here's what Scott Miller of the regional theatre New Line in St. Louis has to say about the moment in PARTY (Miller is the author of several popular books on musical theatre and directed a production of PARTY over the summer; sadly, he is a better writer/theorist than director):
But does the soundtrack/cast album monologue have a purpose beyond laughs? Yes, it does. Gay men have taken Broadway musicals as part of “their” culture. Many gay men love the escapism, the extreme expressions of emotion (both good and bad), the songs about lost love, about not belonging, the molding of the world into a stylish place where most folks end up Happily Ever After. Many gay men carry as a badge of honor their knowledge of show tunes. So Ray sees Andy’s conflation of soundtracks and cast albums as a ghastly error, the equivalent of a straight man talking about scoring touchdowns in a baseball game. And it’s funny to a gay audience precisely because they see that equivalency. But the humor comes not just from Ray’s over-reaction to Andy’s ignorance but also from the gay community’s fierce possessiveness over the Broadway musical. It’s a moment both comical and anthropological.
Will: They don't give out awards for helping people be gay... unless you count the Tonys.
"I guarantee that we'll have tough
times. I guarantee that at some point
one or both of us will want to get out.
But I also guarantee that if I don't
ask you to be mine, I'll regret it for
the rest of my life..."
