Details continue to be revealed about "the silent closet," the predicament of gay silent-film stars who were forced to live double lives. George Barthel's Through a Naked Lens may be the first play about this issue, telling the little-known but engrossing story (partially fictionalized) of the doomed love affair between silent film star Ramón Novarro and Photoplay Magazine ace reporter Herbert Howe.
The Mexican-born Novarro is best remembered for his title role in the 1925 film version of Ben-Hur and as Garbo's co-star in Mata Hari. Through a Naked Lens tells the private half of his story. Meeting Novarro on a junket to Africa during the filming of The Arab, gay reporter Howe has come to sneer but instead falls in love with the innocent and unformed star. Their problems really begin when they return to the closeted Hollywood of the 1920s, where a hint of scandal would destroy Novarro's Latin-lover reputation.
The multimedia design by Richard Bacon (who also directed with L.J. Kleeman and plays Rex Ingram, director of The Arab) and Jas McDonald cleverly uses film projections to open the play with scratchy silent-movie credits, and then employs Martha Holmes' photographs as backdrops for the set. Though well-written, the play has too many unnecessary short scenes that seem to be covering costume changes.
As the handsome star, JoHary Ramos has an undeniable boyish quality and smoldering Hispanic looks. Stephen Smith's Howe begins as the wiseacre reporter and then shows his more sensitive side as his passion takes over. Heather Murdock's Alice Terry, Novarro's six-time co-star, is a fully developed character, unlike Bacon's Ingram (who was married to Terry), Raymond O. Wagner's Louis B. Mayer, and Tom Patterson's Irving Thalberg. Both Laura Beth Wells as the veteran journalist Adela Rogers St. Johns and Tracy M. Gaillard as a cub reporter capture the period beautifully.
Presented by and at Wings Theatre Company 154 Christopher St., NYC. Dec. 16–Jan. 21. Mon., Thu., Fri., and Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3:30 p.m. (No performances Dec. 24–Jan. 1.) (212) 627-2961.