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| Gary Sneed, Reathel Bean, Martin Rivera, Michael Cascone, John Ingle, Robert Sevra. |
LOVERS [Musical/Homosexuality] B/LY: Peter del Valle; M: Steve Sterne; D: Paul Sullivan; P: Phillip-Geraci and Michael Brown; T: Players Theatre (OB); 1/27/75-5/11/75 (119)
Gay themes abounded in 1970s shows, sometimes subtly,
sometimes blatantly. Writers were tapping into a hitherto underground subject
and were unsure just how far to go with it. Lovers
was a musical of the blatant sort, appealing primarily to gay audiences
with a cavalcade of in-jokes and references. In it, the middle-class virtues of
a strong and lasting relationship between partners was espoused, and little respect
was shown for gay promiscuity.
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| John Ingle, Robert Sevra, Martin Rivera, Gary Sneed, Michael Cascone. |
Not strong on plot, Lovers
circled around three homosexual couplings, none more than stereotypes, and
their emotional affairs. John Simon described them as “lower-class,
middle-class, and S&M class.” One couple is Freddie (Martin Rivera) and Eddie (Michael Cascone), young, effeminate, and campy;
another is the less obvious one of an older man, Spencer (Reathel Bean), a professor, and, George (Gary Sneed), his lover of
20 years, formerly his student; and the third, Dave (Richard Ryder, succeeded by Robert Sevra) and Harry (John Ingle), is into leather and belts. They
each express their problems and pleasures in song, and the material, noted
Clive Barnes, is “frank and often dirty.” He called the show “a good-natured
romp,” with not unduly distinguished music, but Simon thought it a “mildly
unimaginative work.”