Ryan Murphy is using all of his Netflix money to turn the streaming service into, basically, the 2018–2019 Broadway season. On Instagram, Murphy announced plans to adapt the recent Broadway production of The Boys in the Band, which he produced, for the streaming service as a “Netflix movie event.†The revival of Mart Crowley’s seminal 1968 play, about a gay man’s birthday party that turns sour, starred a cast of openly gay actors, including Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Andrew Rannells, Matt Bomer, and Charlie Carver, who will all return for the film version. Joe Mantello, who directed the Broadway production, will return for the film as well. Murphy is producing the film with David Stone and Ned Martel, and it will premiere on Netflix in 2020.
This is the second Broadway production from this season that Murphy has announced plans to adapt, as he’s also filming a version of the musical The Prom for Netflix. Both announcements are signs of Netflix’s growing closeness to the Broadway theater industry. It recently released a filmed version of Springsteen on Broadway and is adapting this season’s Kerry Washington play American Son. They’re also both boons to each production’s Tony campaign, as The Prom is a likely competitor for Best Musical, while The Boys in the Band, which premiered last summer but is eligible for contention this season, could use the help to land nominations in a play-heavy season full of productions that are still running.