美国国家公共电台 NPR A Stage Revival, And 50 Years Of Survival, For 'The Boys In The Band'

 

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

"The Boys In The Band" opened off-Broadway 50 years ago. Since then, the play has been lionized as a groundbreaking portrayal¹ of gay life in the 1960s. But it's also been criticized for depicting² attitudes that run counter to the current LGBTQ movement. Many of the original cast and crew have since died of AIDS. Jeff Lunden spoke³ with some of the survivors⁴ and members of the current revival⁵ about life back then and the play's relevance⁶ today. Because of the subject matter, some listeners might find some of the language objectionable.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE⁷: It was 1968.

MART CROWLEY: Nobody wanted the play. Not even agents wanted to look at this play. They just thought it was pornographic and it was outrageous⁸.

LUNDEN: But playwright⁹ Mart Crowley felt he had to write what he knew. And what he wrote in "The Boys In The Band" was a thinly veiled slice of autobiographical fiction. A group of gay friends gather for a raucous¹⁰ birthday party. And by the end of the evening, secrets are spilled. Tears are shed.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "THE BOYS IN THE BAND")

JIM PARSONS: (As Michael) Who was it that used to always say, you show me a happy homosexual, and I'll show you a gay corpse¹¹?

LUNDEN: The playwright says he wanted to capture...

CROWLEY: The atmosphere of what it was like to be gay and everything you did or felt was against the law and that you could get arrested for almost anything. And it could be blamed on that.

LUNDEN: And for more motivation, Crowley points to one important line the character he based on himself says.

CROWLEY: Not all faggots bump themselves off at the end of the story. He was talking about plays in which most of the time when there was a gay character, they wind up committing suicide or getting beaten to death or sent to prison. There was always a terrible fate for anybody who was gay. And so I was determined¹² not to have that happen here in this.

LUNDEN: When some courageous¹³ producers took it on, the play became a phenomenon. It ran over a thousand performances off-Broadway and in productions across the country and around the world. And it was adapted into a film.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE BOYS IN THE BAND")

LAURENCE LUCKINBILL: (As Hank) I don't know when it was I first started admitting it to myself. For a long time, I had labeled it something else or denied it completely.

LUNDEN: That's Laurence Luckinbill, who was in the original play and the film. Luckinbill, who was a college friend of Crowley's and is straight, says getting actors to appear in "The Boys In The Band" was difficult.

LUCKINBILL: I went and told my agent, who was gay - whose husband was gay, who were closeted. And I said, I'm going to do the play. And she said, well, there goes your career.

LUNDEN: And despite the play's success, he did lose jobs, including a contract for cigarette commercials.

LUCKINBILL: The only answer they would give me was from the head guy. And he said no fags smoke our fags.

LUNDEN: There was even backlash from within the gay community itself. Luckinbill says an early activist¹⁴ organization denounced the play the day after it opened.

LUCKINBILL: The Mattachine Society criticized us, whining¹⁵ - made gay people looked bad.

LUNDEN: A year after the opening came the Stonewall Riots, when members of the gay community protested a police raid on a bar in Greenwich Village. That marked the beginning of the modern gay rights movement. And in the following years, the AIDS crisis took the lives of five of the actors, the stage manager...

LUCKINBILL: And the producers and the director. And so they basically fell in battle as far as I'm concerned.

LUNDEN: Nevertheless...

TUC WATKINS: My initial reaction was, why are we going to go up into the attic¹⁶ and look at that thing again? Because I have come from a place of, I want to be out and proud and move forward and make progress.

LUNDEN: Tuc Watkins plays the same role in the revival that Laurence Luckinbill played in the original.

WATKINS: And it wasn't until we read it and we started talking about it that I was reminded that we need to know where we came from in order to move forward and appreciate the freedoms that we have.

(SOUNDBITE OF PLAY, "THE BOYS IN THE BAND")

WATKINS: (As Hank) And then there came a time where I just couldn't lie to myself anymore. I think the first time was during my wife's last pregnancy¹⁷. We lived near New Haven¹⁸ - in the country. She and the kids still live there. Well...

LUNDEN: The revival is directed by Joe Mantello, who's assembled a cast of nine openly gay actors, including TV and film stars Jim Parsons and Zachary Quinto. Mantello says even he was a little concerned that the play wouldn't speak to gay life in 2018.

JOE MANTELLO: This play can't possibly speak for everyone. But it did speak for Mart. And it is Mart's truth. And I think it holds up beautifully.

LUNDEN: For his part, playwright Mart Crowley is happy that "The Boys In The Band" has finally made it to Broadway. And actor Brian Hutchison says it still connects with audiences on a very personal level. One evening after the play, he met two men in their 80s.

BRIAN HUTCHISON: And one of the guys just burst into tears. And they were just streaming down his face, and he couldn't really speak. And his friend said, you moved him more than you know. He's had a rough road. And it's deeply moving to know that there are still people coming to the play who were living that life, you know, and are still living that life or have those regrets.

LUNDEN: For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

1 portrayal   

n.饰演；描画

参考例句：

• His novel is a vivid portrayal of life in a mining community.他的小说生动地描绘了矿区的生活。
• The portrayal of the characters in the novel is lifelike.该书中的人物写得有血有肉。

2 depicting   

描绘，描画( depict的现在分词 )； 描述

参考例句：

• a painting depicting the Virgin and Child 一幅描绘童贞马利亚和圣子耶稣的画
• The movie depicting the battles and bloodshed is bound to strike home. 这部描写战斗和流血牺牲的影片一定会取得预期效果。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

5 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

6 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

7 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

8 outrageous   

adj.无理的，令人不能容忍的

参考例句：

• Her outrageous behaviour at the party offended everyone.她在聚会上的无礼行为触怒了每一个人。
• Charges for local telephone calls are particularly outrageous.本地电话资费贵得出奇。

9 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。

10 raucous   

adj.(声音)沙哑的，粗糙的

参考例句：

• I heard sounds of raucous laughter upstairs.我听见楼上传来沙哑的笑声。
• They heard a bottle being smashed,then more raucous laughter.他们听见酒瓶摔碎的声音，然后是一阵更喧闹的笑声。

11 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

12 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

13 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

14 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

15 whining   

n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚

参考例句：

• That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
• The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着（要进来）。

16 attic   

n.顶楼，屋顶室

参考例句：

• Leakiness in the roof caused a damp attic.屋漏使顶楼潮湿。
• What's to be done with all this stuff in the attic?顶楼上的材料怎么处理？

17 pregnancy   

n.怀孕，怀孕期

参考例句：

• Early pregnancy is often accompanied by nausea.怀孕早期常有恶心的现象。
• Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of miscarriage.怀孕期吸烟会增加流产的危险。

18 haven   

n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所

参考例句：

• It's a real haven at the end of a busy working day.忙碌了一整天后，这真是一个安乐窝。
• The school library is a little haven of peace and quiet.学校的图书馆是一个和平且安静的小避风港。