 |
|
|
|
|
Theatre Review By Jesse Monteagudo
Recently I went to see Naked Boys Singing!, the all-male nude
musical currently playing in South Florida. After two crowd-pleasing
years at the Celebration Theater in Los Angeles --where the show virtually
saved that venue from financial ruin, Naked Boys Singing! is currently
playing at the Wilton (Manors) Theater and, off-Broadway, in New York
City. Other cities with substantial gay populations shouldn't have to
wait too long.
The plot of Naked Boys Singing! Is just that - a group of buff boys singing their hearts out in the buff. Though the nudity is the show's obvious draw, the show is also blessed by a set of clever, naughty and satiric songs written by a committee of twelve songwriters.
A revue of gay-themed songs performed by a cast of buck naked men is sure to attract a largely gay male crowd. But I was pleasantly surprised to see allegedly hetero-sexual people attending and enjoying the show, including a few senior citizens from nearby Century Village. Naked Boys Singing! certainly got more attention from the mainstream media than last year's Making Porn, a comedy-drama about gay adult videos that had much less nudity but a more controversial subject matter. Only a few people--straight me, of course--objected to the material or the nudity. At least one adventurous woman of my acquaintance joined her gay male friends to see Naked Boys Singing! three times, and even got to know the cast members personally. Now that is what I call dedication. The South Florida production, directed by Gary Waldman --with musical direction by Eric Alsford (also the accompanyist at the piano) and choreography by Robert Craig Dawson --was faithful to the original L.A. production, though it left out one song, "Stripped," that I found on the compact disk. The performers--Shane Davis, Jeremy Jones, Salvador Navarro, Bill Perlach, Robert Randle, Jeffery Taylor and Mark Whittington --were not only cute, but also did a god job singing, dancing and joking their way around the material. The only times when the production faltered were when it tried to get "serious", as with the wistful "Window to Window" or the tragic/nostalgic "Kris, Look What You've Missed." Stick with the limericks, guys.
Like everybody else, I went to see Naked Boys Singing! to enjoy
the sight of a group of attractive, naked men, even though, as a gay man,
I have plenty of opportunities to see other naked men.
But I also went with the knowledge that Naked Boys Singing! would be one of the few public places, along with health clubs and nude beaches, were one could encounter and enjoy full-frontal male nudity. Naked Boys Singing! took one of our society's biggest taboos--a naked man--and made him an object of entertainment, celebration--the show's L.A. venue was aptly-named--and fun. In American society, this is a radical concept. In previous columns, I've written about the double standard that pertains to male as opposed to female nudity. Whereas full-frontal female nudity is common in mainstream movies, and late night cable television, full-frontal male nudity is the province of a few "unrated" indie features and gay erotic videos. And while it is not hard to find a straight strip bar where women take it all off, male strippers must keep their genitals covered in most venues outside of Washington, D.C., Atlanta--"Swinging Richards" is a must for any Atlanta visitor who appreciates the male art form--and a few other cities. Behind modern American society's taboo against male nudity is homophobia--in this case literally the fear of homosexuality. For a man to admit that another naked man could be attractive is, he believes, a sign of homosexuality, in himself and in other men. Teenage boys refuse to shower after gym class or sporting events, such is the fear of being thought "queer." It is better to keep the male body under wraps than to admit the homosexual potential that exists in every man. What makes Naked Boys Singing! so appealing is that it does not try to explain away the male nudity as existing for the sake of artistic, political or scientific expression. This is "gratuitous nudity" pure and simple, as the title of the show's opening (and closing) number makes clear. Finally, gay and bisexual men and straight and bisexual women alike can to a show to see what we really want to see: bareass naked men. This is why Naked Boys Singing! has been a sellout on both coasts, and why both men and women have gone back to see it again and again. In theater, as in life, Naked Boys Singing! is a breath of fresh air. |
© 1997-99 BEI