'Messy White Gays' Off-Broadway review — a purely silly slayfest

Read our review of Messy White Gays off Broadway, a new satire play written by and starring comedian Drew Droege at the Duke on 42nd Street.

Summary

• Messy White Gays is about two men who commit a murder just before having friends over for brunch
• The show is a satire that leans on pop culture-inspired punchlines and insults
• Audiences have praised the show's silly humor
• The show is recommended for fans of playwright/star Drew Droege and of Alfred Hitchcock's Rope

According to 2020 census data, the Theatre District-adjacent neighborhood Hell’s Kitchen is 52.8% white. Once home to lower-income Irish and Puerto Rican working-class families, the area is now flush with neon-signed bars with $25 cocktails and stores with $80 swim briefs. The gayborhood has transformed from safe haven for queer people to, arguably, insular playground for the wealthy and their worst impulses.

This narrow-mindedness of a particular set of gay men appears to be the target of comedian Drew Droege’s Messy White Gays. The characters carry bedazzled Stanley cups, compulsively snort cocaine, remember events only by the fancy food they ate, and pay $4,000 for a tacky Jonathan Adler credenza they later stash a corpse in. They are collectively egotistical enough that murder barely registers. Droege riffs on Alfred Hitchcock’s classic suspense film Rope — about two men who commit the perfect murder, hide the body in a trunk, and throw a dinner party — but does not translate or rework that film’s wicked insight into the perversity of human behavior.

Droege aims for irreverent: The murder victim, the third of Brecken (James Cusati-Moyer) and Caden’s (Aaron Jackson) throuple, is killed because he said he “liked Jean Smart,” not "loved" her. More delusional gay men join the throng under the auspices of brunch, such as uncannily hot Addison (Derek Chadwick), sexually voracious and disheveled Thacker (Pete Zias), and older, cynical queen Karl (Droege). The playwright has them hurl insults breathlessly, repetitively, exhaustingly, more for their own sake than to flesh out the show’s ideas or characters.

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.

Every so often, there’ll be a line about a character’s ignorance or apathy (particularly towards social justice or politics) that will hint at a more cutting and thoughtful play — one that doesn’t, unlike its characters, seem to employ the language of identity politics primarily as conversational one-upping. Not more serious per se, but more focused.

Messy White Gays namechecks Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band, another show about gay men lacerating each other at a party. That play supports its catfights with a thorough exploration of the men's anxieties, neuroses, and flaws. While Droege’s play aspires to be a lighter affair, the show at once insists on satirizing affluent, myopic, latently racist gay men but shrinks away from interrogating those ideas more deeply. As a result, the show is nearly as facile as the characters it’s lampooning.

Messy White Gays summary

After murdering their boyfriend, Brecken and Caden forget they’ve invited their friends over for brunch. As they attempt to cover up the killing, their friends confront them over their increasingly strange behavior. The premise of Messy White Gays is inspired by the 1948 Alfred Hitchcock film Rope.

What to expect at Messy White Gays

Alexander Dodge’s scenic design is sleek but detailed. Pill-patterned decor appears throughout the apartment, which keenly includes a giant stainless steel door that gets a couple of good gags on its own. There are several moments where director Mike Donahue seems somewhat at a loss for what to do with certain actors on stage while other exchanges are happening, but at the show’s best, there’s a likable energy and physicality. Everyone gradually finds the borderline palatial home claustrophobic, and it becomes a useful arena for the actors to bounce around.

What audiences are saying about Messy White Gays

As of writing, Messy White Gays has an 80% audience approval rating on the review aggregator Show-Score, with theatregoers praising the show as a hilarious good time.

• “Listen, anything gay/queer on stage; I’m here for it. I enjoyed the show. It was camp. It was cliché, but enjoyable.” - Show-Score user Mandy-Eliakim
• “A fun tie. Drew Droege is a masterful comic actor. I will say the first 15 minutes without Droege’s presence does drag a bit, and much more of the humor this time feels like ‘gay bar’ humor.” - Show-Score user BwayBaby says
• “The show was fast paced and clever.” - Show-Score user Milton S

Read more audience reviews of Messy White Gays on Show-Score.

Who should see Messy White Gays

• Fans of Drew Droege’s viral videos impersonating Chloë Sevigny should check out his very pop culture-literate script.
• Fans of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope will be interested to see how Droege reinvents the premise
• Audiences who loved James Cusati-Moyer in Slave Play will appreciate his comic chops here.

Learn more about Messy White Gays

Despite the provocation of the title, Messy White Gays’s lack of sharp focus makes the show live up to its name in a disappointing way.

Learn more and get Messy White Gays tickets on New York Theatre Guide. Messy White Gays is at the Duke at 42nd Street through January 11.

Photo credit: Messy White Gays off Broadway. (Photos by Marc J. Franklin)