Review: TO MY GIRLS at New Conservatory Theatre Center

JC Lee’s 2022 To My Girls continues the tradition of a group of gay guys getting together to trade snarky barbs, renew friendships and uncover hidden grudges. First seen in 1968’s Boys in the Band with its often-dark depiction of gay life, through 1989’s heartbreaking Longtime Companion, to 2000’s Broken Hearts Club, To My Girls is the millennial’s version replacing pot and AIDS with blender drinks and drag lip synching.

The sold-out opening night audience of younger gay men got all the references, music cues and roared their approval. The guy next to me said he ‘knew all the characters’ – I felt like stranger. JC Lee certainly knows his target demographic and plays to it with rapid-fire dialogue ala The Golden Girls, hunky guys in thong underwear and campy drag. Stripping away the millennial references, the storylines take on the more serious artifacts of gay life that seem like universal constants – infidelity, low self-esteem, unrequited love, and the meaning of longtime friendships.

Set in Matt Owen’s perfectly dressed Palm Spring mid-century modern Airbnb, we meet each of the friends who try to rise over the stereotypes they represent. There’s the effeminate, over-emotional ‘girl,’ the sleazy ‘steal your boyfriend’ guy, and the wise African American cipher suffering the stings of racism. JC Lee is a fine writer and there’s plenty of funny lines, some lost when the actors speak over them. Louel Seńores is a hoot as Castor and carries the bulk of the comedy. Tom Reardon has a juicy role as Bernie, the gay Trump loving Airbnb owner.

To My Girls is a well-written lightweight comedy. It flirts with its more serious issues, and all is resolved with a big drag finale.