Variety Asks: Where are Gay Audiences?

Variety editor and reporter Robert Hofler looks at the brief Broadway run of Douglas Carter Beane’s The Little Dog Laughed, which, despite two raves from the Times, closed after only 112 performances. According to Hofler, “the business minds behind Beane’s stage comedy about an in-the-closet movie star clearly were blindsided by the sea change in audience taste.” The article goes on to state that “the hunger of gay men to see their lives reflected onstage and in other entertainment forms has been diminished by increased visibility in mainstream culture,” most notably gay-targeted television.

Increased visibility may be part of the problem, but looking at Hofler’s article side-by-side with Christopher Isherwood’s take on anti-gay slurs in the Times (login required) suggests another. Perhaps gay audiences are tired of comedy that gets laughs at their expense? Or perhaps we are simply searching for something new, something neither television nor film nor theatre is giving us?

February 6, 2007 | Filed Under Queer Art & World 

Comments

One Response to “Variety Asks: Where are Gay Audiences?”

  1. Danica on October 22nd, 2008

    You write very well.

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