Messy White Gays
Written by Drew Droege
Directed by Mike Donahue
The Duke on 42nd Street
Nov. 2 – Jan. 11, 2026
In the spring of 2023, I wrote an essay for The G&LR titled “Considering a Place in Fiction for Badly Behaved Queers,” in which I decried the sanctified representation of the gay community, our portrayals relegated to either sainthood or martyrdom. Thankfully, the need to complain has abated as Drew Droege has courageously and cleverly delivered the most hilariously unlikable group of gay men since the notorious April 2024 Log Cabin Republican fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago led by Melania Trump.
Inspired by Alfred Hitchcock’s 1948 feature, Rope, Droege’s Messy White Gays imagines a Hell’s Kitchen brunch during which the hosts must hide the body of their throuple partner in a Jonathan Adler credenza. You see, they murdered him moments earlier. The homicidal couple is Brecken (played with a seductive self-adoration by James Cusati-Moyer) and Caden (a neurotic, frenzied Aaron Jackson). Their dead boyfriend, Monty, is portrayed by a dummy that manages the same level of necrotic method acting as Terry Kiser, who played the dead title character in Weekend at Bernie’s. The guests are Thacker (an interminably exasperated Pete Zias) and Addison (the adonis-like Derek Chadwick), as well as their intrusive, nosy neighbor Karl (portrayed by the acerbic playwright himself, Droege). Not enough can be said about the chemistry of the cast. They volley dirty jokes, contemptuous glances, and slapstick physical interactions with dynamic ease.
That Brecken and Caden’s motive for killing Monty is that he was dull, aimless, and passionless (or just plain “medium”) is itself a sharp commentary on the obsession with status among big-city gay men. The boring are expendable.
Droege, who voices Deirdre, Adrian, Donovan, and Eve on Bob’s Burgers, has impersonated Chloe Sevigny since 2002, and appeared in Luca Guadagnino’s 2024 film Queer, has written a painfully funny, mercilessly savage satire that pulls no punches. Identity politics, narcissism, materialism, white privilege, and superficiality are among the primary targets. Gay white men have been criticized in recent years for hiding behind their protected identities while doling out racist, transphobic, sexist, and classist sentiments and, in some cases, policies. Those who do check the boxes of exclaiming their support of Obama or Mamdani or BLM sometimes do so with an air of very vocal self-satisfaction. Don’t worry, they’re in Droege’s crosshairs, too!
The material is in absurdist conversation with The Boys in the Band, Angels in America, The Normal Heart, and The Inheritance. But Droege goes one step further. He takes a scalpel to the archetypes, tropes, and legacy of gay history and culture with a precarious mix of affection and criticism. That said, nothing is sacred in Messy White Gays, as targets include Maya Angelou, Marilyn Monroe, Lisa Rinna, Lea Michele, brunch, Smucker’s jams and jellies, and neoliberalism. Without ever being too on-the-nose about it, Messy White Gays captures the terrible state of the world, especially the America of 2025. “Everybody’s on drugs if they’re outside, honey, I mean you have to be!”
Much of what gives Messy White Gays its zing, authenticity, and cultural value are Droege’s references. He cites everything from Gay NYC landmarks like Julius, Boxers, and Monster to celebrities like Audra McDonald, Marie Condo, and Jean Smart, occasionally name-dropping activists like Larry Kramer or Jane Elliott. Of course, Death Becomes Her, Kylie Minogue, and Showgirls get their nods, as well. The wit is in surplus but so are the admissions. It is less a cynical, nihilistic work than it is a work about cynicism and nihilism. These characters are staring into the void and all they see are themselves. Early in the play, a character exclaims: “Nothing is real, nothing is happening, everything is over.” Perhaps the void is a broken mirror.
Much of contemporary theater is innocuous because nothing is ever truly wagered. As Brecken says in response to an argument about Black Trans Lives Matter, “It’s not a conversation if we all agree!” With Messy White Gays, Droege and company leave it all on the stage. Blood—and coke and pills and rosé and vomit—is spilled. The unsayable is said. The cringe factor is continually dialed up. This is what makes the show exhilarating. It’s dangerous, but Droege skips across the tightrope he’s set for himself without ever falling, and all the while with a devilish, knowing smirk.
It’s worth noting that the scenic design by Alexander Dodge is itself a thoughtful art piece that captures the self-aggrandizement and vapidity of the characters. The apartment is palatial, with full-wall windows looking down on Central Park. This could just as well be the home of American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman. The direction by Mike Donahue keeps the provocative material and its morally dubious characters zipping along at a ferocious pace. There is even a fun visual nod to one of Hitchcock’s other (arguably more popular) films. If you are a gay white man, Messy White Gays may hurt, but I guarantee that you will be laughing through the pain.
Brian Alessandro co-edited Fever Spores: The Queer Reclamation of William S. Burroughs (Rebel Satori Press).
