The Temperamentals

Apparently, theatre is gay again.  Snickering aside, there are four running notable productions in New York featuring gay themes, and another monster is set to open in April.  Currently running (albeit some in previews) are The Temperamentals, Next Fall, Yank! and The Pride.  Opening in April is the revival of La Cage Aux Folles.  I will be seeing all of them before the spring season is over.  Where’s that gay ID card?  I need to make sure I get stamps for all of them.

First up is one that ran last summer, The Temperamentals.  Recently installing themselves in New World Stages’s well established timeshare theatre, the show deals with the leadup to and the early years of the Mattachine Society in the 1950′s.  The play, written by Jon Marans, isn’t as dry as a history lesson would suggest, and it uses a good sense of humor to balance out the fear and complexity of being gay in the very heteronormative 1950′s.  Ostensibly billed as Mad Men meets Milk, the time period is frighteningly much before either of those showcases of sexual liberation.

Harry Hay, the primary force behind the Mattachine Society, was a fascinating figure.  Married when he fell in love with Rudy Gernreich, he was a tremendous pre-Stonewall force in the fight for what would later be identified as LGBT equality.  Along with several friends, he helped Dale Jennings fight criminal charges of soliciting.  That fight was a key element to raising the profile of the Mattachine Society, along with the civil rights movement.  Hay went on to found the Radical Fairies, refusing to accept norms on his social behavior.

As for the play, Marans wrote a well-balanced piece.  There’s an honesty in the writing, and an appropriateness.  Nothing is out of time, and Marans does his best to keep the play from becoming a “you go, boy” showcase – thankfully, albeit sadly.  Overall, I felt the show moved quite quickyl, told an interesting story using some interchangable players, and was generally enjoyable to watch.  With one unfortunate exception.

The most recognizable name in the cast is Ugly Betty’s Michael Urie, portaying Gernreich.  His performance is, frankly, quite moving and enjoyable.  Except for his Austrian accept.  What was amazing was how well Urie was able to emote while sounding like a drag queen doing Marlene Dietrich.  And I mean that as a complement to his acting skills.  He really does execute the character’s emotional arc with aplomb.  And he’s hot, which doesn’t hurt even if it is irrelevant.  I just wish there was some more dialect work to straighten out his somewhat awkward delivery.  I’ve seen him do things other than Betty, and he’s been fantastic (particularly in WTC View).  I wonder if Gernreich actually sounded like that.  If so, it was a magnificent performance.  I’ll never know.

The real weight of the play rests on Thomas Jay Ryan’s shoulders as Hay, and he does an excellent job.  The moment his character shifts from his internal struggles to his outer struggles, when doing a scarf, is exceptional.  His transition of style of moment is evolutionary, and in being so becomes revelatory.  Given the power of his performance, I was surprised to see he’s only been on Broadway once, in the recently short-lived In The Next Room.  I look forward to that changing.

Rounding out the cast are three performers who fill multiple roles.  Arnie Burton did this quite well in The 39 Steps, and is quite affecting.  Sam Breslin Wright plays, among others, Jennings, and does quite well despite a very bad hair style.  Matthew Schenk is hilarious and delightful, not to mention adorable.  Alas, I couldn’t find a good picture of him to share.

Overall, a good, if not great, night at the theatre.  Given some of the bad gay theatre that pops up from time to still (generally better than bad gay movies), it was more than just a relief to see something good.  It was inspiring.

Up next in gay theatre, Next Fall next week.

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