Romeo and Julian

The guys had just settled themselves in front of their fake fireplace. Brian had something to say.

“You know what, JT,” he began. “I think we need a moratorium on all the Shakespeare stuff – like maybe five years or so – at least - but I’d maybe settle for a moratorium on just the Romeo and Juliet stuff. What do you think?”

“Gee whiz, Brian,” Justin protested. “It wasn’t my fault that Malcolm put on this play – and we like – always go to his stuff – so we went – and if he does more Shakespeare – and anyhow, this wasn’t even real Shakespeare. It just had the Romeo and Juliet theme but…..”

“You could convince Malcolm not to do any of that crap for a while,” Brian pointed out. “Five years is not that long….”

“We had to go, Brian. You know that. Hunter had a pretty big role – and he did real well too – and it was the first time in a long time we went anywhere with Ben and Mikey – and they really wanted us to come with them,” Justin reasoned. “I think you’re just mad because your most unfavorite playwright in the whole world, good old Hix, helped with the adaptation….”

“Misery loves company, Baby. Ben and Mikey just wanted to share their misery – and who better to share with than us – their good friends,” Brian had to laugh. “And I guess it didn’t help that Hix was there this afternoon, Taylor - and he even pretended like we were friends – he fooled Jason and Brandon who don’t know the history – and what a pain that Hix can be - and by the way, Brandon was bored stiff – that’s what he told me. And that stupid Hix took like – all the credit for the whole show too….”

“Well actually you must have agreed with him, Bri. He thought the play was good and took the credit. You thought the play stunk – and you assigned all the blame to poor Hix,” Justin remembered. “Hix just pointed out that the show got good reviews though. That’s really all he said. And he wasn’t lying either. The Post-Gazette review was very good and….”

“They pay those drama critics to like stuff,” Brian told him, “especially the weird stuff - and the weirder the stuff is, the better they like it.”

“I’m not saying I completely agree with you, Kinney,” Justin laughed, “but I’ll have to admit that this play was a little bit on the weird side all right.”

“So we can have a five year moratorium then?” Brian concluded. “Starting now?”

“Well,” Justin wondered. “You like the movie version of West Side Story a lot, Mr. Kinney. Do you want to not see that for five years? And you like to listen to the Tschaikovsky and Prokofieff Romeo and Juliet music too. No more of them – for five years?”

“Well there could – maybe - be some exceptions to the moratorium,” Brian allowed. “On like – very special occasions….”

“Well I don’t see any objection to a moratorium then, Sweetheart,” Justin accepted the moratorium proposal as amended. “As long as there could be special exceptions for like – very special occasions....”

“You know what - I get the feeling that you’re trying to pull something, Baby,” Brian accused the twink on his right – while ever so slightly tightening his grip on the kid.

“No I’m not either,” Justin declared as he moved closer to Brian – thus bringing the conversation to a lengthy pause. Whether Justin’s denial was the complete truth could well have been debatable but Brian – for whatever reason - did not choose to debate it.

“So who got the dumb idea to move Romeo and Juliet to modern times anyhow – and to Pittsburgh – and do it as a gay story yet?” Brian unexpectedly returned to the subject Justin thought was already concluded. “That’s the weirdest part. Romeo and Julian indeed. Gay guys in Pittsburgh doing the Romeo and Juliet thing. You know that’s actually funny – in a dumb way…..”

“Well why couldn’t the same thing that happened to Romeo and Juliet in Italy happen to gay guys in Pittsburgh?” Justin returned a question of his own. “It’s kind of a universal theme. Could happen like – any time and anywhere. That’s why people want to keep doing the story – in lots of different ways – like West Side Story did – and now Romeo and Julian.….”

“I just think gay guys are too smart these days to get themselves into that kind of a situation, Baby,” Brian assured him. “Don’t you? It couldn’t happen to us for instance….”

“Well we’re too smart for any such stuff, Brian,” Justin smilingly agreed. “That’s for sure. But it could like – happen anyhow – like maybe even Brandon and Jason….”

“OK,” Brian laughed. “Maybe you’ve got a point there. Jason is good kid – but pretty clueless sometimes. He just might hatch a plan….”

“And Brandon lets his emotions get in the way of his good sense too,” Justin pointed out. “They’re not nearly as sensible as we are…..”

“Like – who is?” Brian agreed – and then adjusted the course of the conversation to what he thought was a safer area. “So who actually thought up this mess of a play, Kiddo?”

“Well I think it was mostly Malcolm and Hix, Bri,” Justin recalled. “About two years ago, I guess. They asked me about it then – and I told them that maybe the idea was worth looking at …...”

“So like – you’re partially responsible for this debacle too, Justin Taylor?” Brian grinned. “You ….”

“Wait a minute, BK,” Justin reminded him with a grin on his face too. “If I get any part of the blame for Romeo and Julian, then you can’t blame the whole thing on Hix. You gotta take any blame you throw on me away from Hix. There’s like – only 100% of the blame to pass around. . …”

“There you go again, Taylor,” Brian laughed, “Always ruining my fun – or at least trying to….”

“Sorry, Kinney,” Justin laughed back at him, “But – you know - there were a lot of gays in the audience today – and most of them seemed to like the show – and Malcolm has already been contacted about a possible off-Broadway production – so maybe….”

“Well if they’re gonna take this thing to New York,” Brian proposed, “Maybe they ought to make the ending just a little clearer. Like in Romeo and Juliet there was no question that they were dead at the end. You actually saw the bodies. The ending of this was a bit muddled. Since you don’t actually see the bodies, some dopes in the audience might even think that Romeo and Julian are not dead at the end – that they got away and are even like – living happily ever after….”

“That’s also the modern way of doing things,” Justin reminded him. “They think they’re making the audience think. Intellectual stuff, Brian. Look at all the new movies where the ending is ambiguous and you’re not all that sure what happened – and the big TV successes too. Robert says he thinks that real popular porno series he’s doing on cable – at the end the audience is not gonna know for sure if the big couple are still together or not. One of them’s gonna leave for New York. That’s still a few years down the road – but Robert is pretty sure about the ending – and he’s good friends with the writers – and that’s what they’re gonna do. It’s supposed to be artistic. The loyal fans who identify with the couple – and stuck with them through six or seven seasons - will be furious but the producers won’t care. The series will be over by then - so they can be as artistic as they want to be….”

“Well it’s not quite that bad with Romeo and Julian, Babe,” Brian pointed out. “It’s muddled up some – and you ought to advise Malcolm to be a little more definitive - but I don’t think anybody would actually get the wrong idea about the ending….”

“Hey, Brian,” Justin told him. “Maybe Brandon was bored stiff today – but Jason liked it a lot – and he especially liked the happy ending he thought he saw….”

“I forgot about Jason. Happy ending, eh? Well I missed that,” Brian laughed. “Maybe I should see it again….”

”Wanna go back, Bri,” Justin joked. “We could. It plays again next week-end before it closes….”

“Nope,” Brian laughed. “I don’t think so. Once is enough….”

“Not for everything,” Justin told him as he snuggled closer to Brian. “Once is not nearly enough for some things….”

And Brian seemed to agree on that particular point – which was no surprise to either of them. Brian and Justin did not play to ambiguous endings.

 

Return to Fireside Chats