''Love! Valour! Compassion!'' is a play by Terrence McNally. The play opened

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer th ...

in 1994 and transferred to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in 1995. It won the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

for Best Play and the

Drama Desk Award The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. F ...

for Outstanding Play.

Productions

''Love! Valour! Compassion!'' premiered Off-Broadway at the

Manhattan Theatre Club Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has ...

on October 11, 1994, running for 72 performances. The production transferred to Broadway to the

Walter Kerr Theatre The Walter Kerr Theatre, previously the Ritz Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 219 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. The theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp and was constructed for the Shub ...

on February 14, 1995, and closed on September 17, 1995, after 248 performances and 28 previews. Directed by

Joe Mantello Joseph Mantello (born December 27, 1962) is an American actor and director known for his work on Broadway productions of ''Wicked'', '' Take Me Out'', and '' Assassins'', having gained notoriety in the 1993 cast of ''Angels in America''. Early l ...

, the cast featured

Nathan Lane Nathan Lane (born Joseph Lane; February 3, 1956) is an American actor. In a career spanning over 40 years he has been seen on stage and screen in roles both comedic and dramatic. Lane has received numerous awards including three Tony Awards, ...

(Buzz Hauser), John Glover (John and James Jeckyll), Stephen Bogardus (Gregory Mitchell),

John Benjamin Hickey John Benjamin Hickey (born June 25, 1963) is an American actor with a career in stage, film and television. He won the 2011 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Felix Turner in ''The Normal Heart'' ...

(Arthur Pape),

Anthony Heald Philip Anthony Mair Heald (born August 25, 1944) is an American character actor known for portraying Hannibal Lecter's jailer, Dr. Frederick Chilton, in '' The Silence of the Lambs'' and '' Red Dragon'', and for playing assistant principal Sco ...

(Perry Sellars),

Justin Kirk Justin Kirk (born May 28, 1969) is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Prior Walter in Mike Nichols's screen adaptation of ''Angels in America'', for which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting A ...

(Bobby), and Randy Becker (Ramon Fornos). The play was produced and directed by Stephen Henry at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and won The Stage Awards for Best Actor (Chris Pickles) and Best Ensemble. This production then ran in London at the Tristan Bates Theatre in October 1998.

Plot

The setting is at a lakeside summer vacation house in

Dutchess County Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later or ...

, two hours north of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

where eight gay friends spend the three major holiday weekends of one summer together for

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Many ...

, and

Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...

. The house belongs to Gregory, a successful Broadway

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who c ...

now approaching middle age, who fears he is losing his creativity; and his twenty-something lover, Bobby, a

legal assistant A paralegal, also known as a legal assistant, or paralegal specialist is a professional who performs tasks that require knowledge of legal concepts but not the full expertise of a lawyer with a license to practice law. The market for paralegals ...

who is blind. Each of the guests at their house is connected to Gregory’s work in one way or another – Arthur and longtime partner Perry are business consultants; John Jeckyll, a sour Englishman, is a dance accompanist; die-hard

musical theater Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

fanatic FANatic is an American TV show created by Ed Connolly and produced by Executive Producers Deborah Norton and Ed Connolly of Norton Connolly Productions, that was shown on the MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an Am ...

Buzz Hauser is a

costume designer A costume designer is a person who designs costumes for a film, stage production or television show. The role of the costume designer is to create the characters' outfits or costumes and balance the scenes with texture and colour, etc. The costume ...

and the most stereotypically gay man in the group. Only John's summer lover, Ramon, and John's twin brother James are outside the circle of friends. But Ramon is outgoing and eventually makes a place for himself in the group, and James is such a gentle soul that he is quickly welcomed.

Critical response

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who served as the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in ...

, in his review for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', wrote: "...it's utterly contemporary; its one-liners are sometimes hysterical and are slammed home with style, most often by the incomparable

; it has genuine pathos that's only slightly tinged with sentimentality, and, as a singular talking point, it offers more male nudity than has probably ever been seen in a legitimate Broadway theater."Canby, Vincent
"Theater Review: 'Love! Valour! Compassion!'"
''The New York Times'', February 15, 1995

Analysis of characters

Gregory Mitchel

Gregory Mitchell is a middle-aged man celebrated Broadway dancer and choreographer. Now, with most of his career behind him Gregory is struggling with creativity and himself to find the energy for his last work. Gregory hosts Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day at his century-old country home called "Manderlay" for relaxation and some time away from the city. Gregory's main struggles in the play are his love for Bobby, Bobby's betrayal, and his attempt to complete a major piece of choreography for a world premiere in New York. When Christopher Wilson played the role of Gregory Mitchell, it is said he portrayed the character shy and verbally inexpressive.

Buzz Hauser

Buzz, a musical comedy enthusiast, provides the play with some of its most humorous and touching moments. Buzz works making costumes for Gregory's companies and volunteers time at a local AIDS clinic, and he is a great lover of Broadway musicals. Buzz is the type of guy that is always constantly singing a broadway song on the way to work or trying to work in a quote into a conversation. Although he jokes about being bad with relationships and claims to be done with finding love, he eventually falls in love with John's brother, James, who also suffers from AIDS but tragically is in a more advanced stage of the disease.

Bobby Brahms

Bobby is Gregory's boyfriend of four years. He is in his early twenties, which is much younger than Gregory. Despite the age difference, they share gentle demeanors, a passion for music, and a love for the natural surroundings at Gregory's house in the country. Blind since birth, Bobby does not let his handicap deter him, and he resists letting it define him.

James Jeckyll

James is John Jeckyll’s twin brother and Buzz’s lover. James is witty, generous, and self-deprecating and seems to care deeply about everyone he meets. James provides Buzz a final chance at a meaningful relationship, even though it is one that they both know will soon end tragically by AIDS. However, in the brief time they have together, James manages to keep his optimism and give Buzz a new perspective on life.

Film adaptation

In 1997, a film adaptation written by McNally reunited much of the original cast, with

Jason Alexander Jay Scott Greenspan (born September 23, 1959), known professionally as Jason Alexander, is an American actor, comedian, host and director. An Emmy and Tony winner, he is best known for his role as George Costanza in the television series '' ...

and

Stephen Spinella Stephen Spinella (born October 11, 1956) is an American stage, television, and film actor. Early life Spinella was born in Naples, Italy, to a father who was an American naval airplane mechanic. He grew up in Glendale, Arizona, and graduated fr ...

replacing Nathan Lane and Anthony Heald.

Original Broadway production

References

External links

* * * {{Navboxes , title = Awards for ''Love! Valour! Compassion!'' , list = {{DramaDesk Play 1975–2000 {{OBIE Plays {{TonyAwardBestPlay 1976-2000 1994 plays HIV/AIDS in theatre Broadway plays Drama Desk Award-winning plays LGBT-related plays Plays by Terrence McNally Tony Award-winning plays Obie Award-winning plays New York (state) in fiction American plays adapted into films