Over the weekend, Columbia University Players presented their fall mainstage production of The Boys in the Band, Mart Crowley’s provocative drama on gay life in New York City during the 1960s. Bwog attended the Saturday evening show.

The Glicker-Milstein Theatre in Barnard’s Diana Center was busy this Friday and Saturday with three sold-out performances of the CU Players’ production of The Boys in the Band.

The play seemed a fitting choice for a Barnumbia adaptation: It’s set in New York City and has at the heart themes of queerness that hit close to home at the university that was home to the US’ first LGBTQ campus group. 

The narrative centers around a birthday party thrown by a group of queer men for their friend Harold (Cierra Martinez, BC ’24), and the turmoil that is caused by an unexpected visit from the host Michael’s (Aidan Ong, CC ’26) homophobic former college roommate. It was groundbreaking when it premiered in 1968 (the year before the Stonewall uprising) and was revived numerous times on and off Broadway, as well as adapted to film twice, most recently in 2020 with a cast led by Jim Parsons.

The Glicker-Milstein Theatre is a flexible black box space; for this performance, the audience members were seated on three sides of the stage, creating an immersive and intimate experience. The set design, led by Ziggy Kneile (CC ’27) was homey, yet bohemian, with Michael’s living room brought to life by touches like an “Oh Baby” cursive sign and pop art paying homage to the era in which the play is set.

Saiya Palmer’s (CC ’26) costume design team created looks that captured the fashion of the 1960s and gave audience members insights into the characters’ personalities. Meanwhile, the lighting, designed by Maxwell Epstein (SEAS ’27), skillfully placed particular characters under the spotlight in especially intimate moments.

Crowley’s piece deals with heavy subject matter, including overt homophobia and racism, violence, alcoholism, and drug use. Yet it is also, at times, bitingly funny and the audience was often roaring with laughter during the production.

Some performances were standouts. Anand Chitnis’ (CC ’25) as Emory flawlessly captured his character’s flamboyance and campy joy. Sawyer Huckabee (CC ’26) as Larry and Jules Heidelberg (CC ’27) as Cowboy both brought amusing comedic timing to their roles.

Yet there were also aspects of the performance that didn’t seem to quite do Crowley’s play justice. The potential for complexity in Michael’s character was somewhat lost; the script gives him the opportunity to be portrayed as tortured, struggling with internalized homophobia and loneliness which lead him to bigotry and lashing out. This rendition saw him lose some of his sympathetic traits, with Ong portraying him as mostly bitter and angry. As a result, some of his most powerful lines–including “If we could just not hate ourselves so very much… that’s it, y’know.”–didn’t hit home as much as they could.

The original play is undoubtedly subtle and often complex in its dynamics, which were not always successfully communicated. For instance, the chemistry between Ong’s Michael and Sylvie Oldeman’s (BC ’25) Donald felt muddled, so the two characters’ emotional scenes felt like monologues instead of exchanges. By contrast, the chemistry between Huckabee’s Larry and Hank, Larry’s lover played by Nathan Rakolta (CC ’27), was excellent. Audience members were able to grasp the challenges to their relationship but also their deep love for one another. 

The Saturday night show, which was the last performance, ended with heartfelt speeches from the cast and crew honoring each other’s work on the piece. Special tributes were directed to Sophie Simons, the play’s director who took an unexpected medical leave of absence at the end of October, as well as Eliza Staples (BC ’23.5) and Kurt McLaughlin (CC ’26) who stepped into the role of directorial responsibility. 

Ultimately, whatever its flaws, the Players’ performance brought Crowley’s play to a Barnumbia audience, inviting community members to consider how the central issues of identity and power impact us today. As Simons’ Director’s Statement aptly put it, we ask ourselves “How much has changed from the experience of these men, set in the 70s, and the experience of queer people now, in 2023? And how much is the same?” 

Bwog commends the team for their effort in tackling this groundbreaking piece of theater and for their performances which highlight the myriad talent in student theater at Barnumbia.

The Boys in the Band via Olivia Kuan-Romano