University of Virginia Library

Candid

Let me be candid. The Boys
In The Band may be an
authentic representation, but it
is only an authentic
representation of a
subculture within a subculture:
sophisticated, established, and
urbanized homosexuals
constitute only a segment of
the whole homosexual
population. Furthermore,
while this portrayal of a
particular segment may once
have been exact, it is now a
distortion. The nothing less
than revolutionary intervention
of Gay Liberation between the
life-styles of the 60's and the
70's has made the portrayal
passe.

The Boys In The Band is s
passe a play s Tea and
Sympathy. I should have
thought, therefore, that the
interpretation would have tried
to date the play as much as
possible. On the contrary, this
production has attempted to
update it, suggesting some
relevance where none exists.
Inappropriate to the 60's
period piece which the play
actually is, we have the music
and clothing in style for the
70's.