It's Raining Naked Men Off-Broadway--Well Some

A scene from 'Afterglow'

The Daily Beast reports:

There’s a lot of exposed flesh on theater stages, a lot of it belonging to men, whether in shows with humor like ‘Naked Boys Singing’ or the more dramatic ‘Afterglow.’

Of course, this is nothing new: on Broadway, 'The Full Monty' in 2000, 'Take Me Out' in 2003, and the equal-opportunity nude scene in 'Hair,' last revived in 2009, all come to mind. But recent seasons have seen a surge of skin, from Tony contenders to off-off-Broadway. And with a few exceptions, including Emilia Clarke in 2013’s 'Breakfast at Tiffany’s,' most of it has belonged to men.

“Women have literally been objectified for centuries, so I think it’s nice to see the roles reversed,” says Tom D’Angora, longtime producer and one-time performer of 'Naked Boys Singing,' the off-Broadway revue very much true to its title. Given the immediacy and intimacy of theatre, the sort of female nudity we’ve grown inoculated to watching on screen would feel exponentially more charged and exploitative — too much like the strip clubs you can visit down the block. “I just don’t think any civilized human being would want to see [Naked Girls Singing],” D’Angora says.

Read full story here. 

The New York Times review of 'Afterglow' reads:

The twist in S. Asher Gelman’s new play, 'Afterglow,' is that Josh’s husband is in on the affair. Indeed, the show begins with the sounds of a three-way simultaneous orgasm. Never mind the feat of synchronization; rather, we are meant to admire how casual the participants are about the situation. The husbands Josh (Brandon Haagenson) and Alex (Robbie Simpson) are proudly polyamorous, and Darius (Patrick Reilly) is only the latest guest to grace their bed. (The frequent nudity is so willfully carefree that it ends up looking forced.)

This time, however, the arrangement goes awry when Josh and Darius develop a bond more dangerous than sex, and a twosome cleaves out of the threesome.

Read the full NYT's review here.