Love! Valour! Compassion! is a Broadway play and film by Terrence McNally about eight well-heeled gay men who gather for three summer weekends at a lakeside New York farmhouse to relax, reflect and plan for survival in an era plagued by AIDS. Directed by Joe Mantello, it premiered off-Broadway in 1995 in New York City, moved to Broadway, and was filmed in 1997. The 1997 filmThe play was later made into a 1997 film which reprised the original cast, with the exception of a character played by Nathan Lane (who was busy with a role in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at the time). Seinfeld star Jason Alexander stepped in to play his role, a character named "Buzz". Aside from changing marginal cultural references, the movie script made many other changes as well, making cuts throughout (like most film adaptations) and eliminating almost all direct addresses to the audience and the conclusion of one of the subplots. This remains the only theatrical film that Joe Mantello has directed. Awards
PublicationMcNally, Terrence. Love! Valor! Compassion! and A Perfect Ganesh. Plume, 1997. 272 pp. ISBN 0452279305 | ||||||||||||
