Today’s gay community may only know of The Boys in the Band as a landmark movie in the gay continuum, but the iconic piece was a stage play first. Mart Crowley’s play about a gathering of gay men to celebrate a friend’s birthday debuted 43 years ago on Broadway. Crowley followed up with the sequel The Men From the Boys, where the friends gather once again for a friend’s death.
For its inaugural season, QLive! shoots out of the gate with a staged reading of Crowley’s sequel. The QCinema spinoff touts live theater performances and for its first show, they probably couldn’t have picked a better start.
“Band has a long rich history in Fort Worth, having been staged in a gay discotheque in 1975 and again 25 years later at a church rehearsal hall,” artistic director Kyle Trentham says.
The production reunites the cast from the 2000 Fort Worth Theatre production of In the Band including Todd Camp, Robert Camina, Gary Payne, Lon Barrera, Brian Keith Rhodes and Keith Smith.
— Rich Lopez
Four Day Weekend Theater, 312 Houston St., Fort Worth. April 20. 8 p.m. $10. QCinema.com
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition April 15, 2011.
