By Matthew Wexler
I once interviewed the iconic interior designer Jonathan Adler, who told me, “If your heirs won’t fight over it, we won’t make it.” Little did he know that his gorgeous geometric credenza would become a temporary coffin in an Off-Broadway play. Enter Messy White Gays, which, for better or worse, lives up to its name.
Drew Droege’s campy satire of gay culture welcomes audiences into the well-appointed (or, as Droege describes, “hatefully-rich”) high-rise apartment of Brecken (James Cusati-Moyer) and Caden (Aaron Jackson), moments after they’ve murdered their throuple outlier, Monty. But what to do with the body? And what about the queens from last night that they invited over for brunch?
Arrivals include the scene-stealing Pete Zias as Thacker, a delusional Labubu-toting sloppy bottom/struggling actor, and the dim-witted Addison (Derek Chadwick), who’s just looking for an outlet to charge his phone. The high stakes catapult the play’s first 10 minutes, but eventually diminish like a Sniifies trick gone awry.
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Droege, also an actor known for his compelling solo works, Happy Birthday Doug and Bright Colors and Bold Patterns, arrives as the Gen X neighbor from downstairs keen to buy the credenza Monty had advertised on Facebook Marketplace. Light in the loafers but heavy on the insults, he sticks around to dismantle the generational privilege of the tweaked-out gays that live above him.
Alexander Dodge’s scenic design evokes what we might find inside the luxury condo 432 Park Avenue, replete with Central Park views (and a nod to malfunctioning elevators). Still, the characters’ references reduce gay culture to a monolith. “We’re all the same person,” quips Thacker, later repurposing his own joke, “Everybody’s on drugs if they’re outside, honey, I mean you have to be.”
In the world of Messy White Gays, he’s right. Droege’s script rattles off dozens of Hell’s Kitchen gay venues, some of which will sadly be out of date even before the show closes. The excessive insider perspective may leave some queer theatergoers wishing they’d stayed home. Or at least checked Facebook Marketplace for a better deal.
It wants better content.
Fast facts: ‘Messy White Gays’
Messy White Gays delivers laughs early but loses steam faster than a Sniffies hookup gone wrong.
- The Duke on 42nd Street, 229 West 42nd St., New York City
- 80 minutes, no intermission
- Performances through January 11, 2026
