By Gregg Shapiro

Contributing writer

If you’ve seen the gay-themed stage musical “Naked Boys Singing,” with or without a theater full of bachelorette party guests, you’ve probably walked out humming some of the tunes. Perhaps one of them was “Perky Little Porn Star,” which was written by David Pevsner. “Naked Boys Singing” has now made the transition from the stage to the screen, so you can enjoy the show in the privacy of your own home, clothing optional. Pevsner, who has appeared on stage, on television and on film, spoke with me about this cultural phenomenon.

Gregg Shapiro: Nearly 10 years after its premiere, what do you think of the phenomenon that NBS has become?

David Pevsner: The reason it started in the first place was that the theater (Celebration Theater) was going under. We thought, “What sells?” Musicals and nudity. I’m really not surprised that it’s gone on as long as it has. I think that it has its place in entertainment. It’s not the be all and end all—everything shouldn’t be musical and everything shouldn’t be naked. But it came at a time when there really wasn’t anything like it, and it hit. I think it was the timing that made it a phenomenon. It hit at the right time. For all of us, all the writers and everyone who has been involved, it’s been a great thing. I’ve become friends with the songwriters. Because the thing goes on, there’s always been something having to do with “Naked Boys Singing” (laughs) over the past 10 years.

GS: Another phenomenon that has occurred, connected to “Naked Boys Singing,” is that it’s become very popular with the bachelorette party circuit. What do you think about that?

DP: Unbelievable! When I was doing my one-man show (“To Bitter and Back”) in Chicago, I was sharing the week with “Naked Boys Singing.” On one particular night, I had the late show and NBS was the early show. The doors would open after the early show and I would come in (to the theater) and set up my stage and do my show. The first time that it happened, I was listening from the outside of the theater and I could hear this very shrieky laughter. I knew women were becoming the audience in New York, but I hadn’t been there for a while. The doors open, and here comes this throng (laughs) of very happy women. Shrieking and laughing and covering their faces. There must have been literally two men in the whole place. I almost couldn’t walk through the door. I was so awestruck by the fact that this thing had crossed over, but then I saw it with my own eyes (laughs).

GS: Would you have ever imagined that “Naked Boys Singing” would then be made into a movie?

DP: Once again…I’ve always felt that there was something missing for us. It doesn’t surprise me at all. I feel that it fills a market. I always wondered what took it so long. I know that they had a narrative script—Bob Schrock had a narrative script which took the songs and put them into the context of the boys backstage and what was going on. It was very fun. But I think when Funny Boy Films decided to shoot the movie, they said, No. Let’s not take a chance. Let’s just give people the show. Get some good guys in it and shoot it stylishly and that’ll be the movie.

GS: Are there plans for you to attend any of the “Naked Boys Singing” screenings or openings?

DP: It’s funny because I was just talking to Jerry Sternbach, who is the music director on the movie, at his birthday party. As far as we understood, the film was going to be put out on DVD at Thanksgiving for Christmas (gift giving) with the possibility of maybe a week in a theater somewhere. And then I was going through the L.A. Times fall preview piece and sure enough, there was “Naked Boys Singing” with an opening date. Then I saw Jerry and he was like, “What’s that all about”? (laughs) I guess it’s getting a full theatrical release. That sounds so funny.

GS: A full-frontal theatrical release. “Fight the Urge,” one of the songs that you wrote for “NBS” is a universal experience—fighting the urge to become aroused in a high school locker room. Have you gotten much audience feedback about this song?

DP: I think that people do identify with it, certainly. Whenever people walk out of that show and I talk to them, they pretty much generalize and say, “It was so much fun! I loved it.” I don’t think they get too deeply into, “I personally responded to this song because it was such a part of my life.” But the truth of the matter is that the songs that I wrote, at least, are sort of silly and lightweight and simple, in a certain respect. But underneath them, when the performer taps into something a little more than just, “This is a fun song. I’m a porn star” or “I’m a naked maid.” For instance, with “Porn Star,” I was a skinny, ugly kid growing up, but now look at me. It’s not what you put on the outside, it’s the thing you carry with you when you sing the song. It’s meant to be sort of a celebration. Whatever people think of people who do porn, this guy who’s singing the song loves it. He’s pleased and he’s proud. “Fight The Urge” certainly came from a very real place. The way the showers were at Niles East (High School), they were hell! It was a shower room. I used to be like, “Oh, my God, I can’t take a shower!” But of course I did because I was a little anal, clean-freak, gay boy. It unnerved me every time. Every single word in that song comes from what my inner monologue was.

GS: You mentioned “Perky Little Porn Star,” which not only speaks to empowerment, but you also had the opportunity to immortalize your hometown of Skokie, Illinois.

DP: There’s a moment towards the end of (the musical) “The Drowsy Chaperone” where the narrator, whom you grow to love, who is a loner and lives through his music and is very eccentric, says something to the effect of “What do you expect from a little gay boy from Skokie, Illinois?” I just started to bawl! I was sort of that. I asked him afterwards if he was from Skokie, and he said, “No, we just thought it was a funny name.” And it is! But for me, Skokie, Illinois represents everything suburban, everything that’s covert. You were a good boy in Skokie, Illinois.

GS: You didn’t write “Nothing But the Radio On” (about posing in the nude), but it leads me to ask about the pictures of you that ran in the magazine Unzipped in 2006. How did that come about?

DP: I didn’t pose fully (nude) in “Unzipped.” I was kind of measuring—should I or shouldn’t I? The column that I posed for is called “Hot Property.” I think “Unzipped” is the best porn magazine out there because it’s got a real good sense of humor and it’s sexy. I love it. I was talking to the editor-in-chief about some of my projects and he asked if I thought it would help if they did a “Hot Property” on me. I said, sure. My roommate at the time was a very good photographer and we did a shoot with him. We measured how far I was willing to go for that magazine. I’ve posed for art photographers. I’ve done the nudes. But putting it in the context of a porn magazine, at a certain point I have to pay attention to my career. It’s like the struggle of the “Perky Little Porn” star. I’m a very sexually and physically oriented person. There’s a part of me that would do porn in three seconds if they asked me to. Except for the fact that I have a legitimate career (laughs). And yet there’s also that crossover, bad boy thing that I think can work.

GS: What can you tell me about some of your current projects?

DP: There’s a bunch of stuff. We’ve actually done four readings of the new show, “The Fancy Boys Follies.” It’s so much fun. It’s a ball. It’s sort of a low-rent, gay “Ziegfeld Follies.” It has burlesque/vaudeville qualities to it. I call it “vaudelesque.” We’re just looking for the right venue for it. The readings have gone incredibly well. I just got back from Scotland where I was doing a production of (the Terence McNally play) “Corpus Christi” as an actor, which I’ve been doing on and off for the past year, and we finally got a chance to do it at the Fringe Festival. It was an amazing experience. There’s a movie that I wrote that I’ve been pushing for a long time, called “Musical Comedy Whore.” But, as you know, it’s difficult to get stuff made. It’s a fun, sexy comedy with a dark edge to it. “The Fancy Boys Follies” actually started out as the fictional backdrop of the movie, a guy in a long-running off-Broadway show. Over the years, I’ve written the show. Ideally, I’d like to work the two projects together.

“Naked Boys Singing” is screened Nov. 13 at Landmark’s Century Cinema as part of Reeling 2008.