'Boys in the Band': Joe Mantello and Zachary Quinto on the redemption of a notorious gay play
NEW YORK - Wait long enough and the unthinkable can happen.
The big surprise isn't that Mart Crowley's game-changing gay drama, "The Boys in the Band," is having its Broadway premiere 50 years after it was first produced off-Broadway. The spectacular development is that the play is being presented by a creative team composed of some of the most powerful openly gay men in the entertainment industry, including producer Ryan Murphy, director Joe Mantello and a cast that includes Zachary Quinto and Jim Parsons.
This is the first time Mantello, a two-time Tony winner who's up for another Tony this Sunday for his direction of Edward Albee's "Three Tall Women," and Quinto, the modern-day Spock who has been gracefully balancing blockbuster and indie projects, have worked together. But their theater paths have curious parallels.
In addition to being one of the most sought-after Broadway directors, Mantello (whose production of "The Humans" opens June 20 at the Ahmanson Theatre) is an actor of striking power. He was nominated for a Tony for his performance as Louis in the original Broadway production of Tony Kushner's "Angels in America," a role that Quinto memorably put his stamp on in Michael Greif's 2010 off-Broadway revival.
Another character Mantello and Quinto have in common is Tom from Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie." Quinto was in the 2013 Broadway revival directed by John Tiffany that starred Cherry Jones. Mantello was in last year's Broadway revival directed by Sam Gold that starred Sally Field.
In this edited conversation, which took place in the downstairs lobby of the Booth Theatre during early previews, Mantello and Quinto discuss the
