THE CHAT: MART CROWLEY & JOHN EPPERSON, PART ONE

In this latest iteration of sessumsMagazine.com’s THE CHAT series, The Boys in the Band playwright Mart Crowley talks to pianist and author and actor and self-described surrealist John Epperson (AKA Lypsinka) about their shared Mississippi heritage and love of show biz lore.  Mart shares stores about playing charades with Judy Garland and writing a television pilot for Bette Davis. He also tells us the differences between The Boys in the Band having premiered fifty years ago before the Stonewall Riots and its finally having its Broadway premiere in 2018 in a world that emerged from the worst of the AIDS crisis – five of the original cast members died of AIDS as did the play’s original director and producer and stage manager – to welcome this play as part of the country’s cultural legacy and not just a cultural touchstone for its gay citizens.