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When a play starts with a single man turning on a recording of Judy Garland, you get a very good inkling of what's ahead. Stereotypes do abound in "The Boys in the Band," a seminal 1968 work about a group of gay friends, but anyone expecting to find little more than a dated, cliche-ridden show will be very pleasantly surprised.

The numerous surprises start with the venue. "Boys In The Band" is famously set in a penthouse apartment, where the characters gather to celebrate a birthday. Instead of staging the revival in a theater, the creative team ingeniously put their show in an actual apartment, and seat the audience against the walls. It makes the experience all the more vivid and real.

Director Jack Cummings III made sure to keep everyone and everything looking period-neutral. The effect creates a timelessness that gives the 42-year-old work an added degree of relevance.

Some of the dialogue is creaky, but the cringe factor is reduced dramatically by a wonderfully skilled ensemble that knows how to breathe fresh air into the stalest of lines. Given all the cultural earthquakes that have rocked the gay community since this play was written, playwright Mart Crowley’s script holds up remarkably well. It’s funny, insightful and trenchant, even for a modern audience.

With the intensity of “Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?,” the play’s characters are put through the emotional ringer and they all rise to the challenge beautifully. Christopher Innvar and Graham Rowat playing the unsettled couple Larry and Hank ring especially true. Kevin Isola as the one straight guy and John Wellman as Emory, the most effeminate character, unearth new dimensions in their roles.

Michael, the party host, is played to perfection by Jonathan Hammond, and his progression from nice guy to boozing bastard is a stunning bit of acting.

It would be easy to dismiss this play as early outdated history, but it’s not. While he wrote before AIDS, the Stonewall riots and gay rights, Crowley nevertheless dug deep enough to unearth kernels of truth that transcend time and place. Given the Transport Group’s terrifically thoughtful production, "The Boys In The Band" emerges remarkably universal.