Review of "Some Men"

A 1970s bathhouse scene exposes many of the politics of body, age and butch-femme dynamics that still pervade the gay community. Noticeably absent from this scene was any acknowledgement of the politics of race in gay sex spaces, which is a missed opportunity, as the play does feature one black ensemble member, Michael McElroy.

As Angel Eyes, a 1932 Harlem speakeasy impresario and hustler, McElroy is given one scene to really shine in. McElroy is a very talented actor and singer, and he breathes life into his number, a monologue and song called " Ten Cents a Dance." But much of his material as Angel Eyes reads like it came out of an African-American history textbook. After so much sophisticated art and scholarship exploring queer Harlem during that period, like Rodney Evans' film Brother to Brother, dropping names like Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston into a sentence just doesn't cut it anymore.

This is a similar problem that crops up in many of the scenes, especially in Act I. The early 20th-century scenes seem under-researched or simply cliché in content. The character development is thin, lacking real meat. The script may be fresh for newbies just coming out of the closet or just discovering what it means to be gay — and only for a mostly white, college-educated set — but if you've been watching In the Life or reading anything at all outside of gay pop-culture mags, you've probably got most of these issues covered.

But what McNally knows best, he does best. The scenes dealing with the 1960s to the 1990s are the most fully developed and have the kind in-depth, insider knowledge that makes them real — more than mere stereotype. He takes us into the AIDS ward at St. Vincent Charity Hospital in the 1980s and an "m4m"chat room from a few years ago, where everyone is lying about something and many are desperate for genuine connection.

My favorite scene happens on a park bench between two middle-aged gays, Scoop (Greenspan) and Aaron (Amendolia), and two college-aged queers, Pat (Jesse Hooker) and Fritz (Pedro Pascal). The scene brilliantly expresses the tensions between the queer identity politics of the 20-to-30-somethings and the different sensibilities of an older generation, who don't view their history as the Dark Ages, as expressed by the out, loud and proud youth.

Being a newly married man, McNally seems to be beating us over the head with how much our community lacks because of the inability to marry everywhere but Massachusetts. Some characters have other opinions about marriage, but overall the tone of the play very much leans heavily in the direction that we should all be striving for that particular institution. Near the end of the Stonewall scene, Alex (McElroy) asks his lover, Joel (Romain Fruge), "Would you marry me if you could?" It is a question that seems to be just under the surface of many of the scenes in this play.

But even with these shortcomings, Some Men is an enjoyable production. Mark Wendland's stark and elegant set — white roman columns, chairs and tables as a tableau to move back and forth through time and place — is simple and brilliant. The ensemble is talented and malleable. Though not a musical per se, actor Randy Redd is the piano man in many scenes, accompanying the cast through songs that fit well into the world of the play. After all, how can you have a play about gay culture and not have any singing?

Overall, Some Men is an enjoyable walk down memory lane for those of us who are old enough to have lived through different parts of this history. It will also be a good way to catch up for some men who don't.