing this naive dullard. So for a timely play that still resonates with contemporary audiences and was the first play to present a picture of gay society as real people not caricatures, be sure to catch “The Boys in the Band”.
THE BOYS IN THE BAND (7 to 23 June)
MMAS, Black Box Theater, 377 North Main Street, Mansfield, MA
1(508)339-2822 or www.mmas.org
