Playwright Mart Crowley, who wrote the groundbreaking play The Boys in the Band has died aged 84. It has been reported that Crowley died of a heart attack while recovering from heart surgery.
The author is best known for his play The Boys in the Band which is recognised for its groundbreaking depictions of male homosexuality. Described as a game changer the play, which debuted off-Broadway in 1968, depicts the social lives of a group of gay men who gather for a friend’s birthday.
Premiering in the pre-Stonewall era, the play was controversial when first staged but has gone on to be performed regularly around the globe. Originally the play was only scheduled for five performances but it went on to play over 1,000 shows in its initial run with the Stonewall riots fueling discussion about homosexuality.
The original production struggled to find actors who were willing to play gay characters, those who did take on the roles were later featured in a film version of the play in 1970 directed by William Friedkin.
In the 1960’s Crowley met film star Natalie Wood while she was filming Splendour in the Grass she hired him as her personal assistant, and he worked with her while she was filming West Side Story. Wood encouraged him to write the play.
Crowley wrote most of the play over five weeks while he was house sitting for actress Diana Lynn, but it took him several years to get it into production. Once it was a success in New York, most of the cast transferred to a London production.
The play had an Australian run in 1969 with Henri Szeps, John Krummel, John Norman, Charles Little, Gerard Maguire, Ross Osterlin, Kuki Kaa, Mark Albiston and Vern Todd in the cast.
The Boys in the Band has been revived off Broadway several times in 1996, and 2010. In 2002 Crowley wrote a sequel set 30 years later, The Men From The Boys Failed to find the success of the original play.
In 2018 a new production directed by Joe Mantello celebrated the 30th anniversary of the play. While many of the cast members of the original production had been gay, none of them were confident to come out during the plays run.
For this new production every cast member has publicly shared their same-sex attraction. The cast included Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto and Andrew Rannells. The production won the 2019 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.
Later this year a film version featuring that cast, and directed by Ryan Murphy, will premiere on Netflix.
Aside from his much loved play, Crowley continued working with Natalie Wood and served as a producer on the 1980’s TV show Hart to Hart which starred her husband Robert Wagner and actress Stefanie Powers.
Crowley, who was gay, often spoke about the battle to get LGBTIQ characters depicted on screen and he can be seen in the landmark documentary The Celluloid Closet.
OIP Staff
