THIS  IS  SOOOOOO  EXCITING!!!!!!

Gabriel Ebert will join fellow Tony winner Harvey Fierstein in the world premiere of Martin Sherman’s Gently Down the Stream at the Public Theater.

The off-Broadway production will begin performances on March 14, 2017 and run through April 23 (instead of the previously announced April 16).

Sean Mathias directs the staging, which is set to open on April 5.

The cast will also include off-Broadway alum Christopher Sears.

SYNOPSIS: Beau, a pianist expat living in London meets Rufus, an eccentric young lawyer, at the dawn of the internet dating revolution. After a life spent recovering from the disappointment and hurt of loving men in a world that refused to allow it, Beau is determined to keep his expectations low with Rufus.

But Rufus comes from a new generation of gay men who believe happiness is as much their right as anyone else’s, and what Beau assumed would be just another fling grows into one of the most surprising and defining relationships of his life. A remarkably moving, brilliantly funny love story, Gently Down the Stream reflects the triumphs and heartbreaks of the entire length of the gay rights movement, celebrating and mourning the ghosts of the men and women who led the way for equality, marriage and the right to dream.

You Need to Know Your Gay History—Says Harvey Fierstein

The Tony winner unearths the emotional past of the gay rights movement in  Gently Down the Stream.

“You’re going to put in the work either way, whatever you do,” he says. “You’re still dedicating this amount of hours, this amount of time, and pieces of your life and your energy. Why do something that’s trivial garbage when you can do something that has higher aims?”

Fierstein has been telling gay stories onstage for more than 30 years, and has long been a vocal defender of LGBT rights. It seems only fitting that he would feel drawn to this play, which depicts key moments and icons of the gay rights movement. “It’s really important,” says the actor. “Gay history got washed out and washed over, but unless you know who you were, you can’t know where you’re going.”

What Fierstein relishes about playing Beau is the ways in which the character has been shaped by his history and his era. “He survived through these periods—[but that] he didn’t come through it whole is what I think I love most about him,” says Fierstein.

“He talks about himself as somebody who walks around with excess scar tissue. I like to think that I too have excess scar tissue, but I’d like to think that I’ve recovered more. And that’s what makes him fascinating to play. You don’t want to play yourself. You don’t have to get a script to do that.” Because for Fierstein, there’s just no interest if the work is too easy.

Director: Sean Mathias

Starring: Harvey Fierstein, Gabriel Ebert, Christopher Sears

Show Times: Tuesday – Friday @7:30pm; Saturday – Sunday @1:30pm and 7:30pm

Tickets from $50      publictheater.com       Playwright: Martin Sherman