Andrew Rannells apparently knew there might be trouble almost immediately.
It was 2018, and Rannells had been cast opposite Tuc Watkins in the Broadway revival of Mart Crowley’s landmark gay play The Boys in the Band.
The two actors would be playing Larry and Hank, a couple whose relationship was considerably more complicated than the one the actors themselves were about to develop.
During an early photoshoot, Rannells found himself standing next to Watkins (Guardian).
He remembers looking at him and thinking: “Ah, fuck. This is going to happen, isn’t it?”
“We’re going to be those two actors who have a showmance.”
He was right.
He just underestimated how long the showmance would last. ❤️
Playing Boyfriends Eight Shows A Week
The Boys in the Band was already an extraordinary project.
The 2018 production marked the 50th anniversary of Crowley’s groundbreaking 1968 play and featured a principal cast of openly gay actors including Rannells, Watkins, Jim Parsons, Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Robin de Jesús and Charlie Carver.
Rannells played Larry opposite Watkins as Hank.
Their characters were a couple struggling with sex, monogamy and commitment.
And performing that relationship eight times a week created rather a lot of opportunities for the two actors to get to know each other.
Watkins later recalled that they would spend part of each performance secluded together in an intimate area of the set.
They talked.
They cuddled as their characters.
They occasionally napped.
And, because the job required it, they kissed.
“Yep, the first time we kissed was because of our job,” Rannells later joked.
By late in the Broadway run, something had changed.
The two men had started dating.
When The Showmance Didn’t End With The Show
Rannells and Watkins didn’t immediately turn their new relationship into a public celebrity romance.
But eventually keeping their happiness entirely to themselves became difficult.
In 2019, they separately made their relationship Instagram official.
Watkins posted a black-and-white photograph of them together with a particularly lovely explanation.
“It’s hard to hide @andrewrannells,” he wrote.
“He’s 6’2” and shines brightly.”
By then, what Rannells had jokingly predicted as a Broadway showmance had clearly become something considerably more serious.
They even returned to where everything started.
In 2020, Rannells and Watkins reprised Larry and Hank for Netflix’s film adaptation of The Boys in the Band.
This time they weren’t simply two actors pretending to be a couple.
They were a real couple pretending to be a much more dysfunctional one.
“Falling in love with someone in real life while you’re playing sort of a bickering couple, it’s a very strange experience,” Rannells said at the time.
Eight Years Later
Rannells is looking back at that relationship again in a new interview with The Guardian, published as he promotes his new film Miss You, Love You.
The interview covers considerably more than romance.
He talks about coming out, losing his father, getting older, his friendships and the way his own experiences have shaped his work.
But tucked inside is the reminder that the Broadway showmance he saw coming back in 2018 never really ended.
Watkins offered his own update on their life together last year.
“I’m really happy in my relationship,” he said.
“I love my partner. My kids love my partner.”
Watkins is the father of twins, and over the years Rannells has become part of their family life too.
It makes their origin story feel even sweeter in retrospect.
Two openly gay actors were cast as boyfriends in a landmark gay play.
They flirted.
They kissed because the script told them to.
They started holding hands at curtain call for perhaps just a little longer than necessary.
And somewhere along the way, acting stopped being acting.
Andrew Rannells got his Broadway showmance.
He just happened to get a love story with it. ❤️
📷 @andrewrannells / @tucwatkins
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