In Messy White Gays, Drew Droege—the sharp-penned and quick-witted diarist of the contemporary homosexual—shines a harsh overhead light on the pores of White Gaydom, revealing what happens when throuples crumble, neighbors bicker, and rich and pretty clash with hot and dumb. It’s Sunday morning in Hell’s Kitchen. Brecken and Caden have just murdered their boyfriend and stuffed his body into a Jonathan Adler credenza. Unfortunately, they’ve also invited friends over for brunch. And they’re out of limes! Feel bad for them! They’re MESSY WHITE GAYS!
But deeper questioning and nuanced ambiguities aren’t really what Messy White Gays is about. Droege—famed for his impersonations of Chloë Sevigny—is a formidable joke writer, and in previous shows like Bright Colors and Bold Patterns and Happy Birthday Doug, his well-crafted volleys of insults, jokes, and gay-cultural observation were leavened with character evolution and observation. Messy White Gays is a different proposition—more a high-voltage, extended comedy sketch than fully realized play. The gags come…well…thick and fast. “There’s a problem.” “What? Is Lisa Rinna back in the cast of Chicago?” You may laugh, you may gasp (particularly at the literally blowout finale), and Messy White Gays may also make you want to stay in for the rest of your lives.
Droege could have penned a compelling autopsy report on contemporary gay male culture or a conduit for intermittently creative, pop culture-based barbs, and this play is the latter. It’s a massive disappointment, as Droege is a capable writer on a line-to-line level, with a decent vantage point about 30something gay people’s vices and virtue signaling. The blueprint for these men’s tiny, self-indulgent worldviews — where actresses, drug dealers, and tea dances dominate and people of color are a blip — is there. But Messy White Gays appears to have little interest in teasing out these privileges beyond shrill squabbling.
| 2025 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
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