Matt Bomer, left, and Jim Parsons in a scene from ‘Boys in the Band.’ Boys in the Band opened off-Broadway in 1968, a year before Stonewall.
I was a gay teen who grew up in New York, but didn’t see it until 1970. In just two years, it had become a dated play about self-hating homosexuals.
I couldn’t really identify with those characters who were so last year. But as the only play running with gay characters, I also somehow identified. (Imagine Broadway without gay characters on stage).
In 2018, the play was revived on Broadway with an all-gay, all-star cast. It won Tony Awards and was recognized for as the insightful portrait of gay life in Greenwich Village pre-Stonewall.