The Boys in the Band

The play is set in an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and the backgrounds of characters are revealed in the course of a birthday party. During the party, the humor takes a nasty turn, as the nine men become increasingly inebriated. The party culminates in a “game”, where each man must call someone who he has loved and tell them about it. Michael, believing that Alan has finally “outed” himself when he makes his call, grabs the phone from him and discovers Alan has called his wife. The audience never learns what Alan intended to discuss with Michael in the end.