First Look At Upcoming Broadway Revival Of "The Boys In The Band"

From The Hollywood Reporter:

Ryan Murphy will team with Wicked producer David Stone to bring a 50th-anniversary revival of The Boys in the Band to Broadway, assembling a deluxe cast that significantly includes some of the most prominent out-and-proud gay actors in Hollywood.

Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Charlie Carver and Andrew Rannells will head the ensemble in a production directed by two-time Tony Award winner Joe Mantello.

First produced in 1968, Crowley's biting comedy drama is a groundbreaking work among pre-Stonewall depictions of LGBTQ characters, chronicling the fun and frictions that emerge when a group of gay male friends gather for a boozy birthday party in New York City. The play is loved and loathed to an equal extent, with some calling it a perpetuation of negative bitchy stereotypes and others hailing it as a breakthrough in its intimate exploration of the attitudes and behavior of gay men at a time when cultural representation was minimal.

"The significance of The Boys in the Band cannot be underestimated," Murphy said Wednesday in a statement. "Mart Crowley made history by giving voice to gay men onstage, in this uncompromising, blisteringly honest, and wickedly funny play. While some attitudes have thankfully shifted, it's important to be reminded of what we have overcome and how much further we still have to go."

Added Stone: "Everything has changed. And nothing has changed."

Also featured in the cast will be Robin de Jesus, Brian Hutchison, Michael Benjamin Washington and Tuc Watkins. The role of "Cowboy," a hunky hustler presented by one of the guests as a gift to birthday boy Harold (played by Quinto), remains to be cast.

The comic drama debuted off-Broadway in 1968 hoping to run for five performances. The production became an instant sell-out and ran for over 1,000 performances.

While being touted as a "revival," this will actually be the first appearance of the play on the Great White Way.

The Boys in the Band will begin a limited 15-week run at the Booth Theater on Broadway April 30, 2017.

Video "first-look" of the cast here.