#BOYS IN BAND STARS HOW TO#

I thought, вЂMy god, thereвЂ™s a fire on the block,вЂ™ and then it dawned on me they wanted one of 100 seats for our play. вЂњThere was a huge crowd going up to Sixth Avenue and across Houston Street. Luckinbill vividly remembers strolling down Vandam Street the day after the workshop opened. Scheduled for a five-night run at the Vandam Theater (now the SoHo Playhouse), The Boys in the Band became a sold-out smash, transferring to Theatre Four for 1,001 performances, followed by a London run and a 1970 film starring the original cast and directed by William Friedkin.

(Tuc Watkins plays Hank on Broadway opposite Andrew Rannells as Larry.) вЂњOn the page, Hank looked pretty passive, but he turned out to be the emotional center of the play.вЂќ

#BOYS IN BAND STARS HOW TO#

вЂњI thought the play was funny,вЂќ he recalls, вЂњand it had a touching quality I didnвЂ™t really know how to express.вЂќ The actor was initially taken aback when Crowley announced that Luckinbill would play Hank, a mild-mannered teacher who divorced his wife for a relationship with Larry, a flirtatious photographer. Meeting Crowley at Jack DelaneyвЂ™s Saloon on Sheridan Square (now a Starbucks), he announced, вЂњI want to do your play, Mart,вЂќ prompting a tearful response. Tuc Watkins, Michael Benjamin Washington and Matt Bomer in The Boys in the Band Unfortunately for the fledgling playwright, the agent felt strongly that Luckinbill, who had just been cast in a soap opera, should not risk his rising career by accepting a part. After graduation, they headed to opposite coasts, but when Crowley poured his frustrations over closeted gay life into a play set at a boozy birthday party, he sent the script to his pal through their mutual agent. Both had Southern roots (Crowley from Mississippi Luckinbill from Arkansas) and were active in the theater department. Of the nine original ensemble members, all five who were gay died of AIDS, as did director Robert Moore and multiple crew members, part of what Luckinbill calls вЂњthe wipeout of a generation.вЂќ On a happier note, he looks forward to celebrating with the 82-year-old playwright, his friend of more than 60 years.ДЄ decade before The Boys in the Band caused a sensation, Luckinbill and Crowley met as students at Catholic University in Washington.

вЂњI want to represent the guys who are gone,вЂќ Luckinbill tells. Fifty years after its original off-Broadway run, the play is getting an all-star Broadway debut, directed by Joe Mantello, and Luckinbill made sure to be on the red carpet on opening night. A sure-to-be-fascinating chapter will center on his history as an original cast member of The Boys in the Band, Mart CrowleyвЂ™s groundbreaking portrait of gay men living in New York in the mid-1960s. At age 83, Laurence Luckinbill lives in Palm Springs with his wife of almost 38 years, Lucie Arnaz, and is working on a memoir wittily titled Famous Enough.

Boys in band stars