Scarlet Masque Theatre Journal New Beginnings and Fond Farewells Vol. 1 | Page 12

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Catholic faith at the end of Boys, as the play ends with him going to midnight mass after having
his big breakdown.
The reception to The Boys in the Band was in many ways much more notable than the
play itself. Of course it took the work to create the reception, but the polarization that it created
was truly astounding. As we will see later in the essay, gay political activists often had overly
negative critical receptions to these early prominent pieces of queer theatre. The perception that
any type of “negative press” was harmful to the cause of the political movements made it
especially easy to target. One of the most influential critical voices of the work was the New York
Times, whose many press coverages of the piece made it known nationally and most likely
helped to make the show last as long as it did. Clive Barnes gave a positive review right away
when it opened, while Walter Kerr critiqued it a year later with a thinly-veiled attack at Crowley,
making the claim that the play “sounds too often as if it had been written by someone at the
party.” Another article, written by Donn Teal, was especially significant because it was the first
time that Teal had used his real name (not a pseudonym) as an out gay man writing about queer
culture. The clashing opinions of the Times writers almost definitely helped to sensationalize the
piece. As for its intended audience, gay men, reactions were as varied as the people who came
to see the show. The mix of intense comedy and severe drama was too morose for some, while
others delighted in seeing a fairly accurate representation of gay men bonding together (even
one example of a happy gay couple in the characters Larry and Hank). Ultimately, Boys was a
show that was molded by the individual experiences of the people who went to see it. This was
a big deal, even going to so much as being made into a feature-length film produced by Cinema
Center Films (a CBS subsidiary) that began filming in the summer of 1969, with the Teal article
being released on June 1. Less than a month later, the Stonewall Riots began with little more
than a flutter from the attention of mostly members of the LGBTQ+ community and the mob. A
year later, in 1970, the first pride parade marched in remembrance of the riots and the feature-