June 10-16, 2004

artpicks

Breathe

by Lewis Whittington

theater

In 1969 The Boys in the Band was a scandalous Broadway hit for different reasons than you might think. In the gay community, it was both loved and reviled in the wake of the explosive liberation movement. Playwright Mart Crowley was accused of assembling a bunch of self-loathing, promiscuous, addicted and bitchy stereotypes.

Now those boys are stock characters on TV, but the play has outlived its infamy and is viewed as a pioneering gay drama, faults and all. In fact, The Boys in the Band and its sequel, Men From the Boys, are two of 10 plays and musicals being mounted in the Second Annual Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Theatre Festival (GLTF).

Unlike those skanky Boys in the Band, composer Dan Martin and lyricist Michael Biello have shared their lives for 29 years and have produced many things — five musicals, sculpture, a studio-gallery in Old City — and have founded the Outmusic Awards, which brings together gay musicians from around the world. Now, their musical Breathe makes its Philly premiere at the GLTF.

Martin and Biello share a fertile creative life. "We always work the same way, because it's our creative relationship. We feed each other back and forth and just trust what's happening," says Biello in their gallery on a rainy afternoon.

Festival founders (and couple) Bill Esher and Matthew Cloran chose Breathe as the kickoff piece, along with such diverse works as Inexcusable Fantasies by Susan McCully, about lesbian motherhood, and Living Inside Myself, a transgender manifesto by Chicago playwright Jamie Black. "I wish the mainstream theaters here were more inclusive of queer work. The festival is helping fill that void, thanks to Bill and Matthew. This is a beautiful moment for us," Martin says.

"Breathe is deceptively simple," he adds. The show, which took 10 years to write, weaves together seven stories, including one about a touch therapist in love with a priest and another about lesbian parenting — both stories written before those topics became explosive headlines.

"We have a 15-minute opera in there," says Martin, and there's light operetta a la Gilbert and Sullivan, but mostly, despite weighty themes, the music of Breathe avoids the lyrical heavy-handedness of some Broadway composer-lyricists. "Sometimes you see the writer's hand and we try to work away from that," Martin quietly notes.

Breathe, June 10-20, $15, St. Stephen's Theater, 923 Ludlow St., 215-922-1122. For a full schedule of Philadelphia Gay & Lesbian Theatre Festival events, call 215-627-6483 or visit www.philagaylesbiantheatrefest.org.