The Boys in the Band

"Superbly cast, zippily yet deeply directed and gorgeously designed, the play makes us laugh long and hard -- the quips fly faster than a hummingbird on speed -- before it makes us shed a tear or two and stabs us in the heart (and then smartly allows us to regain our breath)." Full Review

"Certainly director Joe Mantello’s smashing production of Crowley’s dark comedy sustains a savage humor from start to finish. More surprising, perhaps, is that the actors, under Mantello’s exquisite direction, probe the tender spots in Crowley’s time capsule of a play with a sensitivity that resonates even now...Mantello and his expert cast manage to make us see past the outmoded tropes to the wellsprings of truth from which they emerged." Full Review

"Festivities are certainly in order for this superbly mounted 50th anniversary production...If there’s one thing this staid theater season is more than ready for, it’s a motley crew of gay friends getting together to celebrate...Crowley is a master of the bitchy one-liner, so the play is littered with quotable bon mots...Happily, a lot about the play now seems dated — but not everything, and not in all circles of society, which makes this anniversary presentation doubly welcome." Full Review

"Crowley uttered a 'cri de coeur' with tremendous style and grace, an existential scream with perfect pitch...A document of its time and, weirdly, a predictor of society to come...Mantello’s starry and glossy revival maximizes the script’s angsty impudence...It’s an exemplary piece of naturalistic playwriting, with a masterful control of pacing and tone. And it’s howlingly funny, packed with bitchy one-liners that help to mitigate the slide into darkness." Full Review

"Thanks to spot-on direction by Joe Mantello and rich performances by the nine-member all-male cast, 'The Boys in the Band' proves to be not just a historic artifact, but a witty, gripping and surprising drama that is just as enjoyable as it is menacing (showing influences of Edward Albee and Harold Pinter)...Even if the play is dated and its shock value has worn off, as this crowd-pleasing revival demonstrates, it can still be a powerful piece of theater." Full Review

"I had forgotten just how funny the dialogue is with its many catty outbursts. I had also forgotten how nasty the play turns during its final third. The cast is uniformly strong...Director Joe Mantello has done his usual fine work with this fine ensemble. I still have problems with some of the play’s structure...However, there is no escaping how hilarious much of the play is, which goes a long way toward forgiving its shortcomings." Full Review

"Peerlessly directed by Joe Mantello, this revival reaffirms the social significance of an admittedly dated work and makes the case that Crowley's dark vision of semi-closeted, self-loathing gay men still resonates in the age of marriage equality. That's no mean feat...A collection of performances that are all too human and vulnerable -- these are real people, trying to push beyond the boundaries imposed by a society that insists on seeing them as something lesser." Full Review

"Crowley’s script crackles with pathos and bitchy hilarity...Mantello’s production doesn’t disappoint, bringing together a star-studded cast featuring a lot of high profile gays to get to the heart of 'Boys’' humor and poignancy...I only had reservations about Zachary Quinto as the bemused, withering Harold...Still, Quinto scores laughs and has good moments...There’s a sexy, more hopeful ending here, and then the cast reconvenes to take an ensemble bow. My lips are blue from cheering." Full Review

"Thanks to its excellent new Broadway production, 'The Boys in the Band' is revealed to be a trenchant period drama that dazzles contemporary viewers with a barrage of explosive laughs even as its smart staging respects the thorny past...Mantello, one of the top directors around, delivers quite a seductive production...Under Mantello’s astute guidance, a terrific ensemble sweeps the audience along on the story’s increasingly emotional roller-coaster ride as ribald laughter gives way to tears." Full Review

"There isn’t a single moment of political correctness in it, but as a social and cultural dossier on what life was like for gay men in the Dark Ages, it still resonates with wit, poignancy, and heart-breaking truth...A play that has, in retrospect, gained insight and lost none of its power or potency. It holds up beautifully...The ensemble acting is rich, Mart Crowley’s script seems to have been written with rattlesnake venom, and the result is engrossing, sad, hilarious, and gratifying." Full Review

"Director Joe Mantello has uncovered something important about Crowley’s 'The Boys in the Band.' At its base, it is a drama about an alcoholic dysfunctional family, much like 'Long Days Journey into Night.' Unlike that play, however, there is much humor and hope in this chosen family...This is a revelatory production that casts an insightful eye toward both gay history and plain old human psychology. Essential gay viewing, and highly recommended." Full Review

"When the truly gifted director Joe Mantello, who is openly gay, assembles a pitch-perfect company of actors who are also all openly gay, for his fiercely charged and fearlessly honest production, there's a sense of reclaiming about the proceedings and of honoring those who came before them...The director also has the liberty to play to a more sympathetic public, allowing the sharp edges to occasionally soften, giving clearer views of what all that laughter was hiding." Full Review

"What might have been another bulletin from the distant queer past is transformed into a scintillating portrait of the self-loathing that festers in ghettoized subcultures, perhaps as much now as then...The production is sharpest when the zingers are flying back and forth, but the anger coursing through the play's veins still scalds...There's unapologetic ownership and humanity in the incisive characterizations, which banishes any simplistic perception of the play as a voyeuristic pity party." Full Review

"Mantello wants his audience to breathe in not just his characters, with their one-liners, quips, power trips and deep sadness, but also to imbue the breathtaking contrast with the self-assured men who now are playing them, luckier men not born when the play was written...I swear there is no place better than the theater to be overwhelmed by suddenly comprehending the transformations of 50 years in 110 minutes." Full Review

"Crowley does the torching in his fanged, furious and frequently laugh-out-loud funny landmark 1968 dive into gay men’s lives. It’s messy stuff — and all too human...It still packs a wallop — even with slow patches and plot devices as old as the hills...Through it all, the ensemble filled with out-and-proud actors is uniformly terrific. They deftly hug the curves of the script as it goes from barbed humor to bile-spewing." Full Review

"There are certainly some wince-worthy moments that cannot be avoided altogether...But time, history, and a slew of plays and musicals featuring gay, lesbian, and, transgender characters, allow us to better appreciate the place of 'The Boys in the Band' in the grand scheme of things...It is wrong to dismiss this play, and why this outstanding production, performed and directed by openly and proudly gay men, marks a triumphant return for 'The Boys in the Band.'" Full Review

"'Inspired' is the word for casting Parsons as Michael, the vitriolic host of a totally misbegotten birthday party. Equally fortuitous is getting Mantello to direct the first Broadway revival of Crowley’s 'The Boys in the Band'...While Parsons is a revelation, so too is Washington...Likewise, Bomer keeps finding unexpected levels of anxiety in playing what is arguably the play’s blandest character. Elsewhere, the starry ensemble offer heartfelt homages to the original performances." Full Review

"Without the political constraints of the last 50 years, Crowley's script emits a sense of structural freedom, whereby these men struggle, swoosh, snap, and sneer their way through an evening of self-discovery that transcends its timestamp. In spite of the streamers and balloons, 'The Boys in the Band' is far more than a theatrical gay party favor." Full Review

“For all the internalized homophobia and self-loathing openly on display, Crowley’s achievement is to humanize each character amid the bitchy banter to reveal layers of feeling and friendship...The all-star cast of Joe Mantello’s production lend it an unaffected honesty and authenticity, with Parsons as party host Michael and Quinto as birthday boy Harold both bringing waspish wit and expert comic timing to the stage...The ensemble cast also has finely calibrated contributions.” Full Review

"An emotional, gut-wrenching production that has audiences laughing silly one minute, wallowing in the despondency of it all the next...The star-studded cast is in fine form...The impact of 'Boys,' written pre-AIDS crisis and only a year before the Stonewall uprising, goes well beyond period piece...If 'The Boys in the Band' does anything, it points out the reality that change can be fleeting, that nothing in the politics of sexual identity is certain." Full Review

"Serving both as an inspiring reminder of how far the LGBTQ community has come and also as a sobering warning of the dangers of internalized oppression...To help put on this poignant play, Murphy and Mantello have assembled a stellar, starry cast...All work remarkable well together and inhabit each role fully, as if it had been written specifically for them...Mantello keeps the action moving swiftly on stage...If there were ever a time to revisit 'The Boys in the Band,' it’s now." Full Review

"Both a lovingly preserved time capsule and a sometimes stark distillation of what has and hasn’t changed since its debut. His script is still funny and cutting and heartbreaking...Certain facets do feel dated, but to scrub them entirely would also feel like a denial of the truths and the time the play is rooted in. And for all the pop-culture asides and wit, it’s hardly a hollow platform for banter and bitcheries; Mantello takes care to let his characters’ messier humanity come through." Full Review

"Aside from some judicious cutting, which compresses the play from two acts to one, the text has not been altered from the original. Mantello is bent on mining the comic potential of the material and he succeeds, though sometimes at the expense of the pathos...Yet any rough spots inherent in the 50-year-old text are, by and large, glossed over by the top-notch staging...And then there are the performances, each one more remarkable than the next." Full Review

"It’s campy and funny...It’s also an emotionally bruising evening...At times it's painful to watch, but it is definitely one party you don’t want to miss...A more universal work that examines what it means to be honest about who you are, how to love yourself and how to accept love...Mantello ends with an image of hope for a happier future, one where people accept and love one another for who they are for all the world to see. Progress, indeed." Full Review

"As directed by Joe Montello, that anger flies at us in this 50th anniversary production, punching us as hard as it can, taking no prisoners in this game of telephone calls. He and this marvelously authentic cast makes us sit up and take notice of these boys, and the band they all play for...Everything about this, including the ripe and engaging performances, remind us of the 1968 time period without beating us over the head with it." Full Review