Bravo to the Boys in the Band
By Chadwick Montgomery

The Boys in the Band, June 7 – 17
Out Front on Main
1511 E. Main St., Murfreesboro
869-8617 • outfrontonmain.com
Show times: Thu – Sun 7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $10 adults, $5 students/seniors

One of my favorite things about Out Front on Main is it doesn’t mount the same shows every other community theater in the region continually regurgitates. Instead, Out Front brings Middle Tennessee audiences real gems — some of them lost and forgotten in the annals of American theater — to its stage.

Such is the case with Out Front’s outstanding current production of Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band. Crowley’s play focuses on eight gay friends at a birthday party, plus a ninth who is under suspicion, and how things unravel horribly as the evening progresses drenched in alcohol. Crowley’s genius and cleverly witty script strikes many chords with how the gay community identifies itself as well as the outside world’s perception. What’s interesting is the show initially mounted off-Broadway in 1968, and its brilliance still resonates in contemporary society.

Ryan Vogel’s magnificent set design is highly detailed and sets the perfect atmosphere for the action that ensues. Director D. Richard Browder (who also plays Bernard) does an excellent job in both capacities, and the stellar cast brings such a dynamic emotional arc to the stage that it truly makes this one of the absolute best community theater productions I’ve seen in a long, long time.

Thomas Prunier plays lead character, Michael, and delivers a stunning performance from start to finish, particularly when he falls off the wagon and really lets his mean streak surface leading up to his dramatic emotional breakdown.

George W. Manus Jr. breathes delightful life into the flamboyant Emory, bringing much of Crowley’s humor to surface while showing the depth of his enormous talent when getting emotional during a game of “Truth.”

Newcomer Peter Depp plays Harold, the birthday boy and self-avowed “32-year-old, pock-marked Jew fairy” with aplomb. Depp’s impeccable comedic timing delivers some of the funniest, snarkiest quips in the show.

Although Patrick Goedicke is technically too old visually to play the part of Alan, his precise acting chops nevertheless create the play’s main conflict. Rounding out the cast are Blair Thompson (Donald), Asa Armbrister (Larry), Ryan Vogel (Hank) and Zach Parker (Cowboy).

The Boys in the Band is a play that has certainly stood the test of time, and I can’t imagine a better production of it than at Out Front on Main.

 

Photo by Jessica Storvik