The evolution of ‘Some Men’

The men of “Some Men,” Terrence McNally’s thought-provoking gay drama.

By Scott Harrah

One does not normally expect much from gay-themed plays these days. Why? There hasn’t been a truly illuminating drama about homosexuality since Mart Crowley’s “The Boys in the Band” way back in the 1960s. Most 21st century gay-themed stage shows have either featured absurd sexual gimmickry (porn stars acting Off-Broadway in “serious” roles or revues of singing naked men) or schlocky sensationalism (a recent one-man “tell all” melodrama about the life of a male prostitute comes to mind). So it is definitely time for a truly great gay play, and Terrence McNally, America’s most prolific playwright, has written it. “Some Men” is one of the most thought-provoking gay dramas in the past four decades.

McNally — who gave Broadway the gay comedy “The Ritz” in 1975 and the hit story of gay-male friendship in the 1990s “Love! Valour! Compassion!” — certainly has experience exploring issues of same-sex love, but he has never done it quite as effectively or as poignantly as he does in “Some Men.” The story opens at the Waldorf Astoria, as a same-sex commitment ceremony is about to begin. Scenes that follow tell us about the past and present of some of the guests. At first, the vignettes may seem somewhat confusing as we see characters interact over the decades from the days of the Stonewall riot in 1969 to the tragedy of AIDS in the 1980s to the political correctness of modern-day America. However, Trip Cullman’s direction ties all the loose ends together seamlessly. McNally does deal in some stereotypes (such as a closeted married man that sleeps with hustlers), but there is a shred of truth in everyone depicted here, from a drag queen belting out “Over the Rainbow” on the day of Judy Garland’s death to a bereaved soldier speaking to his dead lover’s dad at a funeral. From the early days of the gay-rights movement to free love in the 1970s and AIDS in the ’80s to gays in the military, men cruising in online chat rooms and gay marriage in the new millennium, McNally covers all the bases of the gay world, and does so with amazing plausibility.

Not all of the characters or situations work. One story about a wealthy banker and his streetwise Irish chauffeur lover canoodling in the Hamptons is the type of rich man/poor stud romance usually found in gay pulp novels. However, the majority of the scenes are realistic. The cast includes Kelly AuCoin, Don Amendolia, David Greenspan, Jesse Hooker, Pedro Pascal, Romain Fruge, Randy Redd, Michael McElroy, and Frederick Weller, all of whom play various dual roles, and do so with conviction. Same-sex marriage is certainly a recurring theme in the various sketches, but McNally also explores issues such as aging, gay parenting and the generation gap amongst gays.

One scene involving two older gay men (Don Amendolia and David Greenspan) being interviewed by two gender studies students from Vassar (Jesse Hooker and Pedro Pascal) is particularly noteworthy. The two twentysomethings ask, in haughty and condescending tones, what gay life was like in the pre-AIDS glory days. The young guys seem dumbfounded when one of the middle-aged men responds, “We just wanted to be happy.” The students seem oblivious to the fact that gay life was not always so open and full of social expectations as it is today.

There are other powerful moments. We see Bernie (Kelly AuCoin) go from being the closeted man who sleeps with hustlers to an “out” man who meets his lover in a bathhouse. McNally also captures the essence of gay life interracially. Michael McElroy portrays a 1930s African-American singer named Angel Eyes in a Harlem club, and he claims that a famous lyricist wrote a popular song about him. On the opposite end of the social spectrum, one scene takes place in a very preppy piano bar full of men singing show tunes as the Stonewall riot erupts outside. These men represent the old status quo of gay men who were content to be socially marginalized and were baffled by the revolution in the early gay-rights movement.

McNally brilliantly shows us, through these different vignettes, that gay life has not always been as visible or acceptable as it is in 2007.