Everything Beautiful Happens at Island City Stage

Apr 15

by Rick Karlin for OUTSFL

Wilton Manors’ premiere LGBTQ theatre company, Island City Stage, has another hit on its hands.

Everything Beautiful Happens at Night, by Ted Malawer, is the story Ezra, author of a beloved children’s book series. Set in mid-1980s New York, Ezra is also semi-closeted and facing writer's block, until he picks up a much younger man at a gay bar who becomes his muse. It is not mentioned in the program, but playwright Malawer has previously stated that the play was inspired by the life of Arnold Lobel (Ezra in the play), his editor, Ursula Nordstrom (Nancy), and his lover, Howard Weiner (Jake), and Lobel’s Frog & Toad stories (transformed in the play to Chipmunk & Squirrel). It is, in fact, almost a biography.

As Ezra falls in love with Jake, he decides to make it clear that the two friends, Chipmunk and Squirrel, are in love, which his editor, Nancy, refuses to print. Ezra is unable to find another publisher and dies suddenly, just as his editor is accepting a Caldecott Award (the highest honor for children’s book illustration) on his behalf.

Read the entier Review here: https://outsfl.com/a-e/everything-beautiful-happens-at-island-city-stage