‘The Boys in the Band’ Review: Jim Parsons and Zachary Quinto Find the Relevance of the Datedness in the New Netflix Version
Owen Gleiberman Chief Film CriticThere are plenty of dramas that look different with time, but it’s the peculiar fate of “The Boys in the Band,” Mart Crowley’s groundbreaking 1968 play, to have been so buffeted by changing times that the play keeps changing its identity. At this point, in fact, I’d say that there are five stages of “The Boys in the Band.”First, it was a revolutionary work of commercial theater that took you into the lives of half a dozen gay New Yorkers — which doesn’t sound like a big deal, but back then even the most celebrated American playwrights, a number of whom were gay (Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee), felt constrained in their portrayal of gay characters.