Ben Brantley's Review Of The Current Broadway Revival Of "The Boys In The Band" Confirms What I Have Suspected All Along--He Is A Great Big Old Closet Case!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                         Sorry, for the picture, girls, but not since Lon Chaney, unmasked, in the 1925 "Phantom Of The Opera"--the one and only, as far as I am concerned--have I seen such horror!!!!!!!!!!

                          When Brantley was first given The Times job, I was thrilled.  Finally, a gay theater critic.  Except, not really, as far as I am concerned.

                             Now, Mr. Brantley and I are about the same age.  He was born on October 26, 1954, and I on November 18, that same year.  So we are, maybe...23 days apart???????????

                             Being that we are contemporaries, I feel I can call him out on his hypocrisy, which does not have anything to do with his dramatic criticism, which I don't take seriously for a minute, as mine, on here, is more astute, and better written.

                              But before going further with Ben, let us get to the hypocrisy at the heart of the piece--Mart Crowley's "The Boys In The Band."

                               Poor Mart.  Always so puffed up like a peacock, every time this tired old war horse is trotted out.   Though he wrote other plays, it was the only one that went anywhere, and gave Crowley a bit of creditability.  Except it is all a lie.

                                Let me add, I am sure the production does well.  Joe Mantello is a good director, and the cast is first rate.  If only it weren't this play, I would be drawn to see them.

                                 Even before I saw the movie, even before I saw the 90's Off-Broadway revival of "The Boys In The Band," with David Drake, at the Lucille Lortel, something struck me off about this play.

                                  The way it was groundbreaking in its onstage portrayal of homosexuality is always being extolled.  Today, having read the play, seen the movie, and the Lortel stage revival, I can attest that this play is one of the great pieces of theatrical hypocrisy perpetrated upon an audience.

                                  Instead of doing a Larry Kramer and writing plays about the validity of gay men, their involvement in the community, and that they are actually humane beneath all the pretension, Crowley chose to pander to the straight audience, by writing a play that projects all the straight world's most negative thoughts of homosexuals, into a single evening.  Tennessee Williams would never have tolerated this.  Nor will I.  If one is to believe what 'Boys' says, the message is still that it is better to live a lie, and stay in the closet.

                                    And this is where I get back to Mr. Brantley, who, in his review, says when he read Clive Barnes' review of the original production, he (Brantley) was so terrified, "I got myself a (temporary) girl friend, pronto."

                                    What a fucking hypocrite.  This shows he is still in the closet.  Well, some of your contemporaries, Ben, and I am one, had the courage to live who we really were, and not couch ourselves in pseudo straightness.  Sure, it cost me some things I merited in high school, but at least I can live with myself.  And I lived long enough, via this blog, to tell off some of my tormentors.

                                    But Brantley doesn't give a damn about homosexuality, nor openly admits to it. He cannot be gay.  Not if he has had a girl friend.  Not if he has had sex with a woman.

                                     And Crowley should be ashamed of perpetuating this type of hypocrisy--I don't care about how "the times" were; I lived through them, too, and honestly.  I am not saying it was easy, by any means!  But I had the satisfaction of being true to myself, and not a hypocrite.

                                     And, Mr. Crowley, how much of a life style does your hypocrisy afford you?  One cannot live on one play alone.

                                       Brantley and Crowley need to get off their hypocritical high horses.  It is time to send this play to the canner's for good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                         Years ago, I was in a play reading group.  When this play came up as a possibility, I walked out of the room in fury.  I refused to perform it, and I would, even if offered a role in the current production.

                                           Instead, I went on to do something more signature, to me.

                                           I played Rhoda Penmark, in "The Bad Seed."  And it was chilling, not campy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!