First look and date for Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Robin de Jesús and the cast of ‘The Boys in the Band’ feature

Erik Anderson August 21, 2020

THE BOYS IN THE BAND (2020) Back Row: Robin De Jesus, Michael Benjamin Washington, Matt Bomer, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Charlie Carver, Tuc Watkins, Andrew Rannells, Brian Hutchison Front: Joe Mantello, Mart Crowley (Brian Bowen Smith/NETFLIX)

The new film version will premiere on Netflix September 30, 2020

The Boys in the Band, the 1968 play by Mart Crowley has a storied past in gay culture as a groundbreaking depiction of gay life by presenting it unapologetically and providing the audience with some of the first three-dimensional gay characters ever portrayed.

The play, about a group of gay men gather for a birthday party in 1968 New York City, only to find the drinks and laughs interrupted when a visitor from the host’s past turns the evening upside down, premiered Off-Broadway on April 14, 1968, at Theater Four, and closed on September 6, 1970, after 1,001 performances. It was then produced as a feature film in 1970 directed by William Friedkin. In 2018, the play was revived with an all-star, all-gay cast. It was nominated for two Tony Awards, winning Best Revival of a Play.

That revival and that cast are now featured in a new film version directed by Joe Mantello that will debut on Netflix September 30, 2020. It is produced by Ryan Murphy p.g.a., David Stone, Joe Mantello p.g.a., Ned Martel, and Alexis Martin Woodall.

More than fifty years after Mart Crowley’s play became an unexpected smash hit for putting gay men’s lives center stage with honesty and humor, The Boys in the Band returns to the screen in a new adaptation that reunites acclaimed director Joe Mantello with the all-star cast of the Tony-winning, 2018 Broadway production. In 1968 New York City – when being gay was still considered to be best kept behind closed doors – a group of friends gather for a raucous birthday party hosted by Michael (Jim Parsons), a screenwriter who spends and drinks too much, in honor of the sharp-dressed and sharp-tongued Harold (Zachary Quinto).

Other partygoers include Donald (Matt Bomer), Michael’s former flame, now mired in self-analysis; Larry (Andrew Rannells), a randy commercial artist living with Hank (Tuc Watkins), a school teacher who has just left his wife; Bernard (Michael Benjamin Washington), a librarian tiptoeing around fraught codes of friendship alongside Emory (Robin de Jesús), a decorator who never holds back; and a guileless hustler (Charlie Carver), hired to be Harold’s gift for the night. What begins as an evening of drinks and laughs gets upended when Alan (Brian Hutchison), Michael’s straight-laced college roommate, shows up unexpectedly and each man is challenged to confront long-buried truths that threaten the foundation of the group’s tight bond.

Jim Parsons as Michael, Robin De Jesus as Emory, Michael Benjamin Washington as Bernard and Andrew Rannells as Larry (Scott Everett White/NETFLIX)

Zachary Quinto as Harold, Charlie Carver as Cowboy and Robin De Jesus as Emory (Scott Everett White/NETFLIX)

Jim Parsons as Michael, Brian Hutchison as Alan and Tuc Watkins as Hank (Scott Everett White/NETFLIX)

Jim Parsons as Michael and Matt Bomer as Donald (Scott Everett White/NETFLIX)

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.