Netflix’s The Boys in the Band is a poignant yet powerful adaptation of the 2018 critically-acclaimed Broadway play. It recently premiered worldwide last September 30 on the streaming site. While the film based its storyline on the said play, did it also adapt the same cast of the show?
Created by Mart Crowley, The Boys In The Band is based on the 1968 play of the same title. The story revolves around a group of gay friends in New York 1968 who gathered to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Its first film adaptation in the 1970 starred the same ensemble cast from the original play.
The story was again brought to Broadway in 2018 and won a Tony for the Best Revival of a Play the following year. Theater icon Joe Mantello, the same director who worked on the 2018 award-winning play also directed the screen version.
Is The Cast Of The Boys In The Band Movie The Same As The Broadway Show?
Yes, it is. The 2018 stellar cast of the Tony-winning play reunited to reprise their roles for the new adaptation. Although some viewers find the play’s content dated, both film versions were met with critical acclaim upon release.
The Boys in the Band, both at its original production and adaptation, was a landmark moment in queer representation. It championed in presenting not only a gay protagonist but an entire gay ensemble as the center of the story.
The Boys In The Band Cast
- Jim Parsons as Michael
- Zachary Quinto as Harold
- Matt Bomer as Donald
- Andrew Rannels as Larry
- Robin de Jesus as Emory
- Michael Benjamin Washington as Bernard
- Tuc Watkins as Hank
- Brian Hutchison as Alan
- Charlie Carver as Cowboy
Why do they have to cast the same actors of the play for the movie adaptation?
At the time of the play’s initial release and the decades since, homosexuality was a taboo. Gay people were loathed or worse, prosecuted in societies with strong prejudice against them. The collective shame epitomized by the characters roots in their experience of a society that rejects the idea of gay pride.
The Boys in the Band cast is composed of gay actors, all of whom spoke openly about their sexual orientation. By casting an entirely gay ensemble, it can achieve what the original play’s creator and characters could only aspire for. Be a successful image of self-actualized gay men where sexuality is a part of their personal and public life. Rather than becoming a source of shame and internalized homophobia, the representation should instead inspire and empower.