Nudes Is Good News for Broadway Box-Office

Says Ruckdashel, who may be seen this season on here! TV’s The Lair and who is currently filming the Cinemax series Co-ed Confidential, “I think nudity on stage is fine. I don’t suggest making a habit of it, but I think it can be part of the art. In Ascension, the nudity wasn’t vulgar; it’s natural that, after sex, two individuals would be lounging around nude. It was never, like, ‘Okay, let’s have a nude scene.’ The playwright did a great job of setting it up. Did it boost our ticket sales? Yeah, it probably did. We had the trench-coat Mafia in the audience, that’s for sure! From the time that the review came out, we sold out the rest of the initially scheduled three-week run in six hours flat. But I think what did it was the fact that the Times reviewed us at all. It still has the power to come in, anoint a show, and make it a hit.”

Well, maybe. There’s no way of determining how much the Times review would have spiked Ascension’s ticket sales if Gates hadn’t happened to mention that the play featured a gorgeous young man totally naked, just as no one can say whether the demand for Equus tickets would be less frenzied if the public wasn’t aware that Daniel Radcliffe goes starkers in that show.

Generally speaking, it seems that most theater artists have little or no problem with onstage nudity, but they are understandably miffed when the press and/or the public focus on that aspect of a show above all else.

Peter Shaffer, the venerable author of Equus, has made no secret of his displeasure at some of the press reaction to Daniel Radcliffe’s nudity in his play. “Childish, absolutely childish and hateful,” Shaffer told AfterElton.com at the opening night party for the Broadway production. “All they could talk about was his c*ck. It was ludicrous — as if I was writing porn and Daniel was latching onto a pornographic event. ‘Harry Potter waves his other wand.’ Is that all they could say about our attempt? They should respect people who are trying to do good work.”

Perhaps the last cogent word on this hot-button issue should be given to Drama Desk Award-nominated actor Vince Gatton, who has appeared in his birthday suit in three separate Off-Broadway shows, including the gay comedy Party. “One of the things about Party was that it was more funny than sexy,” Gatton remarked when I interviewed him in 2002.

Vince Gatton (right) and John Kevin Jones in an Off-Off-Broadway production of
The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told

“As I said at the time, if you wanted a genuine turn-on, you could pay a lot less money to rent a video — or to rent certain boys — than you'd pay for a ticket to our show. The shows that have involved nudity that I was not interested in doing were the ones that aimed to be a turn-on for the audience. If that's the goal, go find a prostitute and leave me alone! I hope I have other skills to offer. And there are certainly guys with better bods than me, guys with six-pack abs and big arms and all of that. If what you're looking for is visual hot-cha, you'd better try to find it elsewhere.”