John Donne, the great English poet, writing on time-spent in love-making, noted: "And makes one little room an everywhere." This exceptional play, now a film, making of one house an everywhere, makes a testament to gay love. A quote from the New Yorker review of the play is appropriate here: "Humbling evidence of what human love is and can be."

What is significant for gay viewers is that all the people in that little house are gay. We've known we're human, but its nice to have the humanity acknowledged, the love celebrated.

Playwright Terrence McNally took the title of his play from a phrase used in the journals of the famous short-story writer John Cheever.

The play was three acts, each taking place during a single summer and occurring on Duchess County weekends: Decoration Day, July 4th, and Memorial Day.

Viewers watching this stage-drama-made-film by the playwright will be reminded, strongly, of Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band: a play/film about a small band of male gays, longtime friends, in one place.

The Boys in the Band was pre-AIDS and this drama (no date given) is, very much, in the Age of AIDS.

The play was a great hit on Broadway, running for years, known for the on-stage nudity.

And it's been preserved here, nudity included, and served here, very well, with most of the original cast.

The role of Most Nellie Queen, in the film portrayed by Jason Alexander, drew inspiration from Nathan Lane, who was the play's version .

Finding seven actors for the eight parts (one actor plays twins) there appears to be room-here for full-credit, left-to-right:

John Glover (here seen as James, the Good vs. his twin John the Bad) does an amazing job of portraying two people, and with no change in make-up, making each twin unique so that no one might mistake one for the other. The difference between them is one of playwright McNally's witty comments on life: "one has all the brains; the other all the heart."

Right above the Good James: Stephen Bogardus as Gregory Mitchell, the host-and-house-owner. The film opens with a camera lovingly examining the old restored house, Bogardus' voice in the background, giving us a taste of one aspect of gay culture, the "Let's Restore a House" syndrome.

Being hugged by the Good Twin: Jason Alexander, now getting $600,000 an episode on Seinfeld , but here playing for Love, not Money, but giving heart-and-soul to the role, presenting us with a strong whiff of bitter-sweet New York City Jewish-Gay humor.

Over Alexander's right shoulder, Justin Kirk as Bobby Brahams, the blind lover of the house-host. The slight "conflict" in this mild play, started by his slight sexual meeting with.......

the man he's holding on to: Randy Becker. Becker, in the role of Ramon Fornos is three things none of the others are: very young, a "person of color" and a sexual sport. As the Trophy-Hunk brought up by the evil twin, John, his perfect good looks, athletic body--he's a dancer--and (I blush here) "personal attributes"--seen front center, fore and aft, lets him hold his own (my language is ambiguous) against the wit (and money) of the others.

And then together, extreme right, Stephen Spinella and John Benjamin Hickey as Perry-and-Arthur, a Normal New York (Gay) couple.

I say "normal". In New York City, in Los Angeles, in San Francisco and elsewhere there are whole neighborhoods, whole apartment buildings, where, without benefit of clergy, households consist of two men or two women and one dog. No dogs here in this film (might have been too much trouble on-stage) but for us, the audience, lots of laughs, cries.

The director of both the Broadway show and this film, interviewed in The New York Times, said this was not a "gay" drama but a human one. Let's translate that: he's hoping for a cross-over with lots of straight couples putting down cash to watch gays.

It happened in the case of The Wedding Banquet which presented the divided world of a gay couple with lots of straight friends face to face with the gay man's straight (from Taiwan) parents. Another gay film that made big bucks was (of course) The Boys in the Band which showed us drunk and in vino veritas (in wine, truth) blurting out "Why do we hate ourselves so much?"

In Love! Valor! Compassion!, which has odd echoes of The Boys in the Band (everyone lining up to do a dance) one almost hear an answer: "You are so wrong! We don't hate each other. We love each other. In fact, we think not only of ourselves and each other but of the world--of suffering humanity--and heaven--for some of us, coming too close, too quickly--and facing the agony of the world and our own, we bring forth: love, valor, compassion!

As we well know, gay cultural strengths flourish in every community and we bring to friends around us--gay and straight-- our love-valor-compassion in style.

Let's hear it for this film! It's one for the (our) Home Team!

Warning to our nellie viewers. Bring along an open Kleenex box. You're going to weep buckets.