Naked Boys Stopped From Singing in Atlanta
By Andrew Gans
December 13, 2004
A production of Naked Boys Singing, the long-running Off-Broadway revue celebrating male nudity, was shut down Dec. 11 in Atlanta.The Associated Press reports that police closed The Armory Bar in midtown Atlanta after watching part of the 8 PM show. Police claimed the show was adult entertainment, not theatre, and the bar did not have an adult entertainment license.
Doug Youngblood, who manages the bar, said police overreacted to the show, which has been running at The Armory since August. Police spokesperson John Quigley told AP, “You have to investigate, and if what you’re seeing may be considered adult entertainment, I suppose they feel it needs to be shut down.”
The bar was allowed to reopen later that night, although the 10 PM performance of Naked Boys Singing was canceled.
Naked Boys Singing!’s original 16-song score includes such numbers as “Fight the Urge,” “The Bliss of a Bris,” “Muscle Addiction,” “Nothing But the Radio On,” “Members Only” and “Window to Window.” The musical comedy revue opened in New York July 22, 1999, after a successful run at the Celebration Theatre in Los Angeles. The show’s contributing writers are Stephen Bates, Marie Cain, Shelly Markham, Jim Morgan, David Pevsner, Rayme Sciaroni, Mark Savage, Ben Schaechter, Robert Schrock, Mark Winkler and Bruce Vilanch. Schrock directed with choreography by Jeffry Denman (The Producers) and musical direction by Stephen Bates, who died in 2003. The musical revue now plays Theatre 4, 424 West 55th Street.
