Gay theatre in the 20th century
The joke goes "you can hardly find a strait play on Broadway anymore," however, that wasn't always the case. A lot of devoted theatre artists spent much time in jail and being ridiculed in order to get us our say on the legitimate stage. From obscure hints at homosexuality in such early plays as The Vortex to the promise of a 'real live gay kiss' in The Normal Heart to visiting a gay sex club in Jeffery the theatre has both progressed with the times and forced progression on Broadway theatre producers who are notoriously conservative; far more so than their audiences often are. Today one can see openly gay characters in movies, TV, Off-Broadway, and on Broadway herself. Currently you could see Naked Boys Singing, The Donkey Show, The Dazzle, Lesbian Pulp-O-Rama!, Cloud 9, Madama Butterfly, and the Broadway Mega-hits Rent, The Full Monty, and The Producers plus many others with gay characters. Threw the persecution of the 20's to the almost overwhelming on-slot of gay theatre in the early nineties these theatre pieces have helped shape both gay culture and strait cultures perception, or lack their of, of the 'gay world' integrating gay identities into mainstream culture.The earliest hints of homosexuality from plays dating to t
Because of the universal ignorance I wrote "Drag" with the intention of taking it to all the theatres in the country to teach the people. So much of a stir was made, however, that I voluntarily removed it and I must mark time until our country grows up to show them a vital truth. Rudnick, Paul. The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told. The Overlook Press: New York, 1999 In 1968 The Boys in the Band by Mart Crowley premiers Off-Broadway with open and frank portrayals of a group of gay friends and an accidental outing. Clive Barns declared it "the frankest treatment of homosexuality I have ever seen on the stage" (328, Curtin). The success of The Boys in the Band carried on threw some flack it received after the Stonewall riots. The riots happened while the play was still running in an Off-Broadway theatre. The gay crowds who once enjoyed the open look at gay life were now criticizing the play for its guilt dripped portrayal of a group of gay men and their self-hatred and bitchery. Now that the gay and lesbian movement was on its way there was no room for self-hatred. As one of the cast members of The Boys in the Band, Cliff Gorman, predicted gay characters became 'old hat' soon after. 46 plays with gay characters were seen on and off Broadway between 1968 and 1973 and during the next decade 84 plays with gay characters or themes would be seen in New York. The characters themselves became real people. The gay character was no longer presented as a villain preying on the week or a person to be pitied but just as a human being. Some memorable plays to come out of this time slot are The Dresser, Gemini, The Ritz and The Fifth of July. The odd thing that emerged was the realization that many more conservative, homophobic critics and patrons were more at ease seeing a freakish or outrageous exaggeration on stage than an honest portrayal of a gay person. The raunchy and over the top drag queen in Torch Song Trilogy garnered positive reactions from conservative critics who didn't respond well to representations of 'average,' or realistic homosexuals in other plays like The Fifth of July. Clum, John M. Something for the Boys: Musical Theatre and Gay Culture. St. Martin's Press: New York, 1999. By the early eighties a new form of gay theatre appeared on the scene. The AIDS crisis took America into hellish times when gay people found out who their real friends were. As Is in 1985 became the first major work of AIDS theatre, though several smaller scale performances came before it. As Is was a major commercial success and proved to producers that AIDS theatre would sell. The Normal Heart by Larry Kramer in 1985 was the next major hit in the arena of AIDS theatre. The semi-autobiographical play attempts to normalize gay behavior, Just like La Cage. When AIDS hit the backlash was to treat gay society as if it was just like strait society; to make it 'normal' to middle America in hopes that it would take away the stigma that AIDS brought as 'the gay disease.' These plays are referred to as 'fist generation AIDS plays'. The next generation started in the late eighties to early nineties. The Lisbon Trivata in 1990 is the first major second-generation success. This work is by well known, and gay, playwright Terrence McNally who ushered in the new theme of camp into AIDS theatre. Camp served as protection against a cruel world in the fifties and it was recalled in the nineties as protection against AIDS. Notable second-generation AIDS plays include AIDS! The Musical! (1991) Angels In America (1992), The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me (1992), Jeffery (1993), and Love! Valour! Compassion! (1994). The primary goal of early AIDS theatre was to educate the audience about the epidemic and how to stop it. By the second generation AIDS was here and the plays began to focus on how to live in the shadow of this horrible epidemic. AIDS theatre and indeed AIDS itself forced people to look at gay culture rather than ignore its existence. The AIDS epidemic fu
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Approximate Word count = 4035
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)
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