More Boys in the Band! My Book of Rannells posts have taken me around to the Broadway revival production’s point in Andrew Rannells’s career, so I’m revisiting the stage show today. Even though Larry is a supporting role and he can definitely get lost in the shuffle at times with what’s going on onstage, he’s a great character, and I love what Rannells does with him (Larry-related spoilers.)
A pop artist, Larry has taken up with Hank, a schoolteacher who’s a little older and has heretofore been living a “straight” life with a wife and kids. Since then, Hank pulled a Marvin in Falsettos and, while still in the process of divorcing, moved in with Larry. This makes them the only couple in the show, an interesting distinction when Larry, more than any other character, is noted for his casual hook-ups.
Obviously, this is a sticking point between the two, and Hank makes numerous, pointed remarks about Larry sleeping around, cheating on him, and so forth. Larry makes no bones about the fact that he sleeps with lots of guys and doesn’t plan to stop, and as Hank continues to needle him about it, Larry all but weaponizes that part of himself, making a show of cozying up to Donald in front of Hank. As Larry later explains, he doesn’t ultimately want to rub his “sluttiness” in Hank’s face. What he wants is to keep being Hank’s boyfriend, to keep living with him, even to love him, but he also wants to continue hooking up with other guys on the side: discreetly, not sneaking around but not parading it in front of Hank’s face like he’s done tonight. But, since Larry needs a long night of passive-aggressive remarks on both sides and a big push before he can come out and say all that, he parades. He shows off how much he’s enjoying himself, and if he wants to dance or cuddle and Hank rebuffs him, he goes straight to another party guest.
Part of this, clearly, is to be mean, to be spiteful. Larry is frustrated with Hank’s accusations and insinuations about him, as well as Hank’s attempts to “fix” things by pushing for the “compromise” of a three-way that neither actually wants (as Larry states, “I’m old-fashioned – I like ‘em all, but I like ‘em one at a time.”) He resents Hank trying to “manage” him, and so he acts out. Because, like all of the characters in the show, Larry can be juvenile in the way he lashes out at others, even – or perhaps especially – those he cares about.
There’s more fueling Larry’s pointed flirtations, though. Part of it is his reaction to how Hank deals with his insecurities, but another part stems from Larry’s own insecurities. Despite the cavalier attitude he projects most of the night, it’s clear that he wants to be assured of Hank’s feelings for him, just as Hank wants from him. It bothers Larry that Hank can fall so easily into “playing straight” for Alan’s sake, just as it worries him (not that he’ll admit it) to see Alan’s attentions to Hank.
In general, Hank is the more emotionally-mature one in the relationship, although he’s not above a little game-playing as well. But Larry spends a good part of the night playing emotional chicken with his boyfriend, making like he doesn’t care when he absolutely does, a fact that comes out involuntarily every time he feels threatened about his place in Hank’s life: making little digs about Alan, demanding to know who Hank is calling in the Affairs of the Heart “game.” When Larry realizes what’s really going on – that Hank is calling him, that he’s the one Hank loves most – it hits him like a freight train.
That’s when Larry can finally drop the pretenses and the sniping, and he can say what he wants. You can buy it or not as a valid way to move forward with a relationship – I’m sure some will argue that Larry just wants to have his cake and eat it too, at Hank’s expense – but for me, I don’t doubt that Larry feels the truth of what he’s saying. Maybe he’s polyamorous, maybe he’s just not into monogamy, but when he lays it out, I get that, to him, having sex with other guys is a separate thing that he doesn’t feel diminishes what he has with Hank, that he doesn’t want to hurt Hank but doesn’t think he has what it takes to be in a relationship without it.
It was such a pleasure to watch Rannells as this character. In his hands, Larry is often breezy and fun-loving (sometimes genuinely, sometimes feignedly to stick it to Hank,) and he exudes energy and life onstage. Just as often, though, Larry is mean and passive-aggressive, and Rannells allows it to be as bad as it is while still showing the hints of where it’s coming from. And, at last, Larry is open and honest, not apologizing for who he is but not trying to rankle Hank anymore. In the midst of a “game” that’s all about exposing and exploiting people’s emotional vulnerabilities, Larry (as well as Hank) puts it on the line and, in laying himself bare, ultimately plays for keeps.
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