Gays on Broadway / Ethan Mordden.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mordden, Ethan, 1947- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gay theater--United States--History.

Gay theater.

American drama--20th century--History and criticism.

American drama.

Gay men in literature.

Theater--New York (State)--New York--History--20th century.

Theater.

New York (State)--New York.

United States.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

233 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2023]

Summary:

"This is a chronological review of both the plays and the people that brought the world of homosexuals, bisexuals, transexuals, metrosexuals, and the sexually fluid to the American stage. The plays--which take in a few foreign imports--treat strong gay content (e. g., The Boys in the Band or The Killing of sister George), or minor gay content (Season In the Sun, The Nervous Set), or even a phrase in passing (as in New Faces of 1956's joke about Rome's piazza Di Spagna, so niche that perhaps fifty people got it during the show's six-month run). I have included as well plays that portray gay through dog whistles (such as Bell, Book and Candle, in which the witches are really gay people) and even plays whose sense of parody or outright camp (such as Little Mary Sunshine or Johnny Guitar) are at least gay-adjacent. As for the people in the book--writers, actors, creatives-- I have included profiles of some who, though gay, had little interest in portraying gay lives--Edward Albee, for example, even as his influence not as a writer about gay but rather as a writer who is gay was extremely broad, so conclusive that he takes pride of place at the end of this volume. These so to say pre-Stonewall eminences--actor-manager Eva Le Gallienne is another one--are as much a part of the chronicle as such overtly gay-in-content writers as Terrence McNally"-- Provided by publisher.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Mordden, Ethan, 1947- Gays on Broadway

ISBN:

9780190063108

0190063106

OCLC:

1346615879

Publisher Number:

99994007202