The Play's the Thing
Gay-theater success stories can lose something in the translation to film
Originally published: Nov. 19, 1997
By Todd Camp
Theater has always been a reliable source for gay independent films, but it still remains to be seen whether or not it's a good one.
Dozens of stage productions have made, or are in the process of making, the leap to the big screen, but it seems that for every successful leap comes a rather clumsy stumble.
Love! Valour! Compassion!, Joe Mantello's adaptation of Terrence McNally's Tony Award-winning play, actually falls somewhere in the middle when it comes to success: It's engaging in its own right, but not quite up to par with the play's complex interweaving story lines.
This funny and moving portrait of eight gay men and their interactions over three holiday weekends plays well in both arenas, but viewing them back-to-back sheds a little light on the benefits and weaknesses of both mediums.
Anyone who has seen McNally's stage version which recently enjoyed a brief run at Houston's Alley Theater will have a hard time imagining a film version of this talky, adult-themed story loaded with asides to the audience (as well as ample amounts of nudity).
Yet while watching the film, it's hard to imagine a sparse stage version of this airy character piece, set in a beautiful, sprawling mansion in upstate New York. McNally has made the transition from stage to screen before, with such productions as The Ritz and Frankie and Johnny. He contributed the screenplay this time out, with an almost total carryover of talent from the play's Broadway incarnation. Joe Mantello once again directs, and the entire cast returned with the exception of Nathan Lane, who bowed out because of scheduling conflicts. Jason Alexander, better known as George on NBC's Seinfeld, filled in, giving the film a celebrity shot-in-the-arm.
The most noticeable difference from play to picture is the elimination of many of the monologues with the audience. McNally has said he didn't feel that the technique works in a movie as anyone who has seen Paul Rudnick's Jeffrey would probably agree.
Most of the play's dialogue remains intact, and bits of the monologues are salvaged as voice-overs. But the play's purposefully limited props and sparse staging have been replaced with gorgeous natural settings. Oddly, neither seems to distract from the real focus the engaging cast of characters. And it's to Mantello's credit that their intimacy and interaction were not destroyed.
As for the rest of the pack, here's a curtain call of play pictures and how they fared in the conversion to celluloid.
Boys in the Band (1970): Playwright Mart Crowley produced and adapted his own 1968 off-Broadway play with Exorcist director William Friedkin at the helm. The film remains one of the best adaptations to date thanks largely to the casting of the entire original stage ensemble. Despite its bitter and often cynical look at a self-loathing, pre-Stonewall gay community, Boys remains one of the most important and openly honest gay films ever made. Go figure why Friedkin would go on to direct Cruising, widely considered to be one of the most stereotypically offensive gay films to come down the pike.
Torch Song Trilogy (1988): Harvey Fierstein's adaptation of his landmark Broadway play about a lonely drag queen's search for love stands up pretty well on its own, but pales in comparison to its original source material. Huge chunks of the play failed to make it to the screen, a sacrifice that unfortunately diminishes the final product.
Six Degrees of Separation (1993): One of the rare exceptions of improvement on source material is this screen adaptation of John Gaure's award-winning play. Will Smith is a charming con man who worms his way into New York society by pretending to be the son of Sidney Poitier. The often claustrophobic stage production opens up beautifully on film with gorgeous Big Apple backdrops providing the perfect setting for the secrets that ensue.
Jeffrey (1996): Even with playwright Paul Rudnick co-producing and writing, this all-star comedy about a gay man's decision to give up sex in the face of the AIDS crisis proved to be an entertaining disappointment. Despite some clever writing and a delightful cast Wings' Steven Weber in the title role, Patrick Stewart as a gay interior designer and a host of celebrity cameos Jeffrey definitely suffers in the shift. Most of its problems come from its frequent use of stage devices audience asides and sappy soliloquies - that never seem to fare well on film. You can judge for yourself when Fort Worth Theatre presents the play next year.
Beautiful Thing (1997): It's hard to tell how well Jonathan Harvey's moving love story about two working-class teens growing up in the projects of London fared in its journey to film. Despite its success, the only folks who have had a chance to see the stage production live on another continent. But even if some meaning or message was lost in the process, Thing certainly stands on its own and remains one of the best teen love stories gay or straight to hit the screen.