Why ‘The Boys in the Band’ Revival Won’t Play On

The acclaimed revival of “The Boys in the Band” at the Fountain Theatre will close today on a slightly sour note.

Several members of the cast are complaining about the refusal of playwright Mart Crowley to allow the run to continue and about the treatment they received at a special invitation-only performance.

Billed as a 25th anniversary revival of the landmark play about a group of gay men, the production is a benefit for Equity Fights AIDS. Crowley agreed to forgo his royalty payments, and the cast performed without pay. The production drew excellent reviews and sold out.

But Crowley rejected a request for an extension of the production. His agent, Bridget Aschenberg, said Crowley was “very generous” in allowing 20 performances. But now he wants to keep the play off the market in preparation for another 25th anniversary revival that might take place on Broadway next season.

Although cast members acknowledged Crowley’s right to take such action, they said they didn’t believe that a production at the 78-seat Fountain now could affect the success of a Broadway revival next season. Actor J. David Krassner added that the production didn’t last long enough to accommodate the Hollywood casting powers who they hoped would see their performances.

Another irritant for some members of the cast was the treatment they received at a special performance on April 19 arranged by Arnold Stiefel, who will produce the New York revival if it comes to pass. “None of us knew it was a backers’ audition (for the Broadway production),” said actor Dave Higgins. Because a reception was held prior to the play, instead of afterward, the cast had no chance to mingle with the Hollywood retinue who attended, and they felt they were insufficiently thanked. After the show, “all we saw were empty plates and taillights,” said Higgins. “Everybody felt snubbed and a little bit cheated.”

Stiefel denied that the event was a backers’ audition, saying the guest list would have been different if that had been the case. For example, Rod Stewart was there--Stiefel is his manager--but Stewart’s theatrical investments are generally limited to “buying two tickets,” said Stiefel. He said the audience gave the cast a standing ovation but didn’t want to linger in the east Hollywood neighborhood after the final curtain.

Stiefel said that “a handful” of the actors were so good that he would “not hesitate to put them on a mainstage in New York or L.A.”--and that his own revival could conceivably open in L.A. before going to New York. He defended Crowley’s record of “not exploiting” the play and his participation in promotional events for the Fountain production.

Fountain producer Jane Macdonald expressed her disappointment at the failure to extend the show but said “we were thrilled to have the opportunity” to do it in the first place. The production raised approximately $15,000 for Equity Fights AIDS.

HOW LONG IS “FOREVER”?: The “LAST WEEKS” ads started for “Forever Plaid” at the Canon Theatre last week, but producer Gene Wolsk acknowledged that the show will go on if business picks up.

However, it won’t go on with the quartet that has done it at the Canon for more than a year now (and before that, in San Diego and Pasadena). They must leave by mid-August in order to go spread the Plaid gospel in London, where a production is tentatively scheduled to open on Sept. 21.

“They can be replaced,” said Wolsk. “There are a hundred Plaids (young men who have performed the role) floating around the country.” Business has dropped off lately, but “we’ll follow it week by week” to see if it revives before pulling down the curtain irrevocably on the Beverly Hills “Plaid.”

The urgency of that “LAST WEEKS” notice may work. “Beau Jest” producer Arthur Cantor said business has boomed since his ads notified customers that the show, at the Westwood Playhouse, must close on June 27 in order for the company to go to San Francisco. So now he, too, is considering keeping the show open here and starting a new company in San Francisco.

‘TWILIGHT’ TIME: Soon after “Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992” opens at the Mark Taper Forum next month, “Twilight of the Golds”--the controversial Jonathan Tolins play that premiered in Pasadena--moves on. It’ll open at the Kennedy Center in Washington on June 30, at producer Charles Duggan’s Marines Memorial Theatre in San Francisco on August 11, and probably Off Broadway in the fall, with Broadway remaining a possibility after that. Arvin Brown, artistic director of Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Conn., is directing.

Movie rights were optioned by Hollywood Pictures, but the movie deal forbids a release until March 15, 1995, so other theaters can do the play before the movie competes for audiences. Such productions are important, said Duggan wryly, because he doubts that the play, which is about a decision to abort a fetus known to be gay, will have a long life “in the high school market.”