By Bart Greenberg***Back in the early 1970s in the wake of the Stonewall uprising and the emerging awareness of the gay rights movement, a strange genre of screwball comedies emerged. These featured gay characters and presumed gay characters, as well as phony gay characters, both on Broadway (All the Girls Came Out to Play) and movies (The Gay Deceivers)—and even one that flopped on Broadway and in the movies (Norman, Is That You?, which transformed from being about a Jewish family with a gay son to being about a Black family with a gay son. What these works had in common, besides not being terribly funny, were 
that they all viewed their gay people from a decidedly hetero perspective. Now, a new entry in this style has surprisingly popped up for Pride month at The Laurie Beechman Theatre: True Confessions of the Straight Man.
Written and directed by Antonia Kasper, the script was originally written as a screenplay in 1997 and revised for the stage in 2019. This newest version inserted 1990s songs to suit the cabaret performance space. The origin of the work as a film is reflected as an innumerable number of short scenes, most ending in a non-punchline blackout; not the best format for a farce that relies upon speed and wisecracks to land it’s humor. And the songs, performed to prerecorded tracks, often in fragments, some as “book” numbers, some as club numbers, some as… just there, for the most part also slowed the action despite most of the cast possessing at least pleasant voices.
In summary, Todd Robinson (Nicholas Schommer) is a generally befuddled fellow still reeling from his last romantic breakup when he encounters a slightly bitter but attractive young woman, Kate Conner (Hannah Coffman). Instantly smitten, our hero decides the best way to woo her is to pretend to be gay (well, it seems a good idea in the moment). Meanwhile, his very macho and multi-tattooed roommate John Bruno (Lawrence Karl) happily brags about his multi-times-a-night sex sessions with his eager girlfriend Adrienne Kowalski (Megan Styrna), a proud resident of Staten Island. Bruno agrees to pose as Todd’s boyfriend (very unconvincingly) to fool Kate. But the stud begins to enjoy the “gay lifestyle” while taking cooking lessons from the local bookseller/drag queen Fab—short for “fabulous”—played by the energetic Scott Kall. Elise Ramaekers and Joe Diez fill in as a variety of characters. Of course, the wrong people keep running into each other in a variety of locations, causing more misunderstandings, confusion and unexpected alliances.
The attractive cast certainly gave their all in terms of energy and commitment to the script and the characters, finding a depth to these people that isn’t there in the writing. Karl and Styrna especially display a flair for over-the-top comedy that still somehow stays rooted in reality. Their commitment is admirable, even in the situations that strain credibility. Schommer (who possesses a fine voice indeed) and Coffman do what they can with their more downbeat roles, although the latter does get to expose some sexuality in the program. Kasper, as director, keeps the energy up within individual scenes, moving her characters around the stage and allowing the action to overflow into the audience on many occasions; unfortunately, she hasn’t found an overarching comedy pace that this kind of absurd nonsense needs to succeed.
The 90 minute show, presented without intermission, returns on June 24th and 29th to the Laurie Beechman Theatre, 407 W. 42nd St, NYC. Tickets can be purchased via Westbankcafe.com or via Ovation Tix at 212-352-0255. There is also a $25 per person food/beverage minimum.
