Are Gay Audiences Abandoning Broadway?

In what must be the ultimate nightmare for producers and everyone else in the theater business, some commentators are now wondering if gay audiences are abandoning Broadway.

According to a recent article in The Variety, the premature closing of Douglas Carter Beane's gay-themed "The Little Dog Laughed" suggests that the gay theater-going crowd is suddenly missing in action.

After a row of gay themed successes like "Bent" (1979), "Torch Song Trilogy" (1982), "M. Butterfly" (1988), "Angels in America" (1993), "Love! Valour! Compassion!" (1995) and "The History Boys", it appears the so-called gay play on Broadway has gone the way of lawyer dramas and frothy sex comedies, and been usurped by television. This is thanks not only to "Will & Grace" but more important, the constant homophilic output of Bravo, Logo, Showtime and even HBO and IFC with their airing of films like "Brokeback Mountain" and "The Celluloid Closet," respectively.

"I thought a comedy would be a big draw," says Susan Dietz, a lead producer on "Little Dog." "When we first started marketing, we called it the funniest show in town."

"Maybe I don't know the gay audience as well as I thought," says the show's publicist, Richard Kornberg. "Gays appear to be more supportive of a camp figure like Edie Beale than actual gay characters," he adds, referring to the new Broadway musical "Grey Gardens," known among Rialto wags as "Gay Gardens."